A religious retreat house in Michigan has been denied real estate tax exemption available to “houses of public worship” and was denied the right to amend its application in the middle of an appellate proceeding to seek exemption as a nonprofit charitable institution.  In an unpublished per curiam opinion, the Court of Appeals of Michigan has affirmed the decision of the state’s Tax Tribunal

The value of assets held in donor advised funds throughout the nation rose nearly 10% in 2023, from $228.9 billion in 2022 to $251.5 billion in 2023, reflecting the significant increase in market value of investments during the year.  (The S&P 500 Index was up 26.3% for the year.). But the total value of contributions to DAFs dropped more than 21% from $75.9 billion in 2022 to $59.4 billion in 2023.

In one of the more unusual cases of the year, churches in West Virginia have regained the right to incorporate under state law, apparently the last state in the nation to confirm that right.

After growing from $68 million in 2021 to $243 million in 2022, the excise tax collected on investment income in private college and university endowments has risen again to more than $380 million in 2023.  The 2023 collections came from 56 institutions, compared to 58 in 2022 and only 33 in 2021.

How do you define a “nonprofit” educational institution under the Higher Education Act?  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has said that the Department of Education utilized the wrong standard in rejecting the successor to a for-profit university.