In the wake of the Canadian think tank’s recent report on “circular lobbying” by government-funded child-care advocacy groups, the senior fellow and researcher talk to Michael E. Hartmann more about the risks of government funding of private groups in civil society—to their independence in particular and democratic pluralism in general.
The senior fellow and researcher talk to Michael E. Hartmann about the Canadian think tank’s recent report on “circular lobbying” by government-funded child-care advocacy groups and what it can tell us about the state of Tocquevillian civil society there.
The author of “Madisonian Nonprofit Law” talks to Michael E. Hartmann about effects of philanthropic LLCs on Madisonian nonprofit law and of a Madisonian nonprofit sector on political parties and politics; the tradeoffs in analyzing the interaction between nonprofits and politics and thinking about both the nationalization and commercialization of nonprofits; democracy and the “art of losing;” and democratically expressed backlash against elites, including philanthropic ones, and its risks to Madisonianism.
The author of “Madisonian Nonprofit Law” talks to Michael E. Hartmann about James Madison, Alexis de Tocqueville, checks and balances in the context of the nonprofit sector in general, some of the different ways in which nonprofits engage with and can check government, and the role of philanthropy in particular in counterbalancing government power, or not.
A compilation of interesting and insightful thinking from the first four of seven recorded discussions so far this year about grantmaking and giving.
Citizen entrepreneurship, as described in the Manhattan Institute’s 2010 William E. Simon Lecture.
During Center for Civil Society podcast, the scholar, author, onetime philanthropy executive, editor, and commentator discusses establishment philanthropy’s elitist progressivism and alternative thinking and examples, as well as the need to balance philanthropic freedom against concerns about philanthropic power.
In the wake of his recent article “Think Tanks Have Defeated Democracy,” the economist and policy analyst talks to Michael E. Hartmann about populism and the role of tax-incentivized philanthropy in supporting think tanks, how best to consider reforming the nonprofit sector, and how artificial intelligence might radically reshape it.
With Michael E. Hartmann, the economist and policy analyst talks about his recent article “Think Tanks Have Defeated Democracy;” why the U.S. has so many think tanks; how that differs from other democracies; and what philanthropy, its own managerial elite, and the one it funds have done to civil society rightly understood and democracy in America.
Donors and their advisors are going to have to come out from behind the desks and get out into the neighborhoods and see first-hand the sort of work that’s being done.
Virtue, decency, civil society, democracy, and subsidy.
Two of the members of a group issuing “An Invitation to a New Civic Future” talk to Michael E. Hartmann about the relationship between active citizens and philanthropic funders—as well as the opportunities presented to, and responsibilities of, each.
Two of the members of a group issuing “An Invitation to a New Civic Future” talk to Michael E. Hartmann about their backgrounds, their driving motivations to be part of the project, and the inherent localism and anti-professional and -managerial natures of successful civic renewal.
The Northwestern Pritzker School of Law professor talks to Michael E. Hartmann about America as both a commercial republic and a philanthropic republic; the relationship between the civil society about which Alexis de Tocqueville wrote and the tax-incentivized nonprofit sector in its current form; the wealthy and artificial intelligence; and sensible regulation and who’s best positioned to formulate it.
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.
