Op-Eds and Interviews
The Ultra-rich Are Not Just The Worst Polluters
Charitable giving to fight climate change, estimated by the ClimateWorks Foundation at $7.5 billion last year, is only 0.5% of the money sitting in private foundations and donor-advised funds–and amounts to about 0.04% of the assets of the ultra-rich.
Promoting Equity and Responsible Philanthropy by the Ultra-wealthy
The concept of charity can have a different meaning for the ultra-rich, often becoming a calculated strategy to accumulate wealth disguised as philanthropy.
The 0.1% are Totally Out of Control and In Control
Elon Musk’s actions may sound outlandish, but his actions are standard for the ultra-rich individuals in our country — the 0.1% — who hoard trillions of dollars in assets and take advantage of our laws to get what they want.
Billionaires Are a Policy Failure That Must Be Addressed
In the wake of out-of-control billionaire wealth during perhaps the most challenging two years for human society in the last 75 years and President Joe Biden unveiling a new minimum tax on billionaires in the budget proposal, it’s time for us to start asking an important question: Should there be a limit on how much wealth a person can have?
Charitable Tax Reform: Why Half Measures Won’t Curb Plutocracy
Efforts to protect democratic institutions are critically important. But the threat is multifaceted. Indeed, in many respects the nation is already a plutocracy—that is, governed and controlled by a wealthy elite. More and more, in America, it is the billionaires who rule.
Reimagining Philanthropy: Benchmarking “How Much”
Alan Davis revisits age-old “rules of thumb” around sustainable payout levels for donor-advised funds and private foundations. Alan challenges funders to step up their philanthropic efforts to meet the moment. Is there an opportunity to change the giving paradigm?
Billionaires have been using charity to whitewash their tiny tax bills. It’s time to end this incredibly wasteful charade.
If billionaires want to save the world, they can start advocating for specific, impactful changes to our tax code that will make them and their peers pay their fair share. It is high time that we stop letting the country’s wealthy get off by making self-interested donations, and start requiring them to pay more in taxes.
We’re Pushing for DAF Reform — But Far More Is Needed
As every Inside Philanthropy reader knows, unlike private foundations, donor-advised funds have no payout requirement whatsoever and no requirement to disclose any of their grantmaking, which make DAFs rife for hoarding and abuse by the rich.
Billionaires Say They Can’t Give Their Money Away Fast Enough: Here’s How
Philanthropy requires answering three questions: where to give, how to give, and how much to give. There has been a tremendous amount of discussion, particularly during the last two years, about the first two, “where” and “how.” It is the third question, “how much,” that underpins the Crisis Charitable Commitment (CCC) and our Charitable Standard.
Bastille Day for Billionaires
French peasants stormed the Bastille fortress, launching the French Revolution against a ruling elite they saw as oppressive and out of touch. More than two centuries later, Americans may have more in common with 18th century French peasants than we’d like to believe.
TIDES Philanthropy Profile: Alan S. Davis on Stepping Up to the Plate
Our focus has always been on racial and economic justice, so the crisis was simply the catalyst for doubling down. The big change, though, has been our recognition of how important elections are to just about everything we believe in, and elections depend on democratic structures and people power.
How Bezos Could Turn Amazon Prime Day into his own Giving Tuesday
Amazon Prime Day is right around the corner as Americans get prepared to spend billions on goodies like Crest 3D Whitestrips, the most popular item sold on Amazon Prime Day in 2020. It is hard to tell how effective this teeth whitener is because most people have not had much to smile about this last year.
California Community Foundation #LA Together: Alan Davis Interview
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC CHANGED PHILANTHROPY?
It was the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of giving more. We’ve been influenced by a donor group called Solidaire Network that encourages donors to give more and better When the pandemic hit, that crystallized this idea to spend now and down.
The Truly Rich Get a Free Pass in New Study of ‘Wealthy’ Donors
A recent study by Bank of America and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy generated headlines like this one in the Chronicle of Philanthropy — “90% of Wealthy Households Gave to Charity Last Year.” While it is true that Americans are a generous lot, unfortunately this study and the resulting coverage miss some critical distinctions
PHILANTHROPISTS AND BILLIONAIRES MUST WALK THE TALK ON CLIMATE CHANGE
The climate is warming at an alarming pace and we have little time left to slow it down. Politicians, policy-makers, scientists, advocacy groups and other experts have proposed a myriad of solutions and tactics to help tackle the problem, including President Biden’s infrastructure bill that moves this nation towards...
Magnify Community’s Catherine Crystal Foster in Conversation with Alan Davis
What do you think gets in the way of donors giving more, especially younger and newly wealthy donors? It’s habit. People are just not in the habit of giving. Income is what we spend, and wealth is what we hoard. Rich people are hoarders. It’s how they measure their self-worth. They don’t think about the fact that they’re sitting on excess wealth that they could tap into and give away.
The Wealthiest Americans Are Putting Scrooge To Shame
2020 has been one long, terrifying nightmare — with a raging pandemic that’s claimed more than 315,000 lives, a devastating economic crisis, and a national reckoning on racial injustice. But it certainly hasn’t been equally disastrous for everyone. If you thought the wealth gap between Ebenezer Scrooge and Bob Cratchit was vast in “A Christmas Carol,” the difference between the haves and have-nots in 2020 would be enough to make Charles Dickens’ head spin.
A Proposal To Accelerate Giving Won’t Even Get Philanthropy Out Of Park
We are in an age of gilded giving. Small donor giving is in deep decline. Philanthropy is dominated by rich individuals and foundations, not because they’ve increased their giving as a percentage of their wealth, but rather because of the enormous rise in their wealth. Unfortunately, the Initiative to Accelerate Charitable Giving proposal doesn’t even get the sector out of park, much less accelerate giving.
Billionaires Getting Richer, Charities Struggling: The Other Covid Crisis
Shamefully, as billionaires’ wealth continues to skyrocket, so have the number of Americans in unemployment lines, food banks, and homeless shelters….a reported 26 million Americans — one in six U.S. families with children — don’t have enough to eat.
National Philanthropy Day Keynote Address – Alan Davis
During this time of unprecedented need, the wealthiest have seen their income grow by 10% per year, yet charitable giving by these individuals and their foundations remain anchored at 5%. Alan’s keynote address brings the Crisis Charitable Commitment to Palm Beach Florida, home (second home) for 30 of the Forbes 400 wealthiest billionaires and one infamous ex-President.
The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen: Alan Davis Interviewed
Popular radio talk show host Arnie Arnesen has a lively conversation about the importance of the richest Americans giving back meaningfully to society. She amplifies Alan’s views on Excessive Wealth Disorder and why truly Patriotic Millionaires (and billionaires) need to support the Crisis Charitable Commitment and the Emergency Charity Stimulus proposal.
San Francisco Foundation Donor Desk: Alan Davis Interview
We have not seen a confluence of crises like this in our lifetimes. While our foundation has been concerned with issues around democracy, racial justice, healthcare, tolerance, economic inequality, and the environment, we have not seen these challenges come into such sharp focus before, nor did we have the same degree of overwhelming urgency.
America’s Billionaires Have A Hoarding Problem
In the midst of the worst economic crisis any of us have faced in our lifetimes, those who are most able to afford to help—the 600 or so billionaires in the U.S. and billion-dollar charitable foundations—are more concerned with protecting their vast piles of wealth than they are with fixing the problems we’re facing.
Congress Should Force Foundations and Donor-Advised Funds to Give More Now
The foundation world’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic can be divided into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The Good: have stepped up to the plate to address the crisis by raising their distributions. The Bad: are pretending to meet their philanthropic responsibilities but are actually falling well short. The Ugly: have not dipped into their endowments.
AOC, Sanders, Warren should think bigger (and wider) on taxing the wealthy
As a fellow high-net-worth American, I’ve witnessed how the excessive concentration of wealth and power in a small group of elites can corrupt a government meant to respond to the majority of its citizens. But unlike Schultz, I’m not fighting the wave of resistance coming out of the left. I say bring it on. Tax the rich.