A blog by William Schambra, Daniel Schmidt, and Michael Hartmann. Learn more->

29
Jun
2022
Thomas Piketty proposes specific tax scale for nonprofit endowments

Don’t miss influential author, in new book, floating idea “in order to avoid an excessive concentration of power within a small number of entities and to enable less wealthy entities to develop.”


14
Jun
2022
Differences, and the risk of similarities, between government and private grantmaking

Claire Dunning’s impressive new history on government support of nonprofits in Boston offers helpful insights for private philanthropy.


02
Jun
2022

19
May
2022
Philanthropy in The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order

Historian Gary Gerstle’s new book on America in what he considers the bygone free-market era includes a role for philanthropy in its narrative—well, at least in its purportedly “Powell-ian” rise, anyway.


12
Jan
2022
Philanthropy’s corruption of politics, and vice versa

“Using tax privileges, matching grants, special restrictions, and unique legal devices, the modern state gives the practice of philanthropy its particular strength and texture,” according to Theodore M. Lechterman. “Which if any of these regulatory strategies can be justified requires careful analysis and evaluation.”


22
Dec
2021
Thoughts on philanthropy from books featured in The Giving Review in the second half of 2021

A year-end collection of interesting and insightful passages.


15
Dec
2021

13
Dec
2021
Visions, tradition, and Fiddler on the Roof’s Tevye

As Tim Stanley recalls it in his new book, Tevye says “You may ask, how did this tradition get started. I’ll tell you. I don’t know.” And another, unsettling question: without tradition, will there be anything left?


29
Nov
2021
1 > 10,000,000

Philanthropy and data, oxytocin and neurological unity, and love and charity in Arthur C. Brooks’ new book on the culture of contempt.


18
Oct
2021
Philanthropy, grassroots activism, and politics in In Defense of Populism

“[T]oday’s politics of the street,” according to political historian Donald T. Critchlow, “resembles that of the late Roman Republic, when oligarchs, such as Caesar, Sulla, and Catiline, organized mobs to serve their factional interests.”