Declining trust in private foundations reflects a broader and deeper distrust of wealth and philanthropic power. Foundations should be wary of sacrificing donor intent and philanthropic freedom in any effort to regain public approval.
The tax-policy researcher talks to Michael E. Hartmann about the appropriate level and nature of nonprofit organizations’ Payments in Lieu of Taxation (PILOTs) to municipalities and whether they’ll become a benchmark for imposing actual outright taxes on nonprofits or perhaps even evolve into a broader-based challenge to exemption.
The tax-policy researcher talks to Michael E. Hartmann about nonprofit organizations’ Payments in Lieu of Taxation (PILOT) agreements with municipalities and what they say, if anything, about what many consider to be, and want to protect as, the inviolability of charitable tax-exemption.
Appealing calls for mutual restraint risk preserving rather than repairing a broken system.
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.
A compilation of interesting and insightful thinking from the first four of seven recorded discussions so far this year about grantmaking and giving.
A version at the commanding heights of elite private foundations, too, would do much good—for those foundations, for charity, and for the country.
Why foundations should invest in operating capacity.
The Brandeis University professor talks to Michael E. Hartmann about how so many think tanks have become partisan political organizations, including the role of their funding in the process.
Aggressive oversight—not new laws—may be the only way to curb the growing use of charitable dollars for political ends.
The Ronald Reagan Institute senior fellow talks to Michael E. Hartmann more about how the right should consider what to do about problems caused by the left’s intermingling with and reliance on politicized nonprofits.
The Ronald Reagan Institute senior fellow talks to Michael E. Hartmann about the left’s nonprofit problem and its history, origins, and effects, and how to consider doing something about it.
The political-science professor talks to Michael E. Hartmann about the professional class in the nonprofit sector and what the right should consider doing in response to its activities and their effects.
The political-science professor talks to Michael E. Hartmann about the role of nonprofit groups in the Minnesota welfare-fraud scandal, in the Democratic Party, and in other progressive states and Washington, D.C.
An end-of-year collection of interesting and insightful passages.
In straining to separate partisan politics from election-adjacent activities, answers to Independent Sector survey questions beg one.
The nonprofit-sector leader talks to Craig Kennedy and Michael E. Hartmann about the politics of policy reform in philanthropy, the pressures brought to bear on those either proposing or receptive to reform, and the importance of the nonprofit sector.
Sampling some legislative and regulatory proposals and reactions to new and anticipated executive action.
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 research fellow talks about his new Philanthropy Roundtable report on government funding of nonprofit entities and the ways in which various forms of government benefits can compromise their independence—as well as the range of conditions government can and cannot, and should and shouldn’t, attach to its funding of them.
In both messaging and missions, bridges instead of bubbles.
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.
2025 Edelman Trust Barometer finds higher level of trust in business than NGOs, much-lower level of trust in NGOs among low-income than high-income.
“At a later date, OMB will offer a new proposal designed to ensure that contractors and grantees do not use federal funds for lobbying or political activity,” the Office of Management and Budget’s Michael Horowitz wrote in May 1983.
Conservatives have suggested that federal-government departments and agencies should be relocated from Washington, D.C., to the heartland—a good idea, for many reasons. For some of the same ones, why not also philanthropically supported, conservative D.C.-based think tanks, other nonprofits, and activist organizations?
A selection of recent reviews.
The polymath and Substack writer talks to Michael E. Hartmann about his government service, his Substack page, the role nonprofits should and actually do play in America, and generally outlines potential policy reforms related to nonprofits.
On the basis of his long experience in the sector, the advisor, observer, and commentator talks to Michael E. Hartmann about those against DAF reform, some of the different kinds of nonprofit board members, different types of grantmaking strategies and tactics, and the underappreciated value of staffs at nonprofits.
On the basis of his long experience in the sector, the advisor, observer, and commentator talks to Michael E. Hartmann about how the nature of charitable giving has changed and how those changes affect fundraising challenges, including because of DAFs.
Subcommittee on Oversight to hear from legal experts and researchers.
Newly including philanthropic support for activities leading up to and in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
“[A]cross the political divide.”
What might she think of The New York Times’ in-depth investigation of nonprofits and politics?
