Stiffer Rules Won’t Change Funds’ Ways

To the Editor:

Regarding your Tax Watch item “Congress May Stiffen Foundation-Disclosure Rules” (May 21): Stiffen all you want, Congress, but it won’t work. Foundations do not now make their Forms 990-PF available for inspection in spite of the “public notices” their lawyers and C.P.A.’s publish saying the 990 is available for public inspection by anyone who requests to see it during regular working hours.

I have been tracking foundation grants in New Jersey for 20 years and have rarely been given access to the 990-PF when I showed up at the “principal office” named in the public notice. In 1985, the I.R.S. was so far behind in providing copies of the 990s that I decided to visit the foundations in person to get the information necessary for my foundation directory. With press clipping in hand, I was stonewalled by receptionists, threatened by lawyers, and kept waiting sometimes for up to an hour.

So do we think the foundations would send copies of the 990s to people who submit written requests in 30 days? Sixty days? Ever? I don’t think so.

Janet A. Mitchell
Publisher
The Mitchell Guide to New Jersey Foundations
Pennington, N.J.