Bloomberg Pulls the Plug

(3-19-10) Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City’s richest man and biggest philanthropist, is quietly pulling the plug on Carnegie Corporation of New York an unusual program that has poured nearly $200 million of his fortune into nonprofit groups across the five boroughs, in a sign of major change under way in his charitable giving plans.

The program was unusual in many ways: Mr. Bloomberg technically gave the money as an anonymous donor, but it was an open secret that it came from him; each year the Carnegie Corporation published a list of the donations and recipients, and the mayor’s press office alerted reporters to its release.