The Architecture of Big Philanthropy
“We shape our buildings,” Winston Churchill said in 1943, “and afterwards they shape us.” Foundations are not government agencies, of course, but they are meant to serve the public. Although…
Philanthropy
“Democracy Funders” Lopsidedly Liberal
Of the top 200 givers to “democracy” as defined and tracked by Candid, 121 are ideologically categorizable as left-of-center and 21 are categorizable as right-of-center. Of the Candid list’s top…
Senate Finance Committee Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on Tax-Exempt Nonprofits and Politics
The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance’s Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight has announced that it has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, May 4, to examine “Laws and Enforcement Governing…
Philanthropy on the Defensive
Establishment philanthropy in America is on the defensive—as it should be. Measured in terms of its size, the philanthropic sector is big and getting bigger; this is not necessarily a bad…
A Conversation with Know Your Enemy’s Sam Adler-Bell (Part 1 of 2)
The writer, analyst, and podcast co-host talks to Michael E. Hartmann about ideas, why we believe in the ones we do, and how sophisticated argumentation can better help us know…
A Conversation with Know Your Enemy’s Sam Adler-Bell (Part 2 of 2)
The writer, analyst, and podcast co-host talks to Michael E. Hartmann about how conservative philanthropy was caught flat-footed by the political ascendancy of conservative populism in 2016 and progressive and…
Revisiting Our Conversation with Journalist and Author John J. Miller (Part 1 of 2)
As his book on the John M. Olin Foundation is released in paperback, we feature The College Fix founder talking to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about the…
Revisiting Our Conversation with Journalist and Author John J. Miller (Part 2 of 2)
As his book on the John M. Olin Foundation is released in paperback, we feature its author talking to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about Olin himself, his…
Elon Musk’s Philanthropy Is Still Big Philanthropy
Boy-genius Elon Musk—of SpaceX, Tesla, and $5.7 billion in charitable gifts no one’s yet seen distributed—nearly broke the internet this week when first he became the largest single shareholder of…
A Conversation with Duke University’s Kristin Goss (Part 1 of 2)
The professor of public policy and political science talks to Michael E. Hartmann about her career, and the level and nature of academic study and journalistic coverage of policy-oriented philanthropy.