Nonprofits in Fund-Raising Hoax Asked To Return Grants

By Meg Sommerfeld

A bankruptcy trustee is asking hundreds of nonprofit organizations, schools, and universities to return $174 million in grants from a foundation whose philanthropic promise turned out to be a hoax.

More than 1,200 nonprofit groups, including many private schools and charities that serve children and families, apparently were caught up in a fund-raising scheme orchestrated over two years by the now-defunct Foundation for New Era Philanthropy in Radnor, Pa.

That figure is far higher than the 300 groups first identified when the scheme was reported last year. Many groups are frantic that they may have to return money...