Wall Street woes hit charities, nonprofits
NEW YORK (AP) — Financial services firms and their well-paid executives have historically been generous givers to museums, colleges, hospitals and social service organizations, both in New York and around the globe.
Now, nonprofit administrators are watching the crisis on Wall Street with queasy stomachs as reliable donors like Lehman Brothers, American International Group, Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns change hands or go belly up.
For now, the firms that have taken over struggling companies aren’t saying what they’ll do, and it may be months before charities learn whether pledges are being honored.
We’ve got a big question mark hanging over our heads, said Marsha Stein, executive director of Citymeals-on-Wheels, a group that relies heavily on private donations to deliver food to 18,000 homebound New Yorkers.
Bear Stearns employees, alone, she said, were good for about $500,000 in donations to Citymeals each year — generosity due partly to the firm’s requirement that its 1,000 senior directors contribute 4 percent of their annual compensation to charity.
That support came into question overnight when the firm disintegrated in March and was purchased by JPMorgan Chase.
The crisis is likely to hit nonprofits on several fronts, said Gordon J. Campbell, president and chief executive of the United Way of New York City.
