The Roundtable recently sat down with Pano Kanelos, founding president of the University of Austin (UATX), and Chad Thevenot, the university’s vice president of advancement. The conversation centered around the university’s mission to create a higher education system that values and promotes freedom of speech and civil discourse at a time when universities are increasingly accused of censorship on campuses.
The recent Supreme Court affirmative action decision may have closed a chapter in American higher education but opened the door to a new set of questions about the constitutionality and viability of race-conscious efforts in academia and beyond.
Philanthropy Roundtable recently sat down with Denisha Allen (Merriweather), founder of Black Minds Matter, a “national movement to celebrate Black minds, support excellence and promote the development of high-quality school options for Black students.” Allen, an American Federation for Children senior fellow, is a champion for school choice and a Florida tax-credit scholarship recipient. Through Black Minds Matter, she hopes to help provide access to an excellent education for every Black student.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling against race-based admission policies at Harvard and University of North Carolina ends affirmative action in higher education as we know it. In the cases Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (“SFFA”) v. University of North Carolina and SFFA v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, the Court ruled that such race-based affirmative action in higher education violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
On Thursday, July 20, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee assembled for an executive business meeting to discuss S. 359, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-RI) “Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act of 2023.” While the bill is largely presented as an attempt to make the Supreme Court more transparent, a particularly dangerous provision would require nonprofits that file a federal amicus brief to disclose their major donors, encroaching upon the First Amendment rights of nonprofit organizations and their donors.
In a Newsmax column posted on August 7, 2023, Philanthropy Roundtable Adjunct Senior Fellow Patrice Onwuka, also a spokesperson for the Roundtable’s True Diversity campaign, argues the “demise” of diversity, equity and inclusion jobs indicates the “free market is moving past emotional hiring and rejecting aimless race-centric programming that spiked overhead costs but destroyed workplace unity.” Onwuka also says organizations should instead embrace diversity efforts that value individuality over traits like race and gender alone.
In light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the use of race-based preferences in college admissions, new questions have arisen about philanthropy’s use of similar practices from workplace policies to funding strategies. Many in the philanthropic sector have been strong proponents of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices and have encouraged grantees to apply a racial equity lens in their work. However, some wonder to what end? What has this laser-focus on DEI accomplished for organizations that, in some cases, have been applying it for several years?
As Americans review the findings of the most recent Giving USA annual report, we hope to provide further context to this data, published by the Giving USA Foundation and researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. I recently sat down with David P. King, the Karen Lake Buttrey director of the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, as well as an associate professor of philanthropic studies at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
A couple years ago, I wrote a blog for Philanthropy Roundtable explaining how trust-based philanthropy has become a “‘must-have’ topic for conference sessions, webinars, podcasts and articles in popular philanthropy journals.” While there is value in many of the grantmaking practices recommended by advocates of trust-based philanthropy, its proponents claim these practices are insufficient, especially “‘if funders aren’t simultaneously applying a racial equity lens to their work.’”
On the heels of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision effectively rendering affirmative action in the college admissions process unconstitutional, it is important to recognize the role of our K-12 education system in preparing students for higher education, especially disadvantaged students who may need extra support.
In May, following the passage of the Donor Intent Protection Act in Kansas, Philanthropy Roundtable launched a monthly series on donor intent controversies around the country to better inform those who care about this important topic. This edition of our Donor Intent Watch again focuses on several higher education disputes, this month in Arizona and California.
On July 24, Philanthropy Roundtable published a new policy primer on decoding the public support test. This primer helps explain why the distinction between public charities and private foundations matters, and how nonprofits can use the public support test process to determine whether they qualify as public charities. It also delves into proposed changes that risk making existing requirements even more complicated.