Key takeaways 

• The New York State Attorney General’s Charities Bureau issued guidance on the New York Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (“NYPMIFA”) on March 17, 2011. 
• NYPMIFA, which took effect in September 2010, made significant changes to the rules governing the management, investment and expenditure of endowment funds and other institutional funds held by New York not-for-profit organizations. The new guidance from the Charities Bureau answers some but not all of the open questions about the legislation. 
• Topics addressed in the guidance include: the content of written investment policies; criteria for the selection of outside investment managers; whether institutions may make single expenditure decisions for multiple endowment funds; and circumstances under which notice of the NYPMIFA spending rules must be sent to donors who contributed to endowment funds before the new rules went into effect.