Ex-Colgate U. President to Take Reins at D.C.’s Newseum
Officials at the financially troubled Washington, D.C., museum of journalism said Jeffrey Herbst’s fundraising prowess at Colgate was a factor in his hiring as the Newseum’s president and CEO, The Washington Post and the Associated Press report.
Charter Schools on Borrowing Binge as Enrollment Grows
Bond sales by taxpayer-funded, frequently nonprofit-run charter schools are on pace to break last year’s record of $1.9 billion as swelling enrollment and low interest rates fuel a borrowing spree, writes Bloomberg.
Nonprofit Breast-Milk Banks Fight Emerging Commercial Market
Nonprofit and for-profit breast-milk banks are jostling for dominance of a market poised to grow to meet demand from hospitals and neonatal care facilities, the Associated Press writes.
L.A. Charity Heads Charged With $8.5-Million Fraud
Three leaders of a nonprofit serving Latino women have been accused of participating in a “billing scam” that diverted millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to personal use, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Former N.C. Legislator Gets 2 Years for Nonprofit Theft
Ex-state representative Stephen LaRoque was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for stealing $150,000 from a federally backed small-business nonprofit he founded and led, reports the Associated Press.
George W. Bush Charged $100,000 to Address Veterans Charity
The former president received a $100,000 fee and private-jet travel worth $20,000 to speak at a 2012 fundraiser for an organization serving U.S. veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, ABC News reports.
Opinion: Philanthropy Not the Cure for What Ails Higher Ed
High-profile philanthropic efforts to increase college access for low- and middle-income students serve to reinforce rather than resolve a system that creates inequality in higher education, according to a writer for liberal magazine The Nation.
N.Y. Shuts Down ‘Pay for Success’ Recidivism Program
New York City’s first attempt to implement a social program via the “pay for success” model failed to meet performance goals but was nonetheless hailed by officials because the experiment cost taxpayers nothing, writes The Bond Buyer, which covers municipal finance.
Medical Charities Embrace Investment to Speed New Drugs
The Washington Post looks at the growth of venture philanthropy among disease charities, focusing on the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and its $3.3-billion windfall last year from its investment in a pharmaceutical firm that developed a breakthrough drug.
2014 Calif. Audit Blasted Blue Shield for $4 Billion Surplus
The revocation last year of Blue Shield of California’s state tax exemption came on the heels of a blistering audit by state tax officials who assailed the nonprofit health insurer’s provision of coverage and multibillion-dollar cash stockpile, the Los Angeles Times writes.
Newseum Mulled Risky Fiscal Move to Tackle Pressing Debt
Burdened by more than $300 million in debt, the museum devoted to journalism and the First Amendment floated a plan last fall to sell shares in its seven-year-old building in the heart of Washington, D.C., offering investors a large “balloon payment” in 10 to 15 years, writes The Washington Post.
L.A. Charities Get Minimum-Wage Break for Trainee Workers
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to exempt three area nonprofits that help “transitional workers” enter the labor force from paying such trainees the city’s increased minimum wage, public radio station KPCC reports.
Social Innovation Fund Report Finds Signs of Success
But many beneficiaries say the evaluation mandate is a financial burden.
By Alex Daniels
Contributor
Leaders’ Pay Hits New Heights at Big N.Y. Arts Institutions
The top executives at the Museum of Modern Art, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the American Museum of Natural History earned more than $1.2 million each in 2013, according to a Wall Street Journal review of major New York City arts groups’ tax filings for that year.
As Earnings Rise, Big Law Firms Giving Little for Legal Aid
Major law firms reaped record revenues last year but donated only one-tenth of 1 percent of their proceeds to legal aid for the needy, The New York Times writes, citing an analysis by The American Lawyer magazine.
Del. Museum Sells 2 More Works to Retire Building Debt
The Delaware Museum of Art said Monday that it has sold paintings by Andrew Wyeth and Winslow Homer to private collectors, completing a controversial “deaccessioning” to repay construction debt and refill its coffers, The News Journal of Wilmington reports.