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In the Press | Press Releases Montco firm to administer Atkins charity National Philanthropic Trust, based in Jenkintown,will handle the famous diet doctor's foundation
The widow of famous diet doctor Robert C. Atkins has chosen a Jenkintown charity to manage a $40 million bequest through a foundation that will make grants focused on nutrition, diet, obesity and diabetes. National Philanthropic Trust, an independent public charity that manages more than $500 million and has disbursed more than $235 million in grants to charities worldwide, expects that the Atkins family will make additional bequests. For tax purposes and other reasons, some wealthy donors give permanent control of their charitable funds to National Philanthropic Trust, which is an IRS-approved charity. The group operates no programs of its own, but instead uses its expertise to find and make grants to organizations that can best accomplish the donors' goals. The doctor, who made low-carb diets famous, died in April 2003. His widow, Veronica, of New York, wanted to continue his legacy through a charity, "but she wanted to come in under the umbrella of an established public charity that knew the mechanics of what it took to run a foundation," said Eileen R. Heisman, National Philanthropic Trust's president. The trust began managing the couple's foundation, the Dr. Robert C. Atkins Foundation, last fall. "Setting up the board, setting up the minutes, all the infrastructure, we're doing it with her and for her," Heisman said. The Atkins Foundation, which will focus on nutritional science and research, had previously made $3 million in grants to hospitals and universities, including Pennsylvania Hospital. This article originally appeared on May 26, 2004 in The Philadelphia Inquirer. |
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The Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Foundation c/o National Philanthropic Trust, 165 Township Line Road, Suite 150, Jenkintown, PA 19046-3593 |