“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…
Big Philanthropy
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…
George Soros Losing $1.3 Billion on Electric Vehicles
In late 2021, reports began to surface that George Soros had made a massive investment in Rivian Automotive, a start-up electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer. In the past few months, the…
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.
A Conversation with Duke University’s Kristin Goss (Part 2 of 2)
The professor of public policy and political science talks to Michael E. Hartmann about how policy plutocrats actually go about trying to get their way, the effects of this plutocracy,…
Foundations Should Disclose Investments and De-Politicize Giving
An increasing number of private foundations are inserting sociopolitical considerations into their investment portfolios, just as many already do in their grantmaking. Those that choose to do so should be…
Leaders of Aggressive Congressional Investigations of Philanthropy—Past, and Potential Future?
Progressive and populist, and academic and popular, critiques of grantmaking certainly seem to be on the rise of late. These is an increasing intensity to them. Congressional curiosity, it sure…
The Private Investments of Private Foundations: Philanthropy’s “Dark Money”?
The IRS instructs private foundations to attach a detailed schedule of investments to their annual publicly available Form 990-PF. Some, however, do not include meaningful detail on how their vast…
The Private Investments of Private Foundations: Incongruous Investments
Investment portfolios shouldn’t be battlefields for ideological conflict, but many foundations—and particularly the activist groups they fund—are increasingly choosing to make them so. This can result in a marked disconnect…