Summary: Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO audited the use of commemorative coin surcharge proceeds received by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc.
GAO noted that: (1) the Foundation received $5 million in final coin surcharge proceeds from the U.S. Mint in June 1994 and placed the surcharge proceeds and related investment earnings into an endowment in December 1994; (2) the purpose of the endowment is to support the Foundation's efforts to restore and preserve Monticello and its related educational programs; (3) as of December 1996, the Foundation had not made any expenditures form the endowment, other than investment management fees; (4) the endowment balance as of April 1997 was about $7.6 million; and (5) section 5134 of Title 31, United States Code, as amended by Public Law 104-208, now requires future coin surcharge recipients to: (a) separately account for the expenditure of coin surcharge proceeds: and (b) obtain annual financial audits by an independent public accounting firm until all surcharge proceeds are expended or placed in trust.
