The Giving Review co-editor Daniel P. Schmidt retired in 2017 from The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee as its Vice President for Program. He joined Bradley in 1985 and worked there as a Program Officer, Senior Program Officer, Vice President for Operations, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and in 2001 and 2002, Acting President.
During his more than three decades at Bradley, Schmidt helped it become one of the country’s most-influential and -effective conservative policy-oriented foundations. Among other things, he oversaw creation in 1989 of the Bradley Commission on History in Schools; the annual Bradley Symposium in Washington, D.C.; and the 2008 Bradley Project on America’s National Identity.
Before joining Bradley, Schmidt was Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Marquette University, where he had earned his Ph.D. in History and taught Russian History and Western Civilization.
Schmidt currently serves on the boards of directors of the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation in Chicago, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Seton Catholic Schools network, and Messmer Catholic Schools in Milwaukee.
He has written for National Affairs, National Review Online, City Journal, RealClearPolicy, RealClearBooks, RealClearReligion, Philanthropy Daily, HistPhil, and the Capital Research Center.
The former White House official and Philanthropy Roundtable vice president talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about the Tappan brothers’ belief in the primary role of individual human beings to do what’s right and get things done, as well as how today’s alternative faith in the promise of technology is a serious challenge for any return to that primacy of people.
The former White House official and Philanthropy Roundtable vice president talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about his new novel on the underappreciated history of the Tappan brothers and the ways in which they changed American culture, including through their philanthropy.
Benda, Gurri, Rufo, and us.
The historian, researcher, and teacher talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about The Bradley Project on America’s National Identity in 2008, the risks of “conservative accommodationism”—including in philanthropy—and the need for conservatives to provide a genuine American narrative that stands as an alternative to progressivism’s false one.
The historian, researcher, and teacher talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about history and civics education, successful efforts to change the American narrative, and the risks of what he calls “conservative accommodationism” in the necessary attempt to rediscover a genuine one.
The Carlyle Group co-founder and co-chairman talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about his upcoming PBS documentary series examining the history and meaning of some of America’s iconic national symbols.
The Carlyle Group co-founder and co-chairman talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about what he calls “patriotic philanthropy.”
Newly out in paperback, Joel Kotkin’s book on the coming “neo-feudalism”—comparing current class conditions to those of the Middle Ages—correctly characterizes the current status and a current role of foundations.
An excerpt from our 2020 conversation with Samuel Gregg, during which he discusses Benedict and “the civilizational challenge of our time.”
We should be as willing to continue to learn from him as he has always so humbly been to learn from, and with, others.
The educational administrator talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about Catholic education, the importance of remaining faithful to its core mission of eternal salvation, and the educational and societal benefits of school choice.
The educational administrator talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about Catholic education and identity, creating a community of learners and believers, and the challenge of raising money for its mission in the current culture.
Levels of ambition, including philanthropic, the impossibility of a “New Man,” and the consequences of trying to create him.
As her memoir is released, the Holocaust survivor and philanthropy professional talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about philanthropy and education reform, the need for reform of philanthropy itself, and the benefits of a universal basic income.
As her memoir is released, the Holocaust survivor and philanthropy professional talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about her family history, education, and the American dream.
The former Bradley Foundation chairman talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about short- and long-term grantmaking strategies, the politicization of philanthropy and donor freedom, the imbalance between left and right among major givers, and what conservatives should try doing about it.
The former Bradley Foundation chairman talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about his decades’ worth of experience in real-estate investing, politics, and philanthropy.
Forty years ago this week, President Ronald Reagan delivered his historic speech to the British Parliament at Westminster, during which he famously predicted that Marxism-Leninism would end up “on the ash heap of history.” Daniel P. Schmidt writes about the Westminster speech in the article that we republish below, which originally appeared here on November 18,… Continue reading Revisiting Westminster before the fall of the Wall, and Sheptytsky before Schabowske
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 decision to “sunset” the foundation, the reasons for its success, and whether—and if so, how—other conservative givers could replicate that success now and in the future.
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 benefits of a long-term philanthropic outlook in ambitious projects like transforming the media.
Levels of ambition, including philanthropic, the impossibility of a “New Man,” and the consequences of trying to create him.
As Tim Stanley recalls it in his new book, Tevye says “You may ask, how did this tradition get started. I’ll tell you. I don’t know.” And another, unsettling question: without tradition, will there be anything left?
Brief insights from an area of utmost geopolitical, religious, and cultural significance.
Fifteen years after publication of his book on the John M. Olin Foundation, its author talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about Olin himself, his decision to “sunset” the foundation, the reasons for its success, and whether—and if so, how—other conservative givers could replicate that success now and in the future.
The College Fix founder talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about the benefits of a long-term philanthropic outlook in ambitious projects like transforming the media.
The retired “civic environmentalist” talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about the Green New Deal, some successes of conservative environmentalism, and the perils of polarized philanthropic funding of environmental activity.
The retired “civic environmentalist” talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about Aldo Leopold, the Land Ethic, and the Sand County Foundation he led for more than three decades.
Elisabeth S. Clemens’ book—including its description of the March of Dimes, what would now be properly considered a “working charity,” in the polio crusade—impressively details questions about roles of, and relationship between, public and private sectors in meeting social challenges through American history.
In the wake of madness or even just in the midst of mere distraction, look elsewhere, and deeper.
And what can be done about it, including by philanthropy.
The Christian philanthropist, author, blogger, and Sunday-school teacher talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about the state of public discourse in America today, religion and philanthropy, friendship, and C. S. Lewis.
The Christian philanthropist, author, blogger, and Sunday-school teacher talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about The Gathering’s beginnings and learning in the context of a relationship.
The professor, writer, and commentator talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about the politicization of philanthropy and advises grantmakers to have a long-term outlook and consider supporting membership organizations and “extra-parliamentary institutions.”
The professor, writer, and commentator talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about philanthropy and nonprofitdom as part of the managerial elite’s threat to democracy, the difference between the overclass and the upper class, and the proper relationship between grantmaking and politics.
Revisiting the risky confidence and nihilistic moral certainty of an intelligentsia—this time, of Major League Baseball, Coca-Cola, and Delta.
Michael Mechanic’s forthcoming book well-describes “how the super-rich really live,” then promotes a progressive social-justice agenda that would supposedly prevent wealth from “harming us all.”
The education scholar, activist, and philanthropist talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about the current states of philanthropy, school choice, and history and civics education.
The education scholar, activist, and philanthropist talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about his mentor Daniel Patrick Moynihan and the current state of conservatism.
“Write some good ones.”
The legal organization’s president talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about the different attributes of today’s law-school students, the state of conservatism in general and its current internal debate about “fusionism” in particular, and what and how conservative policy-oriented philanthropy should consider funding moving forward.
The legal organization’s president talks to Michael E. Hartmann and Daniel P. Schmidt about some of the reasons for its accomplishments, including the nature of its philanthropic support, and how the Left is now trying and whether it will be able to mimic its progress.
The Washington Post columnist and author of The Working-Class Republican talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about Reagan properly understood and how he can help conservatives and conservative philanthropy consider current challenges in facing the future.
The Washington Post columnist and author of The Working-Class Republican talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about conservative philanthropy and its attitude toward populism, scotch neat, and It’s a Wonderful Life.
We must steadfastly strive to see, and necessarily recall, others’ witness—so we can take the chances they give us to do so, too.
The Georgetown University professor talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about philanthropy as a supplement to justice, our commitment to liberty, and trusting the “deplorable” to govern themselves.
The Georgetown University professor talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about what identity politics has done to charity and philanthropy.
An important charitable lesson from the classic Christmas film.
“Farewell book” by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., underscores role of history and civics education in developing shared knowledge necessary to be a nation. Philanthropy can and should help.
Collection of essays from Manhattan Institute senior fellow, once a man of the left, lays out a century’s worth of instances in which elite experts—and, in at least one case, philanthropy—have failed the citizenry.
The Assumption University professor and author talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about charity, justice, subsidiarity, and what the Holy Father calls “political love” in the new encyclical.
The Assumption University professor and author talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about the Holy Father’s new encyclical and its “innovations” in Catholic social teaching.
The risky confidence and nihilistic moral certainty of an intelligentsia.
And the need for it in philanthropy.
His caution about “pitfalls and paradoxes” in philanthropy seems quite familiar.
Elisabeth S. Clemens impressively details questions about proper roles of, and relationship between, public and private sectors in meeting social challenges through American history.
If not, don’t. As an aspect of the French Revolution suggests, the old will be new again.
Joel Kotkin’s new book on the coming “neo-feudalism”—comparing current class conditions to those of the Middle Ages—correctly characterizes the current status and a current role of foundations.
And the meaning behind the money to build and maintain them.
Center for Effective Philanthropy report on policy-oriented foundations underscores importance of tightening thinking behind strategies and improving formulation and development of tactics—together, and for longer than usually first expected.
We have been here before: a debate about capitalism between clerics and capitalists occurred during preparation of a bishops’ pastoral letter on the economy in America almost four decades ago. The lay letter on the economy warrants serious re-examination, given the new debates into which its concepts should be re-introduced.
Science and experts, muckrakers and establishments.
The moral philosopher and political economist speaks with Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about freedom and faith, economic nationalism and the working class, philanthropy and ideas, and faith and reason.
The moral philosopher and political economist speaks with Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about differing emphases in papal thinking and teaching about capitalism and markets, the Vatican’s circles of engagement in consultations about them, and divisions within American conservatism today.
After all these years, even more patience is needed in education philanthropy.
Where philanthropy might want to look in our current period of conflict.
To help mark National School Choice Week, a story of patience and perseverance.
Profiles in Howard Husock’s new book tell a larger story, engagingly tracing an unfortunate development: the displacement of civil society by the state.
An important charitable lesson from the classic Christmas film.
He conducted himself in the proper manner, and for the proper reasons.
The author and former theology professor speaks with Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about philanthropy, the “open society,” populism, and true freedom.
The author and former theology professor speaks with Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about rock-climbing, conservatism, and opinion journals and magazines.
It’s less important than the “pilgrimage.”
Troubling implications for foundations and grantmaking if those challenges fail.
With overriding principles of freedom and human dignity, underlying practices of patience and persistence.
And totalitarianism, transcendence, and the triumph of truth.
George Soros’ new book notes “pitfalls and paradoxes” of philanthropy in ways that seem quite familiar.
And another option for grantmakers to at least consider.
It’s not over. (It never is.)
We’re in the midst one of the most-drastic changes in the flow of information in history. Policy-oriented funders need to change their strategies accordingly.
As the current Brewers owner says, “Teams can go in two directions” when major setbacks happen.
A “come-to-history” moment about the long and winding road ahead, deeper into a dictatorship of virtue.
We have been here before: a debate about capitalism between clerics and capitalists occurred during preparation of a bishops’ pastoral letter on the economy in America almost four decades ago. The lay letter on the economy warrants serious re-examination, given the new debates into which its concepts should be re-introduced.
Picking up on aspects of good policy-oriented giving.
Overcoming temptations and the tragic with tough-mindedness and long-termism.
Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann talk to the Hudson Institute senior fellow and former Joyce Foundation and German Marshall Fund president about philanthropy and international affairs.
The civil-rights and parent-choice activist talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about philanthropy, education reform, and the principles driving his work.
The civil-rights and parent-choice activist talks to Daniel P. Schmidt and Michael E. Hartmann about basketball, his early life, community organizing, and being an organizer.
More are recognizing America’s “identity crisis” as urgent.
Remembering, and trying to learn from, a good philanthropic role played more than two decades ago.
Introducing our effort to provide independent analysis of and commentary about philanthropy and giving.
The story of conservative policy philanthropy from Barry Goldwater to Donald Trump.
Conservative philanthropy appears to be on the threshold of a new phase in its history.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences (IES) released new findings on the District of Columbia school-choice program. The “evaluation showed that students who received a voucher did 7.3 percentage points worse on math than students who didn’t, while reading scores were not significantly different for the two groups,” according to Frederick M.… Continue reading In looking for truth, breezes over bushes
