Editors’ Note: HistPhil co-editor Benjamin Soskis traces the negative vibes shifts in the world of big donors to the spread of philanthro-pessimism, the product of a “stewardship trough,” reflecting a crisis of confidence in the power of the wealthy to change the world for good with their giving. Are the vibes off in the world …
Editors’ Note: Pete Jordan discusses the worldview and associated philanthropies of one of the twentieth century’s most successful investors, Sir John Templeton (1912-2008), based on his new book, God’s Philanthropist: John Templeton and the Pursuit of Progress (Oxford, 2026). For many grant-seekers whose ideas challenge the status quo or push fields into uncharted waters, the …
Editors’ Note: Recorded on Monday, Oct. 19th, 2026, this was a virtual discussion between former Hewlett Foundation President Larry Kramer and philanthropy scholar, Dr. Inderjeet Parmar, author of a recently published article critical of the Foundation’s response to perceived crises in US democracy. Kramer and Parmar discussed their respective experiences leading and studying the Hewlett …
Editors’ Note: In this post, Inderjeet Parmar summarizes a journal article he wrote on the Hewlett Foundation, as part of a special section on “The Pathologies of Philanthropy,” edited by Arun Kumar, Sally Brooks, and Jessie Sklair, published in Economy and Society in June 2026. As Parmar notes: “Evidence presented in the main article underscores a damning …
Editors’ Note: Benjamin Soskis examines the emerging trans-ideological coalition in defense of civil society in the U.S., the commitment to “prudential pluralism” that fuels it, and the conception of history on which it stands. If this is a time of peril for U.S. civil society, it is also a time that has established civil society’s …
Editors’ Note: Genevieve Shaker and William Plater shine a light on a forgotten 1974 essay by the “polymath scientist” Heinz von Foerster on the cybernetics of philanthropy, exploring where it came from and what it anticipated, in a post based on their 2024 article in Philanthropia. Far-ranging conversations were taking place in the 1960s and … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: John Tyler and Brian Baird discuss their research on the varied associational commitments of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and what that suggests about the important place of associational life in celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. Now that the main celebrations of our Nation’s 250th birthday have … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Benjamin Soskis examines the emerging trans-ideological coalition in defense of civil society in the U.S., the commitment to “prudential pluralism” that fuels it, and the conception of history on which it stands. Part I can be read here; the full essay can be read here. IV. Besides the 2013 IRS controversy, the other … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Benjamin Soskis examines the emerging trans-ideological coalition in defense of civil society in the U.S., the commitment to “prudential pluralism” that fuels it, and the conception of history on which it stands. The full essay can be read here. If this is a time of peril for U.S. civil society, it is also … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Beth Gazley and Jennifer Alexander use an authoritarian framework to explain recent state government actions intended to restrict nonprofit activity in the US. This piece is based on a 2025 article appearing in Nonprofit Policy Forum. Unstable democracies have longstanding experience with governmental restrictions on civil society activity. Now these repressive efforts are … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Andrew Fisher shines light on a lesser-known philanthropic titan of the turn of the last century, Nathan Straus. This post is adapted from the prologue of Fisher’s recently published book, Nathan Straus: From Macy’s Magnate to International Humanitarian (Rutgers University Press, 2026). It is reprinted with the publisher’s kind permission. I came to … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Katherine Badertscher introduces a recent article she published with Huitan Xu in The Foundation Review on “Philanthropic Archives and Legacy.” In 2024, my colleague Huitan Xu and I investigated the feasibility of creating a single “legacy library” to house archival material of individual philanthropists and foundations—a single repository for scholars, practitioners, donors and … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Carmen Rojas continues HistPhil’s book forum on John Witt’s The Radical Fund (Simon & Schuster, 2025). John Fabian Witt’s The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America is one of the best books I’ve read about the perils and promises of philanthropy in the United States. It … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: David Callahan reviews Bill Clinton’s memoir, Citizen: My Life After the White House (Knopf, 2024). When Jimmy Carter died in late 2024 at 100, many accolades focused on his decades of philanthropic work after leaving the White House. No former president is more closely associated with charitable good deeds than Carter, whose long … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Deepak Bhargava continues HistPhil’s book forum on John Witt’s The Radical Fund. Is it possible for foundations to do more than ameliorate the bad effects of systems that are fundamentally unfair? Philanthropy is often accused of working downstream of social problems — dealing with symptoms rather than root causes. Philanthropy’s fiercest critics go … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Maggie Lemos and Guy-Uriel Charles revisit their 2018 California Law Review article on ‘patriotic philanthropy’ in the light of Trump 2.0. In 2018 we published an article in the California Law Review about a phenomenon that we called ‘patriotic philanthropy,’ a practice in which very rich individuals donate large sums of money to … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Jeffrey M. Berry, James M. Glaser, and Deborah J. Schildkraut outline the findings on the relationship between political ideology and charitable giving from their recent book, Everyday Democracy: Liberals, Conservatives, and Their Routine Political Lives (University of Chicago Press, 2025). (Project research assistant Alex Landy is also pictured on the computer screen in … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Dana Brakman Reiser reviews David Gelles’s Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away (Simon & Schuster, 2025). In debates and conversations about corporate social responsibility and social enterprise, few players enjoy the reverence accorded to Patagonia and its founder, Yvon Chouinard. Journalist David Gelles’ new … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: John Miles Branch discusses his article on the history of debates regarding the union exemption for nonprofits, recently published in Modern American History. “They want to change the world. They would also like a raise,” announced a New York Times headline in April 2023. Unions organizing nonprofit workers, like the Office and Professional … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Gizem Zencirci introduces her book, The Muslim Social: Neoliberalism, Charity, and Poverty (Syracuse, 2024), which recently received the 2025 Outstanding Book Prize from ARNOVA (Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action). Since coming to power in early 2000s, Turkey’s governing party, the Islamic-conservative AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, Justice and Development … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Peter Kurie discusses the parallels between two American nonprofits that control major for-profit corporations: the OpenAI Foundation, on paper now the wealthiest charitable organization in the U.S., and the Hershey Trust, the subject of his 2018 book, In Chocolate We Trust. (This post has been revised to reflect greater clarity on the organizational … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: David Pozen continues HistPhil’s book forum on John Witt’s The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America (Simon & Schuster, 2025). A version of this post originally appeared on the Balkinization blog, which is conducting a forum on Witt’s book as well, with some outstanding contributions by … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: This post from Henry Farrell originally appeared on his Substack, Programmable Mutter. There are many possible stories about why American political conservatism is such an intellectual trainwreck. Here’s one. Conservatives used at least nominally to argue that it was important to protect civil society from the depredations of government, and many genuinely believed … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: This post, from John Witt, inaugurates HistPhil’s book forum on Witt’s recently published The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America (Simon & Schuster, 2025), which chronicles the influence of the American Fund for Public Service, established in 1922. As Witt argues, the Garland Fund, as it … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Nicole P. Marwell and Jennifer E. Mosley discuss their new book, Mismeasuring Impact: How Randomized Controlled Trials Threaten the Nonprofit Sector (Stanford University Press, 2025). Recent scholarship has offered varying interpretations of what the appropriate function of foundations should be within a democracy. One dominant perspective highlights foundations’ contributions as drivers of social … Continue reading
