The IRS Says It’s Okay To Be Charitable – Notice 2015-62
Last week, the IRS issued Notice 2015-62 discussing the tax treatment of an investment made for charitable purposes that does not otherwise qualify for status as a “program-related investment” under Code Section 4944(c). If you are reading this blog, you probably know that Code Section 4944 imposes a prudent investor-type rule on private foundations by imposing an excise tax on investments that jeopardize a private foundation’s charitable purposes. There is an exception to this general rule under Code Section 4944(c) for program-related investments (PRIs). For an otherwise charitably-motivated investment to qualify as a program-related investment, however, no significant purpose of the investment can be the production of income or the appreciation of property (among other things…).
The news is awash with discussions of socially-responsible investing, impact investing, mission-related investing and the like – however, none of these types of investing are tax concepts. Rather, they are ways that a foundation (or other endowment-type entity) can approach investing in a manner that considers charitable outcomes. Such categories of investments do not necessarily qualify as “program-related investments.” Rather, PRIs are a thing, as my students would say – a specific term of art used in the tax code for which an investment must specifically qualify. As indicated above, in order to qualify as a PRI, no significant purpose of the investment can be for the production of income or appreciation of property. Of course, many investments view charitable outcomes as one of many bottom line results, along side of the potential for profit. Such charitably-inclined investments may fall into one or more of the categories of social investing, but they are not PRIs.
Notice 2015-62 clarifies the manner in which the prudent investor standard of Code Section 4944 treats the accomplishment of charitable purposes as a relevant factor when evaluating an investment that is NOT a PRI. For many years, there was some question as to whether fiduciary standards would allow a foundation to settle for a lesser yield in order to accomplish other charitable goals – for example, universities divesting in South Africa companies during the apartheid era, the Catholic Church not investing in contraception or land mine manufacturers, or affirmative investments in emerging green energy technologies. (For more discussion on this topic, see this very awesome article by the very awesome Susan Gary: It is Prudent to Be Responsible? The Legal Rules for Charities that Engage in Socially Responsible Investing and Mission Investing).
With the adoption of UPMIFA in 2006 by NCCUSL and UPMIFA’s subsequent adoption in almost all jurisdictions (what’s up with that, Pennsylvania?), it became clear that most jurisdictions would allow for the consideration of charitable goals as an appropriate factor in evaluating an investment, so long as the overall determination was reasonable. Notice 2015-62 adopts a similar standard for Section 4944, stating that “foundation managers may consider all relevant facts and circumstances, including the relationship between a particular investment and the foundation’s charitable purpose.”
This Notice is certainly good news for private foundations involved in socially-responsible, mission-related, or impact investing. Of course, the Notice does not solve all of a private foundation’s worries in this area. A private foundation must still comply with Code Section 4944’s overall requirement that foundation managers exercise ordinary business care and prudence in selecting investments. For state law purposes, UPMIFA does not necessarily cover every type of charitable organization; therefore a foundation needs to determine whether or not a different state investment standard might apply. And of course, for excise tax purposes, only a program-related investment will be treated as a qualifying distribution for purposes of Code Section 4942.
EWW