TLG Managing Partner Jeff Tenenbaum Quoted in Chronicle of Philanthropy Article, “Faced with Anti-DEI Complaint, Gates Foundation Opens Scholarship to White Students”

TLG Managing Partner Jeff Tenenbaum was quoted in the April 14, 2025, Chronicle of Philanthropy article, “Faced with Anti-DEI Complaint, Gates Foundation Opens Scholarship to White Students.”

“The IRS has maintained that charities may not engage in, as their purpose, an activity that is illegal. So, for instance, a nonprofit that is formed for the purpose of committing civil disobedience and breaking the law might not receive tax-exempt status. But an organization that in the process of trying to achieve in its broader mission supports an activity that breaks the law — say, by giving a grant to a nonprofit whose members are guilty of an isolated incident of trespassing — might not be in jeopardy of losing its status as long as that activity is not a substantial part of the programs it supports. But it is not clear how to define what is substantial, Aprill said. “Substantiality is a really wiggly concept,” she said.

Jeff Tenenbaum, a lawyer who represents nonprofits, agreed and called the argument Blum made in his letter to the IRS “a stretch.” “Cases and rulings are all over the place” on substantiality, he said before the Gates foundation adjusted the criteria for the scholarship. “It has to be something that is significant. It can’t just be some tiny little part of what an organization does.”

Following up by email after the Gates change, Tenenbaum said the move likely helped the philanthropy giant avoid a high-profile discrimination lawsuit. “The Gates Foundation did what it needed to do,” he wrote.