Dear John, When Craig Kennedy started his first philanthropy job in 1980 as a program officer for the Joyce Foundation, about 25,000 foundations existed in the United States. Today, that number is nearly 120,000.
What happened in those intervening four decades — and how it has affected the giving and nonprofit regulatory environment in this country — will be the focus of many of Kennedy’s commentaries as he joins the Chronicle of Philanthropy as a regular columnist.
In his introductory column today, Kennedy, who was previously president of the Joyce Foundation and the German Marshall Fund, writes that the current “disconnect between grant seekers and donors can be traced in part to the dramatic changes in the philanthropic world since I entered the field in 1980.” That includes, he notes, the growing “power and influence of Big Philanthropy … on America’s cultural, educational, and public-policy institutions.”
Kennedy is especially concerned with the encroachment of charitable money into politics and will explore potential solutions for reinstating the boundary between the two. “Just because both political camps have figured out how to use tax-deductible money for narrow partisan interests doesn’t make the situation fair or right,” he says.
Look for more from Kennedy in the months ahead on this and other topics as he joins the Chronicle’s growing group of regular opinion columnists, including the recent addition of Eboo Patel, president of Interfaith America. Next month that line-up will expand to include Cora Daniels, senior editorial director of the Bridgespan Group and an award-winning journalist and author who writes frequently about race, equity, and justice.
Please reach out to me or our new Deputy Opinion Editor, Nandita Raghuram, at opinions@philanthropy.com if you have ideas for a guest essay. To stay up-to-date on everything we publish, sign up for our free Philanthropy Today newsletter and also consider a subscription to the Chronicle. As a subscriber, you’ll have access to all our opinion articles, as well as news, trends, and analysis about the social sector. Thank you for turning to us for critical information about the field and for everything you do to advance the common good. Amy Saltzman, Opinion Editor |
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