FOUNDATION ASSETS NOT "PUBLIC FUNDS" SAYS NEW REPORT
Charitable funds are private, not public, and the relationship between philanthropy and government should remain limited, a new report says. Based on an analysis of legal precedents, the report dismisses as “not well grounded” claims that charitable funds are “public money” because they are exempt from public taxes, received state charters and are subject to oversight by state attorneys general. The law treats foundations as private entities devoted to public ends, but they do not have to serve the purposes of government or the public, says the report, “How Public is Private Philanthropy? Separating Reality from Myth.”
Released by The Philanthropy Roundtable, the report also says that while individuals and businesses routinely receive tax preferences, for example, they never are considered government entities, and their assets are not considered public property.