§629 Federal Judicial Center Foundation

Summary

A private nonprofit called the Federal Judicial Center Foundation is set up in the District of Columbia to be the only group that can accept gifts of property, money, or services meant to help the Federal Judicial Center. The Foundation must not take conditional or restricted gifts except when money is given for specific projects that the Board of the Center already approved. The Foundation cannot decide how gifts are used. The Federal Judicial Center will manage and spend the gifts as the Center’s Board directs. Cash and money from selling gifted property go into a separate fund in the U.S. Treasury and are spent by the Director of the Center under Board policies. A seven-member Board runs the Foundation, including a chairman. Three members (one of them the chairman) are appointed by the Chief Justice, two by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and two by the Speaker of the House. Members serve 5-year terms, with staggered initial terms of 5, 3, or 2 years as set out for the first appointments. Board members get no pay but may be reimbursed for necessary expenses if the Director authorizes it. Active judges or people eligible to serve as judges cannot be Board members. The Center provides the Board’s office support. By October 1 each year the Foundation must report the prior 12 months’ gifts (who gave them, cash amounts, and descriptions) to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, and the Center must describe how gifts were used in its annual report. For federal income, estate, and gift taxes, property given under this rule is treated as a gift to or for the use of the United States.