Philanthropy Roundtable recently sat down with Heather Templeton Dill, president of the John Templeton Foundation and Philanthropy Roundtable board member. The foundation’s mission is to fund research and catalyze conversations that inspire people with awe and wonder.
A few weeks ago, I watched an outstanding film about the Foellinger family of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the outsized impact family members have had on that community. “An Influence for Good” begins with the emigration of the family from Prussia in 1836 and their journey to economic success. It then focuses on the life of Helene Foellinger, co-founder of the Foellinger Foundation, which supports nonprofit organizations in Allen County, Indiana, “that promote self-reliance and build community.”
In an op-ed published today in The Philadelphia Inquirer entitled “Pennsylvania Ranked Worst State for Charities,” Director of Policy Research at Philanthropy Roundtable, Jack Salmon, outlines how a recent study ranks Pennsylvania as the worst out of all 50 states as the most burdensome place in the country for charities to operate.
Philanthropic donor Leon Levine of Charlotte, North Carolina died on April 5, 2023. Levine, who was born and raised in a tiny rural town, began his business career in his teens helping his family run a small department store. In 1959, at age 22, he opened the first Family Dollar Store in Charlotte with an initial investment of $6,000. In 2015, Dollar Tree bought some 8,000 Family Dollar stores for $8.5 billion.
Philanthropy Roundtable President and CEO Elise Westhoff interviewed Peter Travers, National Review Institute (NRI) chairman, at last week’s NRI Ideas Summit in Washington, D.C.
Philanthropy Roundtable celebrates philanthropists who are inspired by faith values to invest in their local communities and beyond. We recognize their investments in communities throughout our country and world and their efforts which help improve millions of people’s lives.
As part of our ongoing Free to Give campaign, Philanthropy Roundtable recently talked to Associate Head Lane Beasley of The Redeemer’s School, plus an anonymous donor to the school, to learn more about how philanthropic freedom ensures donors can support their work in the city of Jackson, Mississippi.
This week Philanthropy Roundtable published a new policy primer on the importance of protecting donor intent to encourage charitable giving.
Charities face ever-increasing challenges in supporting the most vulnerable in our communities and donors face challenges in knowing their money will be used the way they intend. Ensuring the resources are available to meet these challenges depends on maintaining the trust of donors. Laws and regulations should reflect this—this is where the importance of donor intent comes into play.
If you’ve made a charitable contribution to a New York-based organization, and you value your constitutionally protected right to privacy, you should be worried … and alarmed. Donors’ rights to privacy are being overlooked, if not disregarded, in the Empire State through an ongoing First Amendment violation by the New York State Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
Candid, the nonprofit research group, recently announced it is leading an effort with funders and charities to standardize diversity data collection. Although Candid is publicly sharing the information collected, that does not satisfy personal privacy concerns. This type of box-checking exercise undermines the track records of effective organizations and would harm some organizations that are getting real results through their work supporting struggling people from all backgrounds, including minority populations.
Lincoln Jones doesn’t like to talk about ballet. That’s because as the founder of American Contemporary Ballet, his Los Angeles-based company of 21 dancers that mounts some 70 performances a year, he thinks about ballet in a different way than most.
When a philanthropist sets up a foundation with a specific purpose in mind, those wishes must be respected. But decades later, after the original donor has passed away, how does the foundation’s leadership ensure they are respecting the donor’s intent?