News Briefs for January 16, 2014

NEW IRS COMMISSIONER TO INVESTIGATE NONPROFIT FINANCIAL ABUSES

John Koskinen, the new Internal Revenue Service commissioner, said he would investigate issues raised by a Washington Post report about nonprofits that have lost millions of dollars to embezzlement, fraud, and other wrongdoing. He was responding last month to a written question from Sen. Charles Grassley, who criticized the IRS for not doing enough to stem nonprofit abuses.

CATHOLIC LEADERS PROTEST GIFT TO UNIVERSITY FROM THE LIBERTARIAN CHARLES KOCH

Fifty prominent Catholic leaders signed a letter last month to protest Catholic University of America’s decision to accept a $1-million grant from the foundation of Charles Koch, a billionaire libertarian. The letter said that by accepting the donation, the university sends “a confusing message” that Mr. Koch’s “anti-government, Tea Party ideology has the blessing of a university sanctioned by Catholic bishops.” The university said in a statement that it would not reconsider the donation, and it called the letter’s authors “arbiters of political correctness.”

PEARSON CHARITABLE ARM TO PAY $7.7-MILLION TO SETTLE IMPROPER-GRANT CHARGES

The charitable arm of Pearson Inc., the publishing company, agreed to pay $7.7-million to settle charges that it developed course materials for commercial sale and inappropriately provided grants to help school officials attend conferences where the products were promoted. Nearly all of the money in the settlement with New York’s attorney general will go to 100Kin10, an organization that aims to place an additional 100,000 math and science teachers in schools by 2021.

ANNENBERG FOUNDATION REVEALS ITSELF AS ANONYMOUS BIDDER ON INDIAN ARTIFACTS

The Annenberg Foundation revealed that it was the anonymous bidder that paid $530,000 last month at a Paris auction for 24 Native-American artifacts. The foundation will return the items to the Hopi Nation and to the San Carlos Apache tribe, which had argued before the auction that the colorful masks and headdresses were sacred.

CHARITY-FRAUD FUGITIVE ‘BOBBY THOMPSON’ SENTENCED TO PRISON

An Ohio judge sentenced “Bobby Thompson,” a notorious charity-fraud fugitive, to 28 years in prison after he was convicted on 23 charges, including corrupt activity, identity fraud, and theft. Mr. “Thompson,” whose real name is John Donald Cody, was accused of using a stolen identity to raise money through telemarketers for the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, a group he fabricated. He has asked for a new trial.

CANCER CENTERS TO SPLIT $540-MILLION GIFT FROM SHIPPING MAGNATE’S ESTATE

Six cancer centers are splitting a $540-million gift from the estate of Daniel Ludwig, a shipping executive who died in 1992 and whose bequest previously provided $360-million to the same organizations. The money became available when his estate sold some New York real estate. The centers benefiting from the gift are at the Johns Hopkins University, Harvard, Stanford, the University of Chicago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Memorial Sloan Kettering.

BUSINESSMAN T. DENNY SANFORD GIVES $125-MILLION MORE TO IMAGENETICS PROGRAM

The businessman T. Denny Sanford has given $125-million to establish an imagenetics program at the health system in Sioux Falls, S.D., that bears his name. It will enable primary-care doctors to use genetic testing and counseling in treating patients. Mr. Sanford previously donated more than $600-million to the system.

GREAT STUDENT EXPERIENCES AND GENEROUS TRUSTEES SPUR BIG GIFTS TO COLLEGES

After examining more than 1,400 colleges and universities that received gifts of $1-million or more, a new study concludes that institutions are more likely to receive such donations when they offer social clubs and other activities that prompt in alumni a desire to ensure that current students enjoy the same experience. Institutions with long-serving presidents and board members who set an example in giving also fared better, according to the study by Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the fundraising consulting company Johnson Grossnickle and Associates.