School for scandal.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: TILTING at windmills - Brief article

One of the dirty little secrets of the nonprofit world, including foundations and universities, is how little of their endowment many of them spend each year. Some foundations are required by the IRS to spend 5 percent of their endowment annually. But other nonprofits, including universities, face no such requirement. The average expenditure from college endowments is 4.6 percent, according to the National Association of College and University Business Managers. Amherst spent exactly that percentage for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2006, but its endowment grew by 15.8 percent the same year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Even the foundations that have to spend 5 percent can count the generous salaries they give their executives as part...