Foundation Granted Reprieve Before It Goes Out of Business

A judge has ruled that the Janirve Foundation, in Palm Beach, Fla., can have three additional years to distribute $40-million that, by law, the institution originally had to give away by 2009, reports The Palm Beach Post.

Irving and Jeanette Reuter, early investors in General Motors, established the foundation in 1954 and stipulated that all of Janirve’s money be gone within 25 years after the death of the surviving spouse, which occurred in 1984.

But with the deadline approaching, the foundation found it had too much to give away in a short time. In part, this resulted from the growth in its assets, which kept the foundation’s coffers more full than officials expected.

Rather than lavish charities with funds—which Janirve Foundation officials saw as problematic—they sought court permission to extend its life for a few more years.

“The dilemma is how do we continue to be helpful to the charitable community and not dry up and injure those small charities that have been benefiting for the last 20 years,” said the foundation’s lawyer.

Read The Chronicle’s article about how the Whitaker Foundation, a big scientific research foundation, shut its doors.

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