April 30, 2023
Conservative donors need to take a hard look at where their dollars go.
Conservative philanthropy in America has long been on the defensive, mostly against harsh critiques from liberals and progressives. For big grantmakers on the Right—like the libertarian Koch brothers, the Olin, Bradley, and Scaife foundations, and a relatively limited number of others—criticism has been considered a given. It is almost like a necessary “transaction cost.”
But America’s establishment philanthropy, which has become monoculturallyprogressive, is now increasingly on the defensive too—mostly against harsh critiques from other progressives of a more populist sort. This is not really all that curious. Intellectually honest grassroots activists on the Left view “Big Philanthropy” as basically an exercise of illegitimate, anti-democratic power.
There is some current criticism of establishment philanthropy from among the populists ascendant on the Right as well. Too much of conservative philanthropy, however, remains steadfastly protective of the various special policy prerogatives and legal and cultural status of all philanthropy. This is a mistake. None of these privileges is a given. It is at least an open question whether they are in America’s best interest.
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