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.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that an Accountable Care Organization providing benefits to private parties as a “substantial” part of its activities is not eligible for exemption as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization.  The ruling is the first modern appellate court ruling rejecting the claim that an organization can qualify for (c)(4) status so long as its “primary” activity is promoting the public good. 

A commercial loan between a bank trustee of a charitable trust and the charity that is the beneficiary of the trust is presumptively fraudulent without clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, an appellate court in Illinois has ruled.  The Court has reversed a trial court decision authorizing the bank to proceed with an action to collect on the note and granted the charity’s motion to rescind the note for breach of fiduciary duty.