InfluenceWatch Friday
The information compiled in InfluenceWatch gives news outlets and other interested parties to use this research in future reporting on significant topics that are often overlooked by the American public.
Jeff Bezos
A Conversation with Symposium Contributor Joel Kotkin
A prolific author and incisive commentator, Joel Kotkin is the Roger Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., executive director of Urban Reform Institute in Houston,…
Left-Wing Billionaire MacKenzie Scott
MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has made a tremendous effort to give away her wealth in record time, and she ought to be commended for it. As…
Philanthropy for “Citizens of the World”: Community Foundations
America has always had its patricians, but as the word suggests, they saw themselves as patriotic “fathers” of their country, and their wealth and prestige were tied up in their…
Philanthropy for “Citizens of the World”: Grants
So which politically active organizations are the biggest beneficiaries of community foundation money? To sift through tens of thousands of grants and avoid cherry-picking recipients, we identified nonprofits that are…
Philanthropy for “Citizens of the World”: Donors
Community foundation grants ultimately originated with (mostly) anonymous donors, not the community foundations themselves, which serve as conduits for donor-advised-fund account holders. The largest community foundation givers on this list…
Philanthropy for “Citizens of the World”: What Is Philanthropy For?
Who does philanthropy serve? Until we answer that question—one that our forebears understood—community foundations, private foundations, and 501(c) groups are immaterial. Philanthropos is the love of mankind rooted in the…
Local Philanthropy Isn’t Local for ‘Citizens of the World’
America’s liberal plutocrats’ “philanthropy” is more political than charitable and utterly disconnected from its roots in Christianity’s love for one’s fellow man. It isn’t only the Ford Foundation or George…
The Political Influence of Billionaires
The way billionaires and big tech are attempting to affect democratic processes via political spending is on nearly everyone’s radar after the 2020 election. Jeff Bezos and Amazon have demonstrated…
The Forbes 400, Conservatives, and Conservative Philanthropy
Forbes released its 39th annual Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans earlier this month. Collectively, the magazine reports, the 400 are worth a record total of approximately $3.2 trillion—up $240 billion from a…