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.
[5] 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.
[5] 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 board-approved spending policy must be based on the average market value of the endowment investments over the 12 quarters (or more) immediately preceding the calculation.
In 2016, Longstreth wrote a draft interpretive release for state AGs, noting that under the act, institutions that expose themselves to investment in companies materially dependent on long-term carbon emissions (such as the fossil fuel industry) could be found to be acting imprudently and at odds with their charitable mission.