Re: ratings

[Scott Saloway <saloway@bu.edu>]

Shawn, you are exactly correct.

Having worked in the WBUR fundraising department, I can tell you that all
money raised by the station goes into the station's operating funds, which
are managed by the University. They're held, for all intents and purposes,
in the same bank accounts and run by the same people.

Like every other university department, 'BUR has to present an annual
budget and be audited by university auditors every year. Even though the
trustees (who are 'BUR's official "owners") let the station operate
semi-autonomously, it is very much a part of of BU. 

And, of course, if it was an independent non-profit, it would have to file
its own 990 with the IRS, and we'd all find out just how much the top
people there get paid, Christo included. As it works now, she doesn't make
the list because the university only has to list its top people (Silber,
Westling, etc).

Kinda ingenious, actually.

--Scott--

 On Tue, 22 Jan 2002, Shawn Mamros wrote:

> That all depends on the exact nature of WBUR's relationship with BU.
> 
> My understanding is that WBUR is licensed directly to the Trustees of
> Boston University.  If that is the case, and WBUR has no non-profit
> foundation/corporation established for it that is separate from BU,
> then from a legal perspective, WBUR and BU are one and the same.  A
> donation to WBUR would be the same as a donation to BU.  Money could
> flow between WBUR and the rest of BU however they see fit.
> 
> Internally, BU may still have their own reasons for keeping WBUR's
> accounting separate from the rest of BU.  Usually the big-ticket
> donors want it that way - if they earmark funds for one department,
> then those funds had better go there or else...  Ultimately, though,
> it all has to be combined for BU's annual Form 990 to the IRS.
> 
> Most of the college or college-affiliated stations in town are set
> up that way.  There are at least two exceptions of which I'm aware
> - WMBR and WHRB (the latter, though it has a commercial license, is
> still a non-profit organization).  Both of these stations have their
> own non-profit corporations established that are at least legally
> separate from MIT and Harvard, respectively.  They have to file their
> own Form 990s, and donations to those two stations don't (and can't)
> flow into their respective schools' coffers.
> 
> -Shawn Mamros
> E-mail to: mamros@mit.edu
>