Many nonprofits are dealing with the issue of not being able to touch donated funds.
Wired PR News.com – Several nonprofit organizations across the country have been placed in the tough position of not being able to use their endowments. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), nonprofits such as the North Carolina Symphony, with significant endowment funds, cannot use the money due to recessional slumps, in accordance with state laws.
As noted by the AP report, issues on Wall Street have made some endowments hold considerably less value than original donations from which they were created, and therefore untouchable under certain laws. Many of these organizations have been left unable to pay necessary expenses such as program fees, staff pay, or scholarship funds until the issues are resolved.
David Chambliss Worters, Chief Executive of the North Carolina Symphony, is quoted in the report as stating of the current circumstances, “I don’t imagine the donors anticipated a situation where the market would fall so dramatically that the money would be held hostage and unable to support the symphony at all.”
