This book is based on numerous interviews I conducted with major donors and others who work in the field of philanthropy. As well, it is based on several years of research, reporting, and writing by myself and the team behind Inside Philanthropy, which has published profiles of hundreds of philanthropists, including both well-known figures and many people who are still new to giving.
Of necessity, this book has focused on just a handful of these donors, but my overall observations draw from IP’s deep research on today’s philanthropists, which covers many different kinds of donors, diverse in age, background, and the focus of their giving. Not every philanthropist featured in this book would agree to an interview, or had time to schedule me in, and I make clear in the text where I’ve spoken to people by using the phrase “told me.” Otherwise, I identify the sources of many quotes below, as well as data and studies cited in the chapters.
These notes also seek to guide readers to important books and resources that inform my points. I generally do not provide citations when citing data for giving by different foundations and individuals, or the budgets of nonprofits, which change often as new annual reports, audited statements, and tax returns are released. Readers looking for the most up-to-date-numbers for particular funders will be able to find that information with a little bit of digging.
bottom fifth of American households: Edward N. Wolff, “Household Wealth Trends in the United States, 1962–2013: What Happened over the Great Recession?” National Bureau of Economic Research, December 2014. http://www.nber.org/.
In their letter to Max: “A letter to our daughter,” by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, December 1, 2015.
“Wow,” wrote Bill and Melinda Gates: “Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan announce Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, inspired by the birth of their daughter,” press release, December 1, 2015.
ProPublica’s Jesse Eisenberg, writing: Jesse Eisenberg, “How Mark Zuckerberg’s Altruism Helps Himself,” New York Times, December 3, 2015.
Other critics echoed these points: Gillian B. White, “Assessing Mark Zuckerberg’s Non-Charity Charity,” Atlantic, December 3, 2015.
Another U.S. official criticized: Oliver Zunz, Philanthropy in America (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011), 21.
The subtitle of a 2008 book: Matthew Bishop and Michael Green, Philanthrocapitalism: How Giving Can Save the World (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009).
point that the Forbes 400: Chuck Collins and Josh Hoxie, “Billionaire Bonanza: The Forbes 400 and the Rest of Us,” Institute for Policy Studies,” December 2015. http://www.ips-dc.org/.
He also said he wanted to: Michael Barbaro, “As the Clock Ticks Down, Mayor Bloomberg Experiences 12 Years of Gratitude,” New York Times, December 31, 2013.
In a 2010 public statement: Michael Bloomberg Giving Pledge Letter, Givingpledge.org.
Data shows the world’s: “Bloomberg Philanthropies Launches the Vibrant Oceans Initiative, a $53 Million Commitment to Reverse Declining Fish Supply,” press release, Bloomberg Philanthropies, January 29, 2014.
His foundation also rolled out: 2014: Annual Update, Bloomberg Philanthropies, April 2015.
“Some still see philanthropy”: 2015 Annual Update, Bloomberg Philanthropies, April 2016.
Buffett added $25 billion: All figures in this book on the net worth of billionaires come from Forbes. The Forbes 400 lists for past years can be found at Forbes.com. The best source of current billionaire wealth is its “World’s Billionaires,” which is updated continuously in the “Real Time Rankings” section of the list. The net worth of billionaires changes often. All numbers in this book are the latest available, but may not match figures after publication.
boosting the wealth of the Forbes 400: Agustino Fontevecchia, “There Are More Self-Made Billionaires in the Forbes 400 Than Ever Before,” Forbes, October 3, 2014.
From 2003 to 2013, according to one study: Chuck Collins, Helen Flannery, and Josh Hoxie, “Gilded Giving: Top Heavy Philanthropy in an age of Extreme Inequality,” Institute for Policy Studies, December 2016, 2.
Some 30,000 new private foundations: All data on the number and assets of foundations in this book come from the Foundation Center. Data and numbers of donor-advised funds come from the National Philanthropic Trust.
One study has predicted: John J. Havens and Paul G. Schervish, “A Golden Age of Philanthropy Still Beckons: National Wealth Transfer and Potential for Philanthropy,” Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College, May 2014. https://www.bc.edu/research/cwp/.
Another study estimated: “Giving in Retirement: America’s Longevity Bonus,” Merrill Lynch, February 2015. https://mlaem.fs.ml.com/.
A 2015 study found that: “American Ultra Wealth Rankings 2014–2015,” Wealth X, 2015. http://www.wealthx.com/.
Meanwhile, community foundations: “2015 Donor-Advised Fund Report,” National Philanthropic Trust, 2015. https://www.nptrust.org.
“I didn’t do much philanthropy”: “A Conversation on Philanthropy with Bill Gates and Sir Michael Moritz, Sequoia Capital,” November 2013. http://sequoiacapital.tumblr.com/. On the early days of Microsoft, see James Wallace and Jim Erickson, Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire (New York: Wiley, 1993).
Later, though, Gates would regret: Bill and Melinda Gates, “Why Giving Away Our Wealth Has Been the Most Satisfying Thing We’ve Done,” transcript of TEDx interview, April 2014.
But once he read that report: “Warren Buffett with Bill and Melinda Gates,” transcript interview, Charlie Rose, May 26, 2006.
“So Bill can look at the big data”: Bill and Melinda Gates, “Why Giving Away Our Wealth Has Been the Most Satisfying Thing We’ve Done,” transcript of TEDx interview, April 2014.
Meanwhile, in the same year: Carol Loomis, “The $600 Billion Challenge,” Fortune, June 16, 2010.
“There are a lot of reasons why people”: “Bill and Melinda Gates Talk About the Giving Pledge,” ABC News, June 5, 2015.
Singer had even gone after: Peter Singer, “What Should a Billionaire Give—and What Should You?” New York Times Magazine, December 17, 2006.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison: All facts and quotations from Giving Pledge letters in this book come from the text of those letters, which can be found online at Givingpledge.org.
Gifts by living wealthy donors: “Giving USA 2016: The Annual Report on Philanthropy in the Year 2015,” Giving USA, 2016. http://givingusa.org/.
One analysis by the scholar Kristin Goss: Kristin Goss, “Policy Plutocrats: How America’s Wealthy Seek to Influence Governance,” PS: Political Science & Politics, July 2016, 442–48.
When the smoke had cleared: Richard Kogan and William Chen, “Projected Ten-Year Budget Deficits Have Shrunk by Nearly $5 Trillion Since 2010, Mostly Due to Legislative Change,” Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, March 20, 2014. http://www.cbpp.org/.
One analysis stated: David Reich, “Non-Defense Discretionary Programs Have Seen Large Cuts and Face More Cuts in 2015,” Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, November 18, 2014.
Non-defense discretionary spending: Office of Management and Budget, FY 2016 Budget, “Summary Tables.”
Second, interest payments: “The President’s Budget for Fiscal Years 2017,” 120. https://www.whitehouse.gov/.
By 2046: “The 2016 Long-Term Budget Outlook,” Congressional Budget Office, July 2016, 2. https://www.cbo.gov/.
Things won’t be much better at the state level: “The State Pension Funding Gap: Challenges Persist,” Pew Charitable Trusts, July 14, 2015. http://www.pewtrusts.org/.
Top cities are also in the red: Sally Goldenberg, “City Pension Liabilities Top $46 billion,” Politico, October 31, 2014.
States and localities have loads: “The State of the Municipal Securities Market,” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.” https://www.sec.gov.
In Rauch’s telling: Jonathan Rauch, “Demosclerosis,” National Journal, September 5, 1992.
As Philip Howard has written: Philip Howard, The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government (New York: W. W. Norton, 2014), 3.
In his 2012 book: Martin Gilens, Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012), 1.
In his 2008 study: Larry Bartels, Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008), 258.
One 2016 survey found: Hannah Fingerhut, “Most Americans Say U.S. Economic System Is Unfair, but High-Income Republicans Disagree,” Pew Research Center, February 10, 2016. http://www.pewresearch.org/.
One survey, funded by the Russell Sage Foundation: Benjamin I. Page, Larry M. Bartels, and Jason Seawright, “Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans,” Perspectives on Politics 11, no. 1, pp. 51–73.
One other thing: Collins, Flannery, and Hoxie, “Gilded Giving: Top Heavy Philanthropy in an Age of Extreme Inequality,” 2.
There weren’t many big funders: For more on the history of philanthropy and foundations, see Mark Dowie, Foundations: An Investigative History (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001); Joel Fleishman, Foundations: A Great American Secret (New York: PublicAffairs, 2001); Karl Zinsmeister, The Almanac of American Philanthropy (Washington, DC: Philanthropy Roundtable, 2016); and Oliver Zunz, Philanthropy in America (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011).
One global study of high-net-worth individuals: “The Wealth Report 2016,” Knight Frank, January 2016. http://www.knightfrank.com/wealthreport.
The psychological returns from: Arthur Brooks, “Why Giving Makes You Happy,” New York Sun, December 28, 2007. See also Arthur Brooks, Who Really Cares (Basic Books, 2006).
Schervish describes this: Paul G. Schervish, Platon E. Coutsoukis, and Ethan Lewis, Gospels of Wealth: How the Rich Portray Their Lives (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 1994), 3; and Paul G. Schervish, “Hyperagency and High-Tech Donors: A New Theory of the New Philanthropists,” Boston College Social Welfare Research Institute, November 13, 2003.
But Melinda Gates has described: “Bill and Melinda Gates Talk About the Giving Pledge,” ABC News, June 5, 2015. http://abcnews.go.com/.
As early as 1986, Buffett told: Richard Kirkland, “Should You Leave It All to the Children,” Fortune, September 29, 1986.
Later, when Buffett pledged: Jeremy Peters, “Buffett Always Planned to Give Away His Billions,” New York Times, June 26, 2006.
Bill has written: Bill Gates, “Why Inequality Matters,” GatesNotes.org, October 13, 2014.
Mike Bloomberg has been even: Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg on Bloomberg (New York: Wiley, 2001), 236.
Ostrower detailed the many ways: Francie Ostrower, Why the Wealthy Give: The Culture of Elite Philanthropy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995).
One analysis found that Apple’s: Charles Duhigg and David Kocieniewski, “How Apple Sidesteps Billions in Taxes,” New York Times, April 28, 2012.
Instead of primarily serving: See, for example, Wallace Turbeville, “Financialization and Equal Opportunity,” Demos, February 10, 2015. http://www.demos.org.
The Washington Post would: Don Eggen, “Many Deficit Commission Staffers Paid by Outside Groups,” Washington Post, November 10, 2010.
Peterson wasn’t pleased with: Kai Ryssdal, “Pete Peterson: The Man Who Focused Washington on the National Debt,” Marketplace, February 26, 2013.
Even better, such spending: For a look at the history of philanthropists supporting think tanks, see James A. Smith, The Idea Brokers: Think Tanks and the Rise of the New Policy Elites (New York: Free Press, 1991). See also Andrew Rich, Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
At least nine billionaires: David Callahan, “Which Washington Think Tank Do Billionaires Love the Most? And Why?” Inside Philanthropy, February 5, 2015.
In a long piece in Commentary: Arthur Brooks, “Be Open-Handed Toward Your Brothers,” Commentary, February 1, 2014.
He was a young Democrat: “Interview with Bruce Kovner,” Philanthropy, Fall 2015.
AEI scholars have even: Alan D. Viard, “Understanding Carried Interest,” National Review Online, January 31, 2012.
But AEI scholars have contested: Peter J. Wallison, “Does Shadow Banking Require Regulation?” American Enterprise Institute, June 14, 2012. http://www.aei.org.
Now, tired of being publicly vilified: Tim Alberta and Eliana Johnson, “Exclusive: In Koch World ‘Realignment,’ Less National Politics,” National Review, May 16, 2016.
The Mercer Family Foundation: Eric Lichtblau and Alexandra Stevenson, “Hedge-Fund Magnate Robert Mercer Emerges as a Generous Backer of Cruz,” New York Times, April 10, 2015.
The Heritage Foundation: Lee Edwards, The Power of Ideas: The Heritage Foundation at 25 Years (New York: Jameson Books, 1997).
In 1997, a philanthropy watchdog group: Sally Covington, “Moving a Policy Agenda: The Strategic Philanthropy of Conservative Foundations,” National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, July 1997. http://www.ncrp.org.
A follow-up report: David Callahan, “$1 Billion for Ideas: Conservative Think Tanks in the 1990s,” National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, March 1999. http://www.ncrp.org.
So it was that, in the early spring: Josh Richman, “Silicon Valley Types Launch D.C. Think Tank,” Political Blotter, March 31, 2015.
Just two years earlier, Conway: Norimitsu Onishi, “A Silicon Valley Vision for San Francisco,” New York Times, April 18, 2013.
Parker said that Silicon Valley’s: Nick Gass, “Tech Bigwigs Help Launch Economic Policy Group,” Politico, March 31, 2015.
Hanauer wrote in a widely read: Nick Hanauer, “The Pitchforks Are Coming…for Us Plutocrats,” Politico, June 2014.
Not long before Thanksgiving: Charles V. Bagli and Robin Pogrebin, “With Bold Park Plan, Mogul Hopes to Leave Mark on New York’s West Side,” New York Times, November 17, 2014.
One journalist wrote: Peter Schjeldal, “High Line Rhapsody,” The New Yorker, October 7, 2014.
One housing advocate: Miriam Axel-Lute, “Will Columbia Take Manhattanville,” Shelterforce, Spring 2008.
Robert Moses, who famously: Robert Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (New York: Knopf, 1974).
Between 1982 and 2007: Margaret Walls, “Parks and Recreation in the United States: Local Park Systems,” Resources for the Future, June 2009. http://www.rff.org/.
Among its powerful opponents: Nicholas Loris, “Land and Water Conservation Fund: Wrong Solution for Public Land Management,” Heritage Foundation, November 12, 2015. http://www.heritage.org.
Bloomberg said in his final speech as mayor: Jill Colvin, “Bloomberg Sounds Alarm Over ‘Labor-Electoral Complex’ in Final Speech as Mayor,” Observer, December 18, 2013.
At least two hundred parks around New York: Michael Kimmelman, “Mayor de Blasio’s Plan for Parks Needs to Grow,” New York Times, October 28, 2014.
“The number of people who really want”: Chuck Taylor, “Skeptics Deem Proposed $40M Fieldhouse a ‘Masquerade That Doesn’t Belong in BB Park,’ ” Brooklyn Heights Blog, July 26, 2012.
Emily Lloyd, the head of: Michael Powell, “Reducing Some City Parks to the Status of Beggars,” New York Times, May 27, 2013.
Broad later went on: Eli Broad, The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking (New York: Wiley, 2012).
The city, he has said: Connie Bruck, “The Art of the Billionaire,” The New Yorker, December 6, 2010.
The state now ranks: “State Arts Agency Revenues: Fiscal Year 2014,” National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, February 2014, 11. http://www.nasaa-arts.org/
In August 2015, readers of the Los Angeles Times: Howard Blume, “Major Charter School Expansion in the Works for L.A. Unified Students,” Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2015.
A memo outlining the plan: Howard Blume, “$490-Million Plan Would Put Half of LAUSD Students in Charter Schools,” Los Angeles Times, September 21, 2015.
It was among several pro-charter funders: Paul Fahri, “Foundations Fund L.A. Times’ Education Reporting. A Conflict?” Washington Post, October 29, 2015.
The donations by pro-charter funders: Howard Blume, “PAC Shielded $2.3 Million in Donations by L.A. Charter School Backers,” Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2015.
In recent years, pro-charter philantropists: Sarah Reckhow, Jeffrey Henig, Rebecca Jacobsen, and Jamie Alter, “Outsiders with Deep Pockets: The Nationalization of Local School Board Elections,” Urban Affairs Review, August 10, 2016.
Caputo-Pearl also told the Times: Mike Szymanski, “LA Teachers Planning Campaign to Oppose Charter Expansion,” LA School Report, August 26, 2015.
Some observers questioned the rush: Craig Clough, “Charters with Broad Support Show Only a Mixed Return on Investment,” LA School Report, September 30, 2015.
“The really important question”: Diane Ravitch, “Eli Broad Releases Plan to Take Over and Privatize Public Education in Los Angeles,” DianeRavitch.net, June 15, 2015.
The New York Times reported: Michael Barbaro, “Bloomberg Is Quietly Ending a Charitable Program,” New York Times, March 28, 2010.
Parker saw the transformative potential: Steven Bertoni, “Sean Parker: Agent of Disruption,” Forbes, September 21, 2011.
He said about food allergies: Steven Bertoni, “Why Sean Parker Gave $24 Million to Build a Stanford Allergy Research Center,” Forbes, December 17, 2014.
“A huge amount of costs”: Stephanie M. Lee, “The Story Behind Sean Parker’s $10 Million Donation to Autoimmune Research,” BuzzFeed, November 16, 2015.
In a Wall Street Journal essay: Sean Parker, “Philanthropy for Hackers,” Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2015.
Moskovitz decided early on: “PandoMonthly: Fireside Chat with Dustin Moskovitz,” May 6, 2012. https://pando.com.
Ackman has had some major ups and downs: Katrina Brooker, “Love Him or Hate Him, Ackman Now Runs the World’s Top Hedge Fund,” Bloomberg, January 5, 2015.
In an interview with Vanity Fair: William D. Cohan, “Billionaire Bill Ackman’s Ill-Fated Bike Ride: ‘His Mind Wrote a Check That His Body Couldn’t Cash,’ ” Vanity Fair, February 2013.
Even with the steep loss: Antoine Gara, “Pershing Square’s Investment Team, Led by Ackman, Made $509 Million in Down 20% Year,” Forbes, March 24, 2016.
Much has been written about the Newark effort: Dale Russakoff, The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools? (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015).
In 2011, the Optical Society of America: “2011 John Tyndall Award Winner Announced,” OSA: The Optical Society, 2011. http://www.osa.org/.
For years, the California Teachers Association has: Campaign contribution data is from National Institute on Money in State Politics. http://www.followthemoney.org.
Joshua Pechthalt, president of the: Vergara Lawsuit Just an ‘AstroTurf’ Attempt to Dismantle Teachers’ Rights,” Sun Mercury News, February 12, 2014.
Dana Goldstein wrote: Dana Goldstein, “Will California’s Ruling Against Teacher Tenure Change Schools?,” The Atlantic, June 11, 2014.
“Instead of working to erode”: Jack Schneider, “Making It Easier to Fire Bad Teachers Won’t Get You Better Ones,” Los Angeles Times, June 10, 2014.
In June, the court ruled: Teresa Watanabe, “Judge Says Effect of Bad Teachers ‘Shocks the Conscience,’ ” Los Angeles Times, June 10, 2014.
“The ruling opens a new chapter”: “In California, a Judge Takes on Teacher Tenure,” editorial, New York Times, June 11, 2014.
Lawsuits started gestating in other states: Laurence Tribe, “Why Progressives Should Defend ‘Vergara v. California’ Ruling,” USA Today, September 24, 2014.
As the unions saw it: David Bacon, “Why Is Silicon Valley So Bent on Destroying Public Education,” Alternet, October 10, 2014.
That study was supported by the Carnegie Corporation: “The Lasting Legacy of an American Dilemma,” Carnegie Corporation, Fall 2004. https://www.carnegie.org/.
Conservative philanthropists have embraced: Steve M. Teles, The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement: The Battle for the Law (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010).
Bolick moved fast to diversify: John J. Miller and Karl Zinsmeister, Agenda Setting: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Influencing Public Policy (Washington, D.C.: Philanthropy Roundtable, 2015), 116.
Bradley has been one of the top funders: Brian Mahoney, “Conservative Group Nears Big Payoff in Supreme Court Case,” Politico, January 10, 2016.
The Advocate has called: “The Most Important LGBT Group You’ve Never Heard Of,” The Advocate, August 15, 2011.
To change minds, Williams said: “Chuck Williams: The Focused Funder,” Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. http://www.rockpa.org/.
But he distinguished himself: Telis Demos, “The Wunderkind Gas Trader,” Fortune, November 24, 2009.
Reform philanthropists have sought: Sarah Reckhow, Follow the Money: How Foundation Dollars Change Public School Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013); Frederick M. Hess and Jeffrey R. Henig, eds., The New Education Philanthropy: Politics, Policy, and Reform (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2015); and Megan E. Tompkins-Strange, Policy Patrons: Philanthropy, Education Reform, and the Politics of Influence (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2015).
Education is different: “Conversation with Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Gwen Ifill,” U.S. Learning Education Forum, October 9, 2015. http://www.impatientoptimists.org.
According to a later account: Lyndsey Layton, “How Bill Gates Pulled Off the Swift Common Core Revolution,” Washington Post, June 7, 2014.
Gates has called the spending: Jason L. Riley, “Was the $5 Billion Worth It?,” Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2011.
As one reporter commented: Layton, “How Bill Gates Pulled Off the Swift Common Core Revolution.”
Walton’s proposed solution: “2015–20 K–12 Education Strategic Plan,” Walton Family Foundation, 2015. http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/.
In Washington State: Joanne Barken, “Charitable Plutocracy: Bill Gates, Washington State, and the Nuisance of Democracy,” NPQ, April 11, 2016.
In New York, a small group: Zephyr Teachout and Mohammad Khan, “Corruption in Education: Hedge Funds and the Takeover of New York’s Schools,” The Washington Park Project, December 2, 2015.
Later, it was reported: Don Michak, “Hedge Fund Founder Buys Leadership ‘Pipeline’ in Malloy’s Office,” Journal Inquirer, February 3, 2014.
In 2014–15, nearly half: America’s Largest Charter School Communities,” National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, November 2015, 3. http://www.publiccharters.org/.
Diane Ravitch, a scholar who: Valerie Strauss, “Ravitch: Billionaires (and Millionaires) for Education Reform,” Washington Post, November 15, 2011.
About Gates and the Common Core: Valerie Strauss, “Ravitch: Time for Congress to Investigate Bill Gates’ Role in Common Core,” Washington Post, June 9, 2014.
The last time it really did so: Waldemar Nielsen, The Big Foundations (New York: Columbia University Press, 1972), 7–11.
In a rare media interview in 2014: Layton, “How Bill Gates Pulled Off the Swift Common Core Revolution.”
One 2006 study ranked him: Christopher B. Swanson and Janelle Barlage, “Influence: A Study of the Factors Shaping Education Policy,” Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, December 2006. http://www.edweek.org/rc/.
At a meeting at Gracie Mansion: Michael Grunwald, “Inside the War on Coal,” Politico, May 26, 2015.
In announcing this latest gift: Andrew Restuccia, “Michael Bloomberg’s War on Coal,” Politico, April 8, 2015.
A 2011 report by the American Lung Association: “Toxic Air: The Case for Cleaning Up Coal-Fired Power Plants,” American Lung Association, March 2011. http://www.lung.org.
As another report stated: Alan H. Lockwood, Kristen Welker-Hood, Molly Rauch, and Barbara Gottlieb, “Coal’s Assault on Human Health,” Physicians for Social Responsibility, November 2009. http://www.psr.org/.
They are routinely bested in political combat: Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Good and the Theory of Groups (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971).
Again and again, it’s hard: For an updated take on Olson’s argument, see Jonathan Rauch, Demosclerosis: The Silent Killer of American Government (New York: Crown, 1994).
Breitbart.com, the conservative news network: James Delingpole, “Exposed: Sea Change—the Shadowy One-Percenter Foundation Waging War on Affordable Energy, Breitbart.com, July 30, 2014.
The Washington Free Beacon: Lachlan Markay, “Dem Mega-Donor Commutes to Work on Gas-Guzzling Yacht,” Washington Free Beacon, November 3, 2014; and Lachlan Markay, “How Dem Moneyman Nat Simons Profits from Political Giving,” Washington Free Beacon, November 4, 2014.
Two years later, in 2012: “Annual Report, 2012,” Environmental Defense Fund, 2013; and “Annual Report, 2015,” Environmental Defense Fund, 2016. https://www.edf.org/.
One academic study found that: Sarah Reckhow and Megan Tompkins-Strange, “Singing from the Same Hymnbook as Gates and Broad,” in Frederick M. Hess and Jeffrey R. Henig, eds., The New Education Philanthropy: Politics, Policy, and Reform (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2015), 61.
Pope has explained his foundation’s push: “Public Policy Support,” John William Pope Foundation. https://jwpf.org/.
Over the past quarter century: Jane Meyer, “State for Sale,” The New Yorker, October 10, 2011.
During the ensuing uproar over the law: Alex Kotch, “The Money Behind HB2: How Art Pope Helped Create North Carolina’s ‘Bathroom Bill,’ ” Facing South, May 6, 2016.
But it’s fair to say that: Greg Lacour, “HB2: How North Carolina Got Here,” Charlotte Magazine, May 9, 2016.
“If you get involved at the local level”: Lee Fang, “King Rex,” Politico Magazine, July/August 2014.
So far, though, few major: Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, “Explaining Liberal Policy Woes in the States,” PS: Political Science & Politics, July 2016, 461–65.
In 2012, 7 million ballots were cast: Jake Seaton, “Widespread Voter Fraud Not an Issue in NC, Data Shows,” WNCN News, July 25, 2013. http://www.nbcnews.com/.
Pope-funded groups invested heavily: John Hood, “No Controversy About Voter ID,” Carolina Journal, December 3, 2012.
The director of a progressive group in Wisconsin: Daniel Bice, “Venture Capitalist Einhorn Paid for Voter Fraud Billboards,” Journal Sentinel, October 29, 2012.
But the full story of Blum’s support: Andy Kroll, “Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement,” Mother Jones, February 5, 2013.
“When you’ve got the money, you spend it”: Jim Dwyer, “Philanthropist Wants to Be Rid of His Last $1.5 Billion,” New York Times, August 7, 2012.
Women have long connected: Sondra Shaw-Hardy and Martha A. Taylor, Women and Philanthropy: Boldly Shaping a Better World (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010).
Over time, though, Kirsch gravitated: Vanessa Kirsch, Jim Bildner, and Jeff Walker, “Why Social Ventures Need Systems Thinking,” Harvard Business Review, July 25, 2016.
“Greenpeace won’t get a dime”: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement,” Mother Jones, February 5, 2013.
Robert Bruelle, a sociologist: Alex McKechnie, “Not Just the Koch Brothers: New Drexel Study Reveals Funders Behind the Climate Change Denial Effort,” Drexel Now, December 20, 2013.
Some $18 million went: Matthew Duss, Yasmine Taeb, Ken Gude, and Ken Sofer, “Fear, Inc. 2.0: The Islamophobia Network’s Efforts to Manufacture Hate in America,” Center for American Progress, February 11, 2015, 57. https://www.americanprogress.org/.
He once commented: Gara LaMarche, “Democracy and the Donor Class,” Democracy, Fall 2014.
The ranks of the liberal rich: David Callahan, Fortunes of Change: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010).
The Economist would say: “The Father of Fracking,” The Economist, August 3, 2013.
As Lorenz put it once: “NextGen Family Philanthropy: An Interview with Katherine Lorenz,” Social Velocity, December 19, 2013. http://www.socialvelocity.net/.
To be sure, plenty of America’s rich: “Spending Millions to Save Billions: The Campaign of the Super Wealthy to Kill the Estate Tax,” Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy, April 2006; and “Billionaire’s Bluff: How America’s Richest Families Hide Behind Small Businesses and Family Farms in Effort to Repeal Estate Tax,” Public Citizen, June 25, 2016. https://www.citizen.org.
Among other things, they wrote: William H. Gates Sr. and Chuck Collins, Wealth and Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes (Boston: Beacon Press, 2004).
As Buffett told Charlie Rose: “The Giving Pledge: A New Club for Billionaires,” CBS News, July 20, 2014.
Studies show that most inherited: Missy Sullivan, “Lost Inheritance,” Wall Street Journal, March 8, 2013.
These people are aware: Tate Williams, “The Chorus Foundation’s Radical Philanthropy,” Inside Philanthropy, February 2, 2016.
“I felt it was not my money”: Susan Ostrander, Money for Change: Social Change Movement in Haymarket (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995), 9.
Oscar Meyer heir: Chuck Collins, Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2016), xiv.
He strongly rejected the Horatio Alger: Howard G. Buffett, Forty Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013), xiv.
According to his biographer: Alice Schroeder, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (New York: Bantam Books, 2008), 662–63.
One was a desire to avoid: Peter Buffett, Life Is What You Make It: Find Our Own Path to Fulfillment (New York, NY: Three River Press, 2010), 240.
“If their voices aren’t heard”: Tracy L. Barnett, “Peter Buffett: Shifting the Balance,” Esperanza Project, September 3, 2012.
One of its largest impacts has been: Karen Weise, “Warren Buffett’s Family Secretly Funded a Birth Control Revolution,” Bloomberg Businessweek, July 30, 2015.
One foundation-backed effort: Sabrina Tavernise, “Colorado’s Effort Against Teenage Pregnancies Is a Startling Success,” New York Times, July 5, 2015.
In an affectionate foreword: Buffett, Forty Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World, xii.
At college, she volunteered: Alex Daniels, “3rd Generation of Walton Family Makes Sharp Turn in Giving,” Chronicle of Philanthropy, February 29, 2016.
Eric Lander, the founding director: Sam Roberts, “Ted Stanley, Whose Son’s Illness Inspired Philanthropy, Dies at 84,” New York Times, January 8, 2016.
Between 2005 and 2014: Data is from Million Dollar List, a database of charitable gifts of $1 million or more, created by Lily School of Philanthropy, at Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis. http://www.milliondollarlist.org/.
As a result of the Budget Control Act: Kwame Boadi, “Erosion of Funding for the National Institutes of Health Threatens U.S. Leadership in Biomedical Research,” Center for American Progress, March 25, 2014. https://www.americanprogress.org/.
If the NEA’s budget had kept pace: “National Endowment for the Arts Appropriations History,” National Endowment for the Arts, 2016. https://www.arts.gov/.
Following the political revolution: “Current State Arts Agency Revenues: North Carolina,” National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. http://www.nasaa-arts.org/.
The age of grand federal research: William J. Broad, “Billionaires with Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science,” New York Times, March 15, 2011.
One study charting this: Fiona Murray, “Evaluating the Role of Science Philanthropy in American Research Universities,” National Bureau of Economic Research, 2013. http://www.nber.org/.
He’s given millions for this cause: Ade Adeniji, “This Koch Brother Is Also a Crusader Against Cancer,” Inside Philanthropy, October 6, 2014.
In the case of prostate cancer: Dan Zenka, “African Americans: At Higher Risk for Prostate Cancer,” Prostate Cancer Foundation, October 5, 2012. http://www.pcf.org/.
Already, the costs of caring: “Changing the Trajectory of Alzheimer’s Disease: How a Treatment by 2025 Saves Lives and Dollars,” Alzheimer’s Association, 2015, 5–6. http://www.alz.org/.
During this same period: Michael Mitchell and Michael Leachman, “Years of Cuts Threaten to Put College Out of Reach for More Students,” Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, May 13, 2015. http://www.cbpp.org/.
The value of Pell Grants: Tyler Kingkade, “Pell Grants Cover Smallest Portion of College Costs in History as GOP Calls for Cuts,” Huffington Post, August 29, 2012.
Harvard Business School has produced: Will Yakowicz, “Want to Be a Billionaire? Apply to Harvard Business School,” Inc., November 11, 2014.
America’s universities raised: “Colleges and Universities Raise Record $40.30 Billion in 2015,” Council on Aid to Education, January 27, 2016. http://cae.org/.
Three-quarters of the $516 billion: Molly F. Sherlock et al., “College and University Endowments: Overview and Tax Policy Options,” Congressional Research Service, https://www.loc.gov.
Harvard spends around a billion dollars: “Harvard University: Total R&D Expenditures, by Source of Funds and R&D Field: 2014,” National Science Foundation. http://www.nsf.gov/.
Over 2,300 U.S. patents: “Innovation at a Glance,” Caltech. https://www.caltech.edu/.
As Daniel Golden showed: Daniel Golden, The Price of Admission: How America’s Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges—and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates (New York: Broadway Books, 2007).
At the University of Virginia: Andrew Rice, “Anatomy of a Campus Coup,” New York Times Magazine, September 11, 2012.
In another case, documented: Michael Hiltz, “The Salaita Case and the Big Money Takeover of State Universities,” Los Angeles Times, September 15, 2014.
punishing cuts in public: “Fiscal Year 2017: Higher Education Budget Recommendations,” State of Illinois Board of Higher Education, December 2015. http://www.ibhe.org/.
Public universities in Michigan: David Jesse, “Illitches’ Wayne State Gift Comes With Strings,” Detroit Free Press, August 28, 2016.
In his book: Christopher Newfield, Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the Middle Class (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008), 164.
The clout of donors on campus: Jennifer Washburn, University, Inc: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education (New York: Basic Books, 2006).
In 2014 alone, his foundation: Jim Tankersley, “Inside Charles Koch’s $200 Million Quest for a ‘Republic of Science,’ ” Washington Post, June 3, 2016.
Among the reported stipulations: Julie Ball, “Universities Grapple with Donor Influence,” Citizen-Times, April 2, 2016.
The donor behind the offer: S. Douglas Beets, “BB&T, Atlas Shrugged, and the Ethics of Corporation Influence on College Curricula,” Journal of Academic Ethics 13(4) (2015): 311–344.
After Guilford College accepted: Seth Lubove and Oliver Stanley, “Schools Find Ayn Rand Can’t Be Shrugged as Donors Build Courses,” Bloomberg, May 4, 2011.
Allison said in 2011: Colleen Flaherty, “Banking on the Curriculum,” Inside Higher Education, October 16, 2015.
Budget analysts say that: “The 2016 Long-Term Budget Outlook,” Congressional Budget Office, July 2016, 2. https://www.cbo.gov/.
We’re likely to see the steady shrinking: David Reich, “Non-Defense Discretionary Programs Have Seen Large Cuts and Face More Cuts in 2015,” Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, November 18, 2014. http://www.cbpp.org/.
While some such leaders: Fay Twersky, “Foundation Chief Executives as Artful Jugglers,” Center for Effective Philanthropy, 2014. http://www.effectivephilanthropy.org/.
Such executives must be able to: Fay Twersky, “The Artful Juggler,” Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer 2014.
An advantage of this approach: Patti Hartigan, “Who’s Behind the Barr Foundation,” Boston Magazine, February 2016.
In 2010, emerging from behind: Erin Ailworth, “Big Gift for Local Climate Efforts,” Boston Globe, February 14, 2010.
Soros knew there was a problem: Stephanie Strom, “Criminal Justice Expert Named to Lead Soros Foundations,” New York Times, December 7, 2011.
As early as 1996: Judith Miller, “With Big Money and Brash Ideas, A Billionaire Redefines Charity,” New York Times, December 17, 1996.
But Rosenwald’s cash: Peter M. Ascoli, Julius Rosenwald: The Man Who Built Sears, Roebuck and Advanced the Cause of Black Education in the American South (Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press, 2015).
Atlantic’s big grants kept flowing through 2015: Christopher G. Oechsli, “Atlantic Fellows: Advancing Fairer, Healthier, More Inclusive Societies,” The Atlantic Philanthropies, May 31, 2016. http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/.
In 1910, when Edward Devine: Judith Sealander, Private Wealth, Public Life: Foundation Philanthropy and the Reshaping of American Social Policy from the Progressive Era to the New Deal (Baltimore, MD: JHU Press, 1997), 220.
Another defense of philanthropy: For a deeper discussion along these lines, see Rob Reich, “On the Role of Foundations in Democracies,” in Rob Reich, Lucy Bernholz, and Chiara Cordelli, Philanthropy in Democratic Societies: History, Institutions, Values (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2016), 64–85.
As the sociologist Theda Skocpol: Theda Skocpol, “Associations Without Members,” American Prospect, July–August 1999. See also: Theda Skocpol, Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003).
Data available through: “Foundation Transparency 2.0,” Foundation Center. http://foundationcenter.org/.
Some mega-donors: Zachary Mider, “The $13 Billion Mystery Angels: Who Is Funding the Fourth-Largest Charity in the U.S.,” Bloomberg Business, May 14, 2014.
was around $47 billion in 2016: “Briefing Book: Tax Expenditures,” Tax Policy Center, 2016. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/.
The U.S. Treasury has estimated: U.S. Department of Treasury, “Tax Expenditures FY2017,” 33. https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/Documents/Tax-Expenditures-FY2017.pdf.
The Ford Foundation’s overhead costs: David Callahan, “Ford Sinks Over $1 Billion a Decade into Overhead. Is That Money Well Spent?” Inside Philanthropy, April 10, 2015.
Many other top foundations: David Callahan, “Top Philanthropoids Are Paid Over $600 Million a Year. Is That Too Much?” Inside Philanthropy, May 7, 2015.
That’s true of the IRS: Dave Levinthal, “IRS Nonprofit Division Overloaded, Understaffed,” Center for Public Integrity, May 14, 2013. https://www.publicintegrity.org/. See also: Kim Barker and Justin Elliott, “How the IRS’s Nonprofit Division Got So Dysfunctional,” ProPublica, August 17, 2013.
As for keeping an eye on foundations: Ruth McCambridge and Virginia Gross, “Changes in the IRS Oversight of Nonprofits: A Conversation with Virginia Gross,” Nonprofit Quarterly, August 8, 2016.
A recent study found: Alex Daniels, “Nonprofits Proliferate But Not the Regulators, Says Report,” Chronicle of Philanthropy, October 5, 2015.
The first question is easy to answer: “Domestic Private Foundations: Number and Selected Financial Data, by Type of Foundation and Size of End-of-year Fair Market Value of Total Assets, Tax Year 2012.” https://www.irs.gov/.
The center has drawn: See, for example: “Working Well With Grantees: A Guide for Foundation Program Staff,” Center for Effective Philanthropy, June 2013. http://www.effectivephilanthropy.org/.
Too often, inequities: For a good overview of this problem, see Courtney Martin, “The Trouble With Philanthropy Is That Money Can’t Buy Equality,” The Guardian, September 2, 2017.
For example, Michael Edwards: Michael Edwards, Just Another Emperor? The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism (New York: Demos and the Young Foundation, 2008), 88.
Donations to groups that: Chuck Collins, Born on Third Base (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2016), 124.