Gates

In the wake of Warren Buffett ending his extraordinary philanthropic partnership with the Gates Foundation, revisiting questions raised after its initial announcement.

As many are examining how AI-generated fortunes may reshape philanthropy, the enduring historical lesson of John D. Rockefeller for them should be more than simply his extraordinary private generosity. It should also include putting institutionalized, tax-incentivized giving in its proper place in America’s democratic order.

With Michael E. Hartmann, the former director of special projects at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and current policy fellow at the Ash Center’s Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation talks about his work and research interests, differences between the billionaire philanthropy of the past and the trillionaire philanthropy of the future, and whether the tensions of each with democracy will also be different.

Warns of coming supercharged dynastic philanthropy.

A compilation of interesting and insightful thinking from the last six of 13 recorded discussions so far this year about grantmaking and giving.

The author of a book on Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation talks to Michael E. Hartmann about Melinda French Gates’ grantmaking, as well as potential aggressive policy reforms of philanthropy and whether they could ever be cooperatively pursued by those of different worldviews.

The author of a book on Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation talks to Michael E. Hartmann about the reaction to his book, the degree to which the foundation is representative of establishment philanthropy in America, the recent announcement that the foundation will increase its spend-out rate, and what happened to the (once-)cooperative grantmaking relationship between Gates and Warren Buffett.

Republican lawmakers are committed to nonprofit reform in 2025. That could spell challenges for the field.

A regular curation.

A mid-year collection of interesting and insightful passages.