Throughout our nation’s history, zealous left-wing crusades have gradually but invariably lost ground because, sooner or later, the practical and immediate demands of commerce reasserted themselves in the face of abstract utopian promises.
A feared “future” that actually began about nine decades ago.
The editor, author, and former nonprofit leader talks to Michael E. Hartmann about whether his critiques of the nonprofit sector apply more to grantmakers than grant recipients, whether there’s a distinction between civil society and the nonprofit sector, generational differences within and mission creep on the part of nonprofits, the benefits of incrementalism in any practical change or policy reform of the sector, and his recommendations for nonprofit leaders in reacting to the nonprofit crisis.
The editor, author, and former nonprofit leader talks to Michael E. Hartmann about the nature of the nonprofit crisis, the fairness of some (cross-ideological) critiques of the nonprofit sector, the effects of political polarization on responding to the crisis, and the need for some introspection in and reform of the sector.
The attorney and think-tank fellow talks to Michael E. Hartmann about the increased scrutiny of the nonprofit sector, the potential effects of that scrutiny on civil society, the Trump administration’s recently reported plans to enhance the IRS’s criminal-investigative division, and the potential effects of that enhancement on philanthropy and nonprofits.
Ross Douthat properly laments the influence and power of activists and elites effecting dramatic change outside the democratic process and then trying to survive or sidestep backlash from voters.
The research fellow talks about Alexis de Tocqueville, whether “civil society” and the “nonprofit sector” are the same thing, and what his new Philanthropy Roundtable research on government funding of nonprofit entities has to say both to their leaders and to policymakers, if anything.
The London-based policy analyst and commentator talks to Michael E. Hartmann about where criticism of politicized charity is coming from in the U.K., why, and what could and should perhaps be done about it.
Contestation between conservative and liberal conceptions of civil society—and the way we might come to a healthy compromise.
Conceptions of civil society among populist conservative writers and thinkers and in magazines and journals open to populist conservatism.
In the framework of the “parallel polis” for which N. S. Lyons called at the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, there already exists a latent one in America’s central-city neighborhoods.
Labor journalist Hamilton Nolan’s new book on “the struggle for the soul of labor” takes progressive philanthropy to task for not prioritizing the promotion of America’s labor movement and makes an urgent plea for it to do more, and with more patience.
The American Institute for Economic Research senior research fellow talks with Michael E. Hartmann about the perverse incentives of the tax system on nonprofits, what hypothetically would happen to the third sector absent tax-incentivization, whether progressive Big Philanthropy might do damage to it along with Big Government, and encouraging more bottom-up experimentation in addressing social ills.
The American Institute for Economic Research senior research fellow talks with Michael E. Hartmann about his research, why Tocquevillian voluntary association became such a beneficial part of America’s social contract, the relationship between volunteerism and governmental and individual sovereignty, and the detrimental effect that enlarged government and its taxation had on voluntariness.
In 1994, the Bradley Foundation’s then-president described the “Bradley Project on the 90s,” led by Bill Kristol, and its call for a “new citizenship” that helped form the foundation’s grantmaking program.
The American Enterprise Institute senior fellow talks to Michael E. Hartmann about donor-advised funds and anonymous giving through them, as well as the large, mostly progressive foundations’ influence and self-perpetuating non-accountability.
The American Enterprise Institute senior fellow talks to Michael E. Hartmann about his career, the Civil Society Awards program, whether civil society is a “luxury good,” and philanthropy and donor-advised funds.
As shown in and by Sanford, Mich., starting one year ago, it’s often when massive devastation is visited on a population that it discovers its true character.
In philanthropy, for example, personal giving almost doubled from 1929 to 1964, then turned back downward from 1964 to 1996, according to new book by Robert D. Putnam with Shaylyn Romney Garrett. What to do about all this? Where to turn?
As shown in and by Sanford, Mich., it’s often when massive devastation is visited on a population that it discovers its true character.
Generate the moral energy for a reinvigorated central government, or rely on a bewilderingly diverse and dispersed network of local, decentralized civic institutions?
Healthy cooperation and equally healthy collisions between fully functioning capitalism, government, and civil society.
Are management training and statistical measurement really the keys to solving our deepest social problems?
Civil society should not be seen by experts, or funders, merely as a tool to solve social problems.
