Daily News Roundup: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Restructures as Endowment Dwindles

Charity That Runs Historic Va. Town to Cut Staff and Outsource Operations: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is eliminating 71 jobs and hiring private vendors to run many of its businesses and facilities at the popular Virginia tourist destination, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The foundation has lost $277 million in the past five years, draining its endowment.

Harvard Investment Fund Reportedly Set to Overhaul Portfolio: The Harvard Management Company is close to deals to shed its private-equity, venture-capital, and real-estate holdings as it looks to unload more than $2 billion in assets as part of an effort to reverse lackluster returns for the university’s $35.7 billion endowment, according to Bloomberg. Read a Chronicle article on the sluggish recent performance of nonprofit endowments.

Eric Trump Foundation Backed Multiple Causes While Telling Donors Money Went to Cancer Hospital: While proclaiming that all its fundraising benefited St. Jude Children’s Research Center, the foundation, now known as Curetivity, gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to unrelated organizations and causes, some favored by Trump family members, Forbes writes, citing federal tax filings.

Jury Says U.S. Can Seize Charity-Owned Skyscraper in Iran Case: Federal authorities have been seeking since 2008 to lay claim to the 36-story Manhattan tower in which the Alavi Foundation holds a majority stake, writes The New York Times. Prosecutors say Alavi violated U.S. sanctions against Iran by partnering on the building with a shell company fronting for the Tehran government.

Congressional Majority Backs Bill to Build National Women’s History Museum: The lead sponsors of legislation to green-light the proposed Smithsonian institution say they have secured the backing of a majority of House members, a milestone for the project first put forward in Congress in 1995, USA Today writes. Under the bill, construction would be fully donor-funded.

Legal-Aid Nonprofit Sues to Keep Maine Welfare Going Amid Budget Fight: With a budget impasse set to shut down state government at midnight tonight, Maine Equal Justice Partners, which serves low-income residents, filed a class-action suit seeking to force Gov. Paul LePage to maintain public-assistance payments through the crisis, reports the Portland Press Herald.