ALAN'S LETTER

The tremendous power that comes with excessive wealth…donors forego charitable deductions by giving to 501c4s, in exchange for which they have the freedom to influence elections; and rig the nature of our tax system

We have been en vacance in France and recently visited Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery in Normandy. The D-Day landing was an incredible feat accompanied by tremendous sacrifice. Among the many emotions and thoughts this visit generated, one was how in times of crisis Americans pulled...

An extremely significant philanthropic event took place two weeks ago. Wouldn’t you love to go back to school just to take one course: Philanthropy 401, a one-semester multidisciplinary course that does nothing other than study the recently announced $20 billion gift by Bill Gates to his Bill and...

Despite the rhetoric and high-profile commitments of 2020 and 2021 to the various crises surfaced by the pandemic, a burst of philanthropic dollars has failed to materialize.

The addictive drive to accumulate wealth is very powerful and might be one explanation for our limited success. But of late we’re hearing another explanation (or is it a rationale): “It’s very hard to give away money effectively.”

It just may be that the most important reason to get rich foundations to give away more is to make them less rich.

Headlines about billionaire philanthropy only show how the media and our tax laws serve the interests of the plutocrats, while scant attention is paid to true philanthropic role models.

Billionaire philanthropy has three benefits not available to the average citizen: it is a highly leveraged extension of power; it serves to whitewash reputations; and it provides an alternative to giving (too much) money to relatives or friends.

Our tax laws–by taxing capital gains at preferred rates and only when realized–subsidize the hoarding of wealth by people like Musk and his ilk. Did Congress really intend–through generous charitable tax deductions and virtually tax-free investment income for foundations –to support private foundation hoarding as well?

The CCC has played an important role in ramping up discussion of “how much” wealthy donors should be expected to give…and we have directly raised the “how much” question with hundreds of philanthropists. – If it’s true that those in the 0.1% have “enough,” then it’s debatable why they should even get a tax deduction for being charitable.