The GR Editors

Quick reactions to some results of the Independent Sector survey with Edelman, in five short answers to one question.

On September 26, “Reshaping the Conversation: How to Rebuild Public Trust in Philanthropy.”

“The expansion of politics into almost all aspects of life means that activities that were previously considered nonpartisan have been made partisan—legislation and regulation have not kept up,” concludes open letter co-signed by its chairman.

A regular curation.

“Philanthropy’s expanding footprint has spurred ongoing debates about how the nonprofit world is managed and regulated—a discussion I hope to contribute to in this column,” Kennedy writes.

“American taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize investments that benefit the Chinese Communist Party,” according to U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin. “[I]nstitutions that want preferential tax treatment must choose ….”

Part of American Confidence in Elections Act.

A regular curation.

A mid-year collection of interesting and insightful thinking about grantmaking and giving.

Suggesting a session for serious self-examination.

Shoulder to the wheel.

A regular curation.

A regular curation.

A regular curation.

All contributions to The Giving Review online symposium, which have been published here during the past weeks, are now compiled in one printable document, “Conservatism and the Future of Tax-Incentivized Big Philanthropy.” The symposium is meant to earnestly and meaningfully explore conservatism’s past and future relationships with the country’s philanthropic establishment, which is overwhelmingly predominantly progressive,… Continue reading Contributions to “Conservatism and the Future of Tax-Incentivized Big Philanthropy” compiled in one document

Hard questions.

An end-of-year collection of interesting and insightful passages.

An end-of-year collection of interesting and insightful thinking about grantmaking and giving.

Egger: “I question openly whether those laws were designed by people to keep us right where we are. … [O]ur ultimate goal is to change the laws.”

Eisenberg: “[H]e strongly believes that the regulations governing nonprofits are too restrictive and should be changed to allow nonprofits to participate directly in political campaigns and partisan politics … and I heartily disagree.”

Recalling, and appreciating, his insistence on support for the grassroots and willingness to criticize the powerful.

A lengthening list.

President Joe Biden’s recent announcement that the federal government will forgive $10,000 in federal higher-education debt for most borrowers and up to $20,000 for recipients of federal Pell Grants has again brought some attention to large endowments of colleges and universities. Some have proposed increasing taxes on these endowments to help government finance the forgiveness. The 2017… Continue reading An updated collection of articles about the tax treatment of higher-education endowments

A mid-year collection of interesting and insightful thinking about grantmaking and giving.

A mid-year collection of interesting and insightful passages.

More to be made of that which it has wrought.

Healthy cooperation and equally healthy collisions between fully functioning capitalism, government, and civil society.

A “joke,” and other characterizations.

“The turn of so much of mainstream conservative philanthropy away from engaged foreign and defense policy work has been to America’s detriment, and to the detriment of the world as well,” according to the former Hudson Institute president. “It is time for conservative philanthropy to … return to supporting serious, sober, creative, security-oriented foreign-policy work ….”

“Vladimir Bukovsky, Václav Havel, Adam Michnik, and Czeslaw Milosz come to mind, among others,” according to the longtime Bradley Foundation vice president, “as do the Polish Solidarność trade union, the Czech Charter 77 group, and the Russian truth-telling group Memorial.”

“Peace is a conservative value, and a benefit to America and the world,” according to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft chief executive officer. “Increased conservative support for realism and restraint in U.S. foreign policy is imperative.”

“Left of center American donors now largely set the agenda and dominate international giving. There is a strong emphasis on exporting American morality on gender, orientation, and race, as well as a major focus on various development schemes in Africa and elsewhere,” the former Joyce Foundation and German Marshall Fund president writes. “There are no conservative donors that are supporting alternatives to this agenda.”

“After helping people in their moments of crisis and humanitarian need,” according to the Wilson Center president, “conservative giving should focus on capacity building and supporting people, communities, and countries in their journey to self-reliance.”

Overall, giving by conservatives in America to support organizations and projects concerned with foreign policy and national security, as well as to groups and efforts at work “on the ground” in other countries that promote democracy or provide humanitarian aid, seems to have changed in many ways during the past decade, if not longer—concerningly to… Continue reading Symposium on conservative international giving: Introduction

Including potential witnesses.

William A. Schambra, Further thoughts on “other-side” giving, July 17, 2019 (“The tricky part of ‘other-side’ giving for conservative funders—the dilemma that also faced capitalist funders of socialist trade unions after World War II—is that the grants aren’t going to compliant ideological allies who share the full range of conservative political beliefs. They’re going to… Continue reading A collection of Giving Review articles about conservative international philanthropy, during and informed by the Cold War

“[P]rivate foundations had become increasingly active in political and legislative activities,” according to Congressional staff. “[F]unds were spent in a ways clearly designed to favor certain candidates. In some cases, this was done by financing registration campaigns in certain areas.”

“Patman had much to allege with respect to his Committee’s accumulated evidence of … foundation abuse of the sanctuary of income tax exemption,” according to the Midland, Mich., tax attorney’s 1964 law-review article.

Adding a new entry—but still counting on one hand, maybe two.

“Political activity,” according to the Reece Committee general counsel’s 1958 book, “endangers the future of the foundation as an institution.”

What might she think of The New York Times’ in-depth investigation of nonprofits and politics?

Nobody asked, but …

Counting on one hand, maybe two.

2022 Edelman Trust Barometer finds trust in business remains higher than that in NGOs.

A year-end collection of interesting and insightful thinking about grantmaking and giving.

A year-end collection of interesting and insightful passages.

“I could hear them as if it were yesterday. I can hear the voices.”

On the newest “Givers, Doers, & Thinkers” podcast, Philanthropy Daily publisher Jeremy Beer talks to Giving Review co-editor and Capital Research Center senior fellow Michael E. Hartmann about the biggest challenges facing philanthropy today.

Philanthropy and data, oxytocin and neurological unity, and love and charity in Arthur C. Brooks’ new book on the culture of contempt.

Foundations’ collective effort presented as exemplary isn’t, or at least not for the reasons the consultants think.

On the newest InfluenceWatch podcast, Capital Research Center (CRC) research director Michael Watson talks to CRC senior fellow and Giving Review co-editor Michael E. Hartmann for 26 minutes about establishment philanthropy in America and some recent harsh reactions to and critiques of it.

Leslie Lenkowsky: “obvious solution” to “money not really being used for charitable purposes” is to end “tax deduction for all contributions.”

In the latest installment of an ongoing interview series, First Things contributing editor Mark Bauerlein talks to Giving Review co-editor and Capital Research Center senior fellow Michael E. Hartmann for just more than half an hour about philanthropy in America today.

And now.

An outline of options.

Worth exploring.

Wealthy elite gravitate toward elitism, however well-endowed already.

A mid-year collection of interesting and insightful thinking about grantmaking and giving.

ICYMI.

A mid-year collection of interesting and insightful passages.

Checking the power of progressive Big Philanthropy An updated collection of various recent ideas to reform philanthropy Plutocrats and their philanthropy: More ideas for saving the soul of the charitable sector Conservatives should applaud—not fight—efforts to change philanthropic giving rules We agree, foundations should be held accountable for high salaries and staggering expenses What would… Continue reading A collection of Giving Review articles about or related to philanthropy reform

Some of biggest pillars of America’s liberal philanthropic establishment to not just financially support, but actually participate in project.

Online Murdock Trust conversation features lively exchanges.

Ceded, or seated?

Scott Rasmussen national survey finds substantial support for ending tax exemption for wealthy institutions with nonprofit status.

ICYMI.

We’ve entered the 2000s.

ICYMI.

ICYMI.

Casting a wide net.

She probably should have known better, and sure seemed to have known so once.

Stephen R. Soukup’s straightforward explanation of increasing, and increasingly destructive, “wokism” in the country’s for-profit sector necessarily includes the role of some who are also in, and/or are acting through, the nonprofit sector.

The Center for American Restoration, the American Cornerstone Institute, and the Center for the American Way of Life provide additional options for ideas-driven, policy-oriented conservative givers to consider.

Lance Morrow’s new book provides an historically and religiously informed contextual overview for considering how money should be organized to do good.

Which may be permanent, and thus still relevant—including in the higher-education context.

For Democrats.

The Bradley Foundation’s librarian has been doing it very well, and with a smile, for a quarter of a century.

A year-end collection of interesting and insightful thinking about grantmaking and giving.

A year-end collection of interesting and insightful thinking about grantmaking and giving.

As chairman of the National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renewal, he urged “more of ourselves instead of more government.”

A year-end collection of interesting and insightful passages.

Carnegie Institution apologizes.

Regularly updated section will overview, and try to broaden a normally narrow, public discourse about grantmaking.

Additional options for grantmakers interested in helping refine or redefine conservatism moving forward.

And now, “political love.”

John Arnold and Ray Madoff float some suggestions of their own.

Philanthropy can learn from Ike—who said at Normandy in 1964 of those who preceded us, “these people gave us a chance ….”

From AOC and two popes.

Businessman, outdoorsman, conservationist, philanthropist.

Briefly overviewing some potential grantmaking options.

A telling historical snapshot of five foundations.

In the wake of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York’s disavowal of Margaret Sanger.

Exploring ways to, if inclined, support that which ultimately undergirds Western civilization itself.

“[T]he need is not so much for the Government to design new programs as it is for the Nation to generate new will.”

Eisenhower: “these people gave us a chance ….”

All foundations, but especially conservative ones, should consider annually spending substantially more than the five percent of their corpus now required by federal tax law.

Revisiting how to better bolster our shared allegiance to America and its principles. Of potential interest to donors, of course—but maybe also to parents who’ve become involuntary headmasters of their own home “academies” because of the coronavirus crisis.

Why progressive expertise, guilty of alarming excesses, now?

There is a Great Divide.

The importance of institutions.

A sermon that bears repeating.

Really thinking afresh.

The war for the minds of every generation must be fought anew lest the gains of the past be lost.

How’s it going?

A brief excerpt.

Healthy cooperation and equally healthy collisions between fully functioning capitalism, government, and civil society.

Exploring how to better bolster our shared allegiance to America and its principles.

A year-end collection of interesting and insightful quotes.

And she deserves some help.

“With all due respect, you’re not listening to us.”

Needing to nuance intensities in tension.

Always greeted with a smile, jousted with good nature, and toasted with cheer.

Briefly overviewing some potential grantmaking options.

From the Old Testament.

A great man whom we feel blessed to have known.

Casting a wide net.