New York City Mayor Gave $130 Million to Charity in 2002
PND - New York City Mayor Gave $130 Million to Charity in 2002
New York City's billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, contributed $130.9 million to charities last year, up roughly 7 percent from the $122.5 million he gave away in 2001, the New York Times reports.
Those figures, revealed on heavily edited tax returns made public by the mayor, represent both contributions made by Bloomberg personally and contributions by Bloomberg L.P., the limited partnership that controls the news and financial reporting company that bears his name. The mayor receives an 84.55 percent share of the profits from the partnership and claims credit for the same portion of its charitable giving. Thus, while Bloomberg listed 655 charities on his tax return — up from 540 in 2001 — he made personal contributions to only 97 of them.
Among the nonprofits receiving personal gifts were John Hopkins University, his alma mater; the Committee to Protect Journalists, which has received all the royalties from the book Bloomberg by Bloomberg; and a number of charities that promote equestrian events, reflecting his daughter Georgina's interest in competitive dressage.
The mayor's private foundation did not make any grants last year. Although private foundations are required by law to spend at least 5 percent of their assets on grantmaking activities each year, a spokesman for the mayor said the foundation was not obligated to make any grants in 2002 because it had far exceeded the payout requirement in previous years.
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