Not that anyone from Massachusetts is reading this blog but the following innocuous piece in the Boston Globe is actually major news for places like Harvard:
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/07/03/nonprofits_get_relief_from_endowment_law/
One of the most prominent attorneys in the planned giving world told me several months ago that Harvard was literally teetering over their endowment woes - I can't confirm if they had consulted this particular attorney but it sounded like he had first hand info.
Here is a Wall Street Journal article talking about Harvard's endowment losses at the end of 2008: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122832139322576023.html. What the article doesn't detail is how much less cash the university would have had as a result of the "freezing" of most of their endowments. To put it in context, a $39 billion dollar endowment could have spun off close to $2 billion a year in various scholarships, program funds, endowed professorships, etc... $2 billion is a lot to make up for, even for Harvard.
Well, the storm is over, Mass has UPMIFA! Those who have been dealing with underwater endowments will understand what I mean.
See previous discussions about this law on this blog for more info.
I wonder when New York will fall in line - at least 34 states now have ENACTED UPMIFA, and only three remain that have not even proposed it. But, in New York, common sense doesn't seem to prevail when it comes to legislation.
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