Philanthropic foundations appear to have taken to heart the adage often attributed to Ben Franklin: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
An open letter posted Wednesday that was signed by at least 135 foundations “reject(s) attempts to exploit political violence to mischaracterize our good work or restrict our fundamental freedoms, like freedom of speech and the freedom to give.”
Trump administration officials in recent days have singled out George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation as examples of supposedly left-leaning institutions that will be coming under attack in the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The foundation letter condemned “heinous acts” of political violence “as affronts to the fundamental principles and health of our nation.”
Likewise, “Organizations should not be attacked for carrying out their missions or expressing their values in support of the communities they serve,” the signatories wrote. “Attempts to silence speech, criminalize opposing viewpoints, and misrepresent and limit charitable giving undermine our democracy and harm all Americans.”
Solidarity campaign
The apparently impending attack on philanthropic foundations is not unexpected. Indeed, in the spring of this year, foundation presidents were bracing for moves that had long been hinted at by Trump administration officials, such as revoking foundations’ tax-exempt status or labeling humanitarian aid in Gaza as support for terrorism, or climate action as undermining national security.
As law firms and universities were targeted for disruption and picked off one by one, foundations began to organize a collective response. In April, the McKnight Foundation’s Tonya Allen, John Palfrey of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Deepak Bhargava, president of the Freedom Together Foundation, launched Unite in Advance with a public solidarity campaign in support of philanthropy’s freedom to give. That statement now includes 723 charitable organizations from across the US.
“We in the philanthropic community must not wait like sitting ducks,” the trio wrote at the time. “We must prepare and unite to defend our freedom to support the millions of people who rely on charitable foundations to build stronger, healthier communities and opportunities for all.”
The anticipated May deadline for legal action came and went, but foundation presidents have remained vigilant. All three foundations signed the open letter in the Times. On LinkedIn, MacArthur’s Palfrey added, “MacArthur Foundation remains steadfast in strengthening communities and protecting the freedom to give.”
(Disclosure: The Ford Foundation is an investor in ImpactAlpha. Through the Catalytic Capital Consortium, the MacArthur Foundation is a sponsor of ImpactAlpha’s coverage of catalytic capital. Several other signatories of the letter are past or present sponsors of ImpactAlpha.)
Freedom to invest
Foundations say their freedom to give is matched by their freedom to invest. At the GIIN’s West Coast Forum in April, Don Chen of Surdna Foundation said that, as an American private family foundation, Surdna has the freedom to make decisions about its investments and grants, to manage systemic risks, and to foster racial justice and sustainable communities. Surdna, which signed this week’s letter, issued its own statement of solidarity as well.
“These are fundamental rights that we cherish, and we should be all prepared to defend them,” Chen said in a rousing keynote. “My message to you is this, let’s not give in to these baseless attacks.”
The attacks – or the fear of them – have caused some foundations to pull in their horns, pause their funding and scrub their website of references to topics such as diversity, equity and inclusion. Others have leaned in, instead, and even increased their grants and investments. McKnight’s Allen has been among the most outspoken of foundation leaders in reaffirming support, particularly for investments that redress historical or systemic racism.
“When you’re in a crisis, that’s a time when you should be bolder,” Allen told ImpactAlpha in July. “This is not a time when you should shrink.”
McKnight has raised its grant budget and increased its allocation to program-related investments to $100 million.
“There was so much fear in the atmosphere about whether you could be your authentic self with the kind of pushback that was happening at the federal level by the government,” Allen said in the interview.
“I believe we have the freedom to give, to invest, and we should have the freedom to be able to speak on the things that we value. If that requires group or collective action to help other people feel comfortable in that space, then we want to create that for them.”
