Ten years after its formal organization as a not-for-profit under the protection of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the International Longevity Center becomes fully independent in control of its own affairs in January. The ILC's tax exempt status under the IRS Code in which its parent Mount Sinai was the "sole member" and intimately in charge of all affairs, including the election of the Board of Directors was modified by a joint agreement in December and approved by New York State authorities in January.
"This is an historic achievement in the development of the ILC," said Edward Berube, a member of the ILC board and chair of its Sustainability Committee which has been working on the matter for two years. The change in IRS status gives the ILC greater independence in governance, operations and fiscal accountability. At the same time an affiliation with Mount Sinai continues and Mount Sinai will appoint two members to the ILC Board.
"For the ILC this is the best of both worlds," says Dr. Robert Butler, founding president, who conceived the idea of the ILC in the 1980s and got it started as part of MSSM's Department of Geriatrics in 1990. The ILC physically left Mount Sinai in 1999 when it moved to its own headquarters building at 60 E. 86th Street. "We now have greater capacity to plan our own future while at the same time maintaining warm, familial ties with our parent organization." Dr. Butler praised the leadership of Mount Sinai over the years for encouraging the ILC to grow and develop. "It is sort of like a child growing up and leaving home while still staying in touch with the parents," said Mr. Berube.
The ILC now handles its own fiscal affairs, including payroll, benefits, insurances and the like, and reports solely to its own board, rather than to the administration and board of Mount Sinai.
At a recent meeting of the ILC Board, Chairman Max Link called the change "a great way to launch the ILC on a truly independent course that will assure its future and make it easier to develop all kinds of exciting relationships the world over." He hailed the work of the board and staff in initiating and facilitating the changes.
Continued relations between MSSM's Brookdale Department of Geriatrics include the jointly administered Hatch International Lectureship, the MSSM logo on ILC publications, and a faculty-staff steering committee which will seek out collaborative venture for research and policy connections.
Various MSSM seminars and program activities frequently meet at the ILC and MSSM faculty take part in several ILC advisory groups and task forces. The Brookdale Department was the first geriatrics department in a U.S. medical school and continues to be one of the highest ranked in the nation. "We value and treasure that association," said Dr. Butler.
A board committee headed by Mr. Berube and including directors Llyod Frank, William Martin, Humphrey Taylor, John Zweig and Everette Dennis charted the change of status effort and were advised by former director Ray Handlan, also a former president of Atlantic Philanthropies, the ILC's founding benefactor.
