General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow Billionaires Use Non-Profits to Bypass Governments and Force Their Agendas on Humanity
http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-billionaires-use-non-profits-bypass-governments-push-their-agendasIn the January issue of the New York Review of Books, veteran journalist Michael Massing noted that, in the past 15 years alone, the number of foundations with a billion dollars or more in assets has doubled, to more than eighty. The philanthropic sector in the United States is far more significant than in Europe, fueled in part by generous tax write-offs, which the U.S. public subsidizes to the tune of $40 billion a year.
As Massing observes, billionaires are not just handing over their money, they have ideas about how it should be used, and their vision often aligns with their own economic interests. For this reason, the philanthropy industry deserves rigorous scrutiny, not a free pass because it is in the service of good.
Massings argument followed a study released in January by the watchdog organization Global Policy Forum, which found that philanthropic foundations are so powerful they are allowing wealthy individuals to bypass governments and international bodies like the United Nations in pursuit of their own agendas. Whats more, this outsized influence is concentrated in the United States, where 19 out of the top 27 largest foundations are based. These 27 foundations together possess $360 billion, write authors Jens Martens and Karolin Seitz.
eomer
(3,845 posts)Igel
(35,293 posts)To allow citizens to do things that government won't, can't, or simply doesn't.
They can be started by large funders--Carnegie Foundation and libraries, for instance. Rice University.
They can have mixed funding. Nature Conservancy.
They can be mixed up in race/ethnic politics. NAACP, CORE.
Or simply in politics. Emily's List. League of Women Voters.
Or not so much. Greenpeace. Guttmacher Institute. Planned Parenthood.
Even the Global Policy Forum is a non-profit with its own goals that it seeks to implement. They just don't like it when the citizens involved aren't (a) on their side and (b) are wealthy. I'm sure if Gates were to give the GPF a large sum, no strings attached, they'd have no problem. "GPF receives most of its annual funding from foundations, partner organizations, membership fees and individual donations."