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“With the stock market, the economy, and corporate earnings all lagging, charitable giving is in a huge slump. Total U.S. giving by individuals, companies, and foundations is likely to fall this year by about 22%, or about $47 billion, to $165 billion, estimates Charity Navigator, a New Jersey-based organization that tracks and rates charities according to their financial efficiency. Museums and other nonprofit arts organizations are being slammed the hardest: Gifts to such organizations are expected to fall by one-third, to $8 billion this year, down from $12 billion in 2002. The reason arts organizations are being clobbered so hard is pretty obvious. When faced with having to pare their giving, most people and companies reduce arts donations before they cut back on support for organizations such as the Salvation Army.”

Archaeologists have found the bodies of six people near Stonehenge, close to where another body was found last year. “The remains of four adults and two children were found about half a mile from that of the archer, dubbed The King of Stonehenge by Britain?s tabloid press. Archaeologists said he came from Switzerland and may have been involved in building the monument.

A new study by the Montana Arts Council reports that the arts generate $85 million a year in economic activity in the state and are responsible for almost 2000 jobs.

“Profligate spending may not be the rule for charitable foundations, institutions founded by wealthy individuals to fund good causes – and take advantage of hefty tax breaks. But recent disclosures about the lavish habits of a few foundations have turned up a more common, and perfectly legal, scandal: the small portion of their assets that foundations actually give to charity. Under federal law, private foundations must donate a mere 5% of their assets each year to remain exempt from virtually all federal and state income taxes. But even that modest requirement is undercut by rules that let foundations count administrative expenses, such as rent and salaries, as part of the 5%.”

Americans for the Arts was promised $100 million from the estate of Ruth Lilly. But the bequest was made in Eli Lilly stock and the stock declined precipitously. So the organization is suing the bank managing the money. “The lawsuit alleges that National City Bank of Indiana, instead of selling the stock shortly after the creation of the trusts in January 2002, held on to the stock through most of the year, a period when the share price tumbled from $75 to $47. The result, he says, “was a decline in the overall value of Ruth Lilly’s gift to Americans for the Arts of some $25 million.”