Private Philanthropy And Public Purposes

Comparative information detailing the cultural, legal and historical environments of foundations in international settings has been scarce - until now. Written by scholars from six countries, this text covers philanthropic foundations in the world's busiest commercial centers - the U.S. and Eastern and Western Europe. It reports on the structures and mindsets that shape foundations' gift giving, and discusses different aspects of foundation management. Case studies of the French and Italian foundation communities and a comparative legal chapter are especially notable.

In recent years, some public officials and advocacy groups have urged that private philanthropies be subject to more uniform standards and stricter government regulation ranging from board composition to grant distribution to philanthropies' charitable purposes. A major justification cited by advocates of these proposals is the claim that the charitable tax exemption and deduction are government subsidies, and thus philanthropic funds are "public money" and should be publicly controlled. Some advocates also claim that philanthropic assets are public money because philanthropies operate under state charters and are subject to state oversight. In the second edition of this monograph, legal scholars Evelyn Brody and John Tyler evaluate the legal basis of the "public money" claim. They conclude that it is not well founded in legal authority. State oversight of philanthropies is not based on an assertion that philanthropies are subject to state direction or that their assets belong to the public, they write. Similarly, the fact that philanthropies have state charters does not make them state agencies or subject them to the constraints that apply to public bodies. Finally, the philanthropies and their donors receive their federal tax benefits in return for the obligation to pursue public rather than private purposes and to comply with the laws designed to ensure the pursuit of such purposes. There is no evidence, Brody and Tyler find, that these benefits were meant to give government other types of control over philanthropies.

An analysis of the role played by private philanthropic foundations in shaping public policy during the early years of this century—focusing on foundation-sponsored attempts to influence policy in the areas of education, social welfare, and public health. Winner of the Outstanding Book Award from the Ohio Academy of History In Private Wealth and Public Life, historian Judith Sealander analyzes the role played by private philanthropic foundations in shaping public policy during the early years of this century. Focusing on foundation-sponsored attempts to influence policy in the areas of education, social welfare, and public health, she addresses significant misunderstandings about the place of philanthropic foundations in American life. Between 1903 and 1932, fewer than a dozen philanthropic organizations controlled most of the hundreds of millions of dollars given to various causes. Among these, Sealander finds, seven foundations attempted to influence public social policy in significant ways—four were Rockefeller philanthropies, joined later by the Russell Sage, Rosenwald, and Commonwealth Fund foundations. Challenging the extreme views of foundations either as benevolent forces for social change or powerful threats to democracy, Sealander offers a more subtle understanding of foundations as important players in a complex political environment. The huge financial resources of some foundations bought access, she argues, but never complete control. Occasionally a foundation's agenda became public policy; often it did not. Whatever the results, the foundations and their efforts spurred the emergence of an American state with a significantly expanded social-policy-making role. Drawing on a wealth of archival materials, much of it unavailable or overlooked until now, Sealander examines issues that remain central to American political life. Her topics include vocational education policy, parent education, juvenile delinquency, mothers' pensions and public aid to impoverished children, anti-prostitution efforts, sex research, and publicly funded recreation. "Foundation philanthropy's legacy for domestic social policy," she writes, "raises a point that should be emphasized repeatedly by students of the policy process: Rarely is just one entity a policy's sole author; almost always policies in place produced unintended consequences."

Report of the Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs. The Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs was established in November, 1973, as a privately initiated, privately funded citizens' panel with two broad objectives : To study the role of both philanthropic giving in the and that area through which giving is principally channeled, the voluntary, third sector of American society. To make recommendations to the voluntary sector, to Congress and to the American public at large concerning ways in which the sector and the practice of private giving can be strengthened and made more effective.