Charity Navigator Unveils Changes in Rating System
The watchdog group will switch Wednesday to a new set of measurements that tweaks how it assesses the financial health of more than 8,000 nonprofits, including changes in how it weighs overhead costs, The New York Times reports.
Drug Firms Subpoenaed in Review of Ties to Co-Pay Charities
Federal investigators’ demands for documents from Biogen, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and Gilead Sciences come amid a widening inquiry into the pharmaceutical industry’s relationship with nonprofits that take donations from the companies to help patients pay for medications, Bloomberg reports.
N.Y.’s Struggling Beth Israel Hospital to Shut Down
Facing debts of more than $200 million, the 127-year-old Lower Manhattan institution will shutter and re-create itself as a much smaller facility, The Wall Street Journal writes.
Ex-Mayor to Lead Minneapolis Foundation; YouthBuild Founder to Retire
Plus, the Barr Foundation hires its first vice president and the Council on Foundations gets a new diversity leader.
By anais.strickland
Contributor
Drug Firm Pledges $100 Million to Back Youth Science Contest
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals made a 10-year commitment to support the Science Talent Search and significantly boosted prize money for the long-running scholastic math and science competition, reports The New York Times.
Minn. Sues Telemarketer Over Charity ‘Pledge Reminders’
The state’s attorney general filed suit Wednesday against fundraising firm Associated Community Services, which regulators allege barraged people who had declined to donate to a veterans organizations with follow-up calls and emails seeking payment of supposed pledges, the Star Tribune reports.
U. of Massachusetts to Drop All Fossil-Fuel Investments
The UMass system said Wednesday that it will sell all of its $770 million endowment’s holdings in oil, coal, and gas, reportedly becoming the first major public university to fully embrace fossil-fuel divestment, writes The Boston Globe.
Ill. First Lady’s Charity Joins Budget Suit Against Governor
An early-childhood-education nonprofit headed by Diana Rauner, the wife of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, has joined a coalition of charities suing her husband and several members of his administration over failure to pay off state human-service contracts, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.
Ex-NBA Player Charged With Embezzling From Africa Charity
A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses Kermit Washington, a forward who played with several teams in the 1970s and ‘80s, of pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a nonprofit he founded to help needy people in Africa, the Associated Press writes.
David Koch Cites ‘Moral Responsibility’ to Boost His Giving
The controversial energy tycoon has a long history of making huge donations to the arts and medical research.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor