Charities Cashing in as Venture Capitalists?

        Continuing from yesterday’s post, it looks like donors are not the only ones looking for a return on their investment. Private foundations are acting more like venture capitalists these days. Today Fortune featured an article on the ability of foundations to make grants to start-up ventures that the IRS treats as regular charitable gifts in terms of tax treatment. Several of these transactions are occurring in the medical research area. What are the foundations receiving in return? According to the article, “the foundations typically take an equity stake, claim the rights to a portion of the company’s future sales, or require a payment when a drug achieves a clinical milestone.” Some nonprofits have actually earned returns totaling millions of dollars.

Khrista Johnson