Notes

January 22, 2004 | Read Time: 1 minute

The New York Attorney General’s charity bureau has a “new, take-no-prisoners attitude,” writes City Limits, a magazine for New York grass-roots groups in its January issue. William Josephson, an assistant attorney general who oversees charity issues, says an aggressive stance is needed because “‘a pervasive sense of self-righteousness’ has infected the industry. That attitude, he feels, needs adjusting, no matter how much it hurts.” The article, “Charity Busters,” is available online at http://www.citylimits.org.
Robb Report Worth (January) examines whether foundations should exist forever or shut down after a set time. “The choice is philosophical,” John Stanley, president of the Legacy Group, a foundation-management company in Milwaukee, tells the magazine. It is not about financial or tax benefits. “What are you saving it for is the question I always ask. If your goal is to create an enterprise that is a modeling or teaching enterprise for your family, then there are good reasons for perpetuity. But if you don’t have that kind of goal in mind, then I would encourage you to consider a sunset provision.”