The Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA) is a uniform act that provides guidance on investment decisions and endowment expenditures for nonprofit and charitable organizations. As of 2012 UPMIFA is the law in 49 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Neither Pennsylvania nor Puerto Rico has adopted UPMIFA. The major change in UPMIFA compared to the previous model law (the Uniform Management of Institutional Funds Act) is that it replaces a requirement that nonprofits cannot spend below the original value of contributions or "historic dollar value" (HDV) with a new requirement that their investing and spending will be at a rate that will preserve the purchasing power of the principal over the long term. The act also enshrines a "charitable purpose doctrine" into law, noting that investors must consider an investment's relationship with their broader social mission. History Predecessor The predecessor to UPMIFA, called the Uniform Management of Institutional Funds Act (UMIFA), was approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) in 1972 and was enacted by 47 states. Under UMIFA a charity could spend from an endowment fund up to the amount of appreciation above the historic dollar value (HDV), but could never spend below HDV. As of March 2009, the North Carolina Symphony had $6.9 million in its endowment but was unable to touch a penny because North Carolina law, at that time based on the UMIFA model, said that money could not be touched because the market value of the endowment was below HDV because of the slump on Wall Street. North Carolina has since adopted UPMIFA. Enactment The NCCUSL on July 13, 2006, approved UPMIFA as a replacement to UMIFA, adding the P for "prudent", which emphasizes the perpetuation of the original purchasing power of the fund, not just the original dollars contributed to the fund. A key provision of UPMIFA states that: "Subject to the intent of a donor expressed in the gift instrument an institution may appropriate for expenditure or accumulate so much of an endowment fund as the institution determines is prudent for the uses, benefits, purposes, and duration for which the endowment fund is established. This uniform law is adopted state by state, and therefore the law may be slightly different in each state. For example, on September 20, 2010, New York Gov. David Paterson signed into law the New York version