TRENTON – Senate President Richard J. Codey and Senator Teresa Ruiz, both sponsors of a bill that would give charitable organizations more discretion to spend and invest endowment funds that have been hit hard by the lagging economy, applauded the General Assembly for pushing the bill through its final legislative hurdle today. With the full Senate approving the bill in March, it now heads to the Governor for his signature.
Currently, the governing body of a charitable endowment fund is restricted from spending the principal of the endowment. Instead, the governing body can only spend any appreciation of the principal that exceeds the “historic dollar value” of the fund at the time of contribution.