Ex-Head of Maine Charity Gets 4 Years for $4.6-Million Theft
Russell “Rusty” Brace was also ordered to repay United Mid-Coast Charities the money he embezzled throughout a 15-year tenure as president of the Camden, Me., nonprofit, the Portland Press Herald reports.
U.N. to Audit Deals With Foundations Tied to Bribery Inquiry
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has ordered an internal review of United Nations interactions with two nonprofits linked to a U.S. corruption investigation that led to the arrest this week of a former General Assembly president, Reuters and The New York Times report.
Swelling College Endowments Draw Scrutiny on Capitol Hill
A New York congressman is drafting legislation that would require institutions of higher learning to steer a portion of their investment earnings into tuition relief as a condition of maintaining their endowments’ tax-free status, Bloomberg Business reports.
House OKs Special Panel to Investigate Planned Parenthood
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to convene a “select investigative panel” to examine the women’s-health organization’s handling of fetal tissue, USA Today reports.
Utah Preschool Program Yields First ‘Pay for Success’ Payout
Goldman Sachs will reap financial gains for funding a Utah program that showed positive results in keeping kids out of special education. It is the first time a U.S. social-impact bond has paid off for the investor, The New York Times writes.
President Apologizes to Doctors Without Borders for Bombing
President Obama promised the global medical charity’s international president, Joanne Liu, a “full accounting” of the circumstances that led to the deadly U.S. airstrike on the organization’s hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, reports The New York Times.
Pentagon Says Raid on Afghan Charity Hospital Was a Mistake
The U.S. military directly acknowledged Tuesday that it was responsible for the weekend airstrike that killed 22 people at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in northern Afghanistan and called the deadly raid a mistake, Reuters and ABC News report. The global medical charity wants a never-before-used international commission on humanitarian law to investigate the bombing, according to CNN.
Doctors Without Borders Wants Global Body to Investigate Bombing
The medical charity is calling for a little-known international commisssion on humanitarian law established under the Geneva Conventions to investigate the U.S. airstrike that killed 10 patients and 12 staff members at the organization’s hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, The New York Times and CNN report.
White House-Backed Kickstarter Campaign Raises Refugee Aid
At the request of the Obama administration, the crowdfunding site Kickstarter is hosting its first humanitarian campaign, aimed at raising money for the United Nations refugee agency to aid people fleeing Syria, The New York Times reports.
Pa. Charities Face Crunch as State Budget Fight Stretches On
With Pennsylvania’s budget impasse now in its fourth month, state-funded social-service groups are bracing for a cash crisis that could soon force many to curtail or suspend programs, writes the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
City Opera Creditors Back Plan to Revive Moribund Company
One of two groups competing to reorganize the bankrupt New York City Opera has won the crucial backing of the entities owed millions of dollars by the arts organization, The New York Times writes.
Nonprofits Proliferate but Not the Regulators, Says Report
The number of groups that received nonprofit status tripled in 2014, but 53 percent of state charity offices have not increased staffing since 2008, and 13 percent have thinned their ranks of lawyers, paralegals, investigators, and accountants.
By Alex Daniels
Contributor
N.Y. Charities Subpoenaed in Inquiry Into Foundation Spending
Charities headed by two politically prominent Long Islanders have been subpoenaed by New York State’s attorney general in connection with an investigation of a trust administrator’s disbursement of donations, according to Newsday.
Chicago Parks Group Renews Legal Fight Against Lucas Museum
The nonprofit seeking to block movie mogul George Lucas’s planned $300-million lakefront museum in Chicago filed an amended lawsuit Friday, three weeks after a judge warned that a project redesign could render the organization’s previous legal complaint invalid, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Fund That Manages Fiorina Giving Donated to Planned Parenthood
Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina and her husband give through an account with a donor-advised fund that has disbursed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Planned Parenthood, writes The Daily Beast.
A Senate Critic of Charity Abuse Says Most Nonprofits Do a Good Job
Sen. Charles Grassley urges nonprofits to become more transparent as a way to bolster confidence.
By Rebecca Koenig
Contributor