Quixote Foundation: Foundations Hold Money for the 1%. How Can We Stand with the 99%?

Submitted by Steve on November 18, 2011

The Quixote Foundation's Tiltings post for November 2011 addresses the growing “We are the 1%. We stand with the 99%” movement and focuses on the complicated relationships foundations have with the Occupy movement. It's a must-read for its thoughtfulness and for a pragmatic examination of what foundations can do positively in this political climate:

What do foundations have in common with the 1%? We’re organizations, not individuals, it’s true; but our raison d’être is using untaxed wealth to carry out the wishes of its “former owners.” As long as we stick to a few regulations, only the founders or their heirs and appointees can have a say in what we do. If this tax break can pay for itself by channeling riches into the public good, why is there no equivalent deduction for ordinary folks who make nonprofit gifts, unless they have sufficient income or assets to itemize?

Why are foundations allowed to hold $672 billion in assets—often invested in companies that help create the problems our programs try to solve—while spending as little as 5% per year no matter how well our portfolios have performed?

However well intended, foundations are extensions of the outsized wealth and power enjoyed by our country’s “1%.” So what, besides going beyond 5%, can we do to stand with the 99%? Here are some ideas...

Read the full post.