Giving Review

If conservative donors hope to effect real change on college campuses, they need to be very careful about the ways they offer funding.

And the need for it in philanthropy.

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

Including for those progressive foundations that supported and promoted it.

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.

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

The Madison Initiative director talks about Congress, the initiative’s grantees, and “philanthropic pluralism.”

The Madison Initiative director talks about his early career, management consulting, and philanthropy.

The Department of Education Reform chair talks about philanthropic education-reform strategies—including the Gates Foundation’s—and learning from failure, or not.

The Department of Education Reform chair talks about education-reform philanthropy and that which animates it, as well as Teach for America.

Not skew corporate pronouncements and practices toward philanthropic purposes.

It’s not over. (It never is.)

If we’re moving from an “information age” to a “reputation age,” what are the implications for funding public discourse?

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.

A “come-to-history” moment about the long and winding road ahead, deeper into a dictatorship of virtue.

Examining some proposals.

Those who care about the sector should probably be a little unsettled.

A (merely) diversity-minded progressive donor should indeed venture with utmost caution into the unsettled new world of cultural philanthropy.

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 its potential wider implications, including for philanthropy.

Picking up on aspects of good policy-oriented giving.

And where to look for rebuilding self-governance.

Another option, to which one might think there would be more receptivity.

On Labor Day, remembering Penn Kemble … and Robert Nisbet.

Are management training and statistical measurement really the keys to solving our deepest social problems?

And philanthropy.

Overcoming temptations and the tragic with tough-mindedness and long-termism.

Reflections on my co-editors’ conversation with Howard Fuller.

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 Syracuse University professor and former Kauffman Foundation president talks about entrepreneurship, education, and philanthropy with Michael E. Hartmann.

The Syracuse University professor and former Kauffman Foundation president talks about business plans and entrepreneurship, including philanthropic efforts to support it, with Michael E. Hartmann.

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.

Too tidy and convenient an explanation for today’s conservative policy activism.

“Let’s you and him fight.”

A great man whom we feel blessed to have known.

Casting a wide net.

Liberally educated generalists with range, rather than narrowly focused specialists with technical expertise and sometimes-overbearing confidence.

And for conservative philanthropy, a small measure of comfort.

More are recognizing America’s “identity crisis” as urgent.

Pretense, resentment, arrogance, and thus plausibility.

Where did the phrase originate, and what does it mean?

In Milwaukee, it didn’t start with any grantmaker. The indispensable groundwork was laid by parents concerned about the education of their children.

Searching for isolated, but incredibly powerful voices of authentic experience with utopian progressivism, who can speak about its excesses with an authority that scholars and activists don’t possess.

It may sometimes be a good idea for policy-oriented givers to consider supporting those on the other side of an otherwise-overarching ideological divide or with another worldview.

Remembering, and trying to learn from, a good philanthropic role played more than two decades ago.

Civil society should not be seen by experts, or funders, merely as a tool to solve social problems.

Michael E. Hartmann talks to the president of The Center for Effective Philanthropy and author of “Giving Done Right: Effective Philanthropy and Making Every Dollar Count.”

A decade-old report still has much to teach us.

Introducing our effort to provide independent analysis of and commentary about philanthropy and giving.

Pillars of establishment philanthropy—including GuideStar and Charity Navigator—should be subject to increased scrutiny because of what went on at SPLC and their reactions to it.

Restoring a more patient philanthropy means backing away from the obsession with immediate policy and political outcomes.

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

American philanthropy is thoroughly, fundamentally elitist. In the Trump era, it will be tempted to pursue political activity that will only make that fact painfully apparent to the American people…