Who Profits From `Non-Profit' Columbia University?

Located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, tax-exempt Columbia University claims to be a “non-profit” institution. Yet according to the Trustees of Columbia University’s Form 990 Financial Filing for 2014, between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015, Columbia’s total revenues of $4,910,706,402 exceeded its total expenses of $4,139,274,346 by over $771 million; and the value of “non-profit” Columbia’s net assets increased from $13 billion to $13.5 billion during the same period.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are accumulated by “non-profit” Columbia University as a result of its investment of endowment funds in things like corporate stocks and hedge funds, from which it obtains dividends or additional income from selling some of its corporate stocks at stock market prices higher than the prices it paid at the time the corporate stocks were purchased. Between July 2014 and June 2015, for example, Columbia University’s annual income from its investments exceeded $856 million. In addition, during the same period, Columbia University’s annual rental income from its real estate property exceeded $23 million and its annual income from “royalties” exceeded $89 million.

Some of the $4.9 billion in annual revenues that the administration of Columbia University pocketed between July 2014 and June 2015 was then passed on to “sub-recipients” of Columbia’s tax-exempt government and foundation grant money like Harvard, University of Michigan, M.I.T., Yale, Stanford, Boston University, Jnpiego Corporation, Brandeis and the Rand Corporation for “research,” in the form of “sub-recipient” grants. The Columbia administration, for example, gave:

$1,919,754 in sub-recipient grant money to Harvard University;

$1,918,002 in sub-recipient grant money to University of Michigan;

$885,408 in sub-recipient grant money to M.I.T.;

$876,859 in sub-recipient grant money to Yale University;

$763,294 in sub-recipient grant money to Stanford University;

$712,489 in sub-recipient grant money to Boston University;

$486,287 in sub-recipient grant money to Jnpiego Corporation;

$466,657 in sub-recipient grant money to Brandeis University;

 and

$346,750 in sub-recipient grant money to the Rand Corporation.

And much of Columbia University’s $4.9 billion in annual revenuesbetween July 2014 and June 2015 was used to provide total annual compensation payments to some Columbia University administrators and professors that exceeded by a lot the annual average salaries paid to most people who live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Total annual compensation payments that exceeded $400,000, for example, were made by Columbia University to the following university administrators or professors:

Columbia University President of Investment Management Nirmal Narvekar received a total annual compensation of $7,221,568;

Columbia University Executive VP of Investment Management Peter Holland received a total annual compensation of $6,509,884;

Columbia University Clinical Professor David Silvers received a total annual compensation of $4,633,927;

Columbia University Professor of Medicine Jeffrey Moses received a total annual compensation of $2,672,693;

Columbia University Lee Bollinger received a total annual compensation of $2,473,682;

Columbia University Professor of Surgery Craig Smith received a total annual compensation of $2,074,569;

Columbia University Professor of Surgery Gregg Stone received a total annual compensation of $1,945,027;

Columbia University Professor of Surgery Martin Leon received a total annual compensation of $1,923,004;

Columbia University Executive VP for Health Sciences Lee Goldman received a total annual compensation of $1,728,577;

Columbia University Senior Executive VP Robert Kasdin received a total annual compensation of $879,557;

Columbia University Incoming Executive VP of University Development and Alumni Amelia Alverson received a total annual compensation of $795,003;

Columbia University Trustee Kenneth Forde received a total annual compensation of $791,592;

Columbia University Provost John Coatsworth received a total annual compensation of $756,218;

Columbia University General Counsel Jane Booth received a total annual compensation of $645,004;

Columbia University Executive VP for Finance Anne Sullivan received a total annual compensation of $639,898;

Columbia University Executive VP of Facilities Joseph Ienuso received a total annual compensation of $619,022;

Columbia University Executive VP of Arts and Sciences David Madigan received a total annual compensation of $522,143;

Columbia University former Executive VP for Development and Alumni Susan Feagin received a total annual compensation of $505,520;

Columbia University former Provost Allan Brinkley received a total annual compensation of $503,938; and

Columbia University Trustees’ Secretary Jerome Davis received a total annual compensation of $411,487.

In addition, 4,880 other administrators or faculty members of “non-profit” and corporate tax-exempted “Columbia University Inc.” each individually received--between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015--total annual compensations that exceeded $100,000.

Perhaps it’s now time for the Upper West Side’s “non-profit” Columbia University to finally begin to start paying a fair share of municipal, state and federal taxes during the 2017 fiscal year?