Charitable tax incentives enable the super-wealthy to redirect billions in tax dollars away from government programs toward their private philanthropic foundations and the causes they choose to support.
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Adam Saifer, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
The growth of private foundations in Canada has occurred at the expense of government tax revenue. Philanthropic donations are dollars that have been redirected away from universal social services.
Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife is funding efforts to dismantle racism and fight homophobia.
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By not attaching any strings to the money, championing representation and generally taking care to respect nonprofit leaders, she’s following five best practices.
When grassroots radicalism meets corporate wealth.
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Corporate foundations are no stranger to co-opting social movements aimed at challenging the deep structures of American inequality.
Richmond’s towering 1890 Robert E. Lee statue is transformed by protests following the killing of George Floyd.
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A Richmond court says the city cannot remove its controversial Robert E. Lee sculpture because an 1890 land deed gave the Confederate monument ‘to the people’ of Virginia, not its government.
Richmond’s towering Robert E. Lee statue is transformed by protests following the killing of George Floyd. Is removal next?
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On June 19, a court will decide whether Virginia must obey a 1890 deed that gave the state a plot of prime Richmond land as long as it would ‘faithfully guard’ the Robert E. Lee statue erected there.
Revered no more: the statue of Bristol slave-trader Edward Colston is torn down.
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Social distancing has made giving to the poor – an obligation under Islam – harder this Ramadan. Meanwhile Muslim nonprofits are feeling the strain of the economic downturn.
Are they spending as much on the needs of others as the rest of us?
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Reliable data on charitable giving is hard to come by. But based on the information available, very rich people are at least as generous as everyone else.
Remote worship is becoming the norm during the pandemic.
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Most Christian churches were relying heavily on ‘collection plates’ to pay their bills before the pandemic struck. And less than half were doing any online fundraising as of 2018.
On April 15, Finland’s foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (pictured in September 2019) announced on that his country would voluntarily increase its funding of the Wolrd Health Organization.
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Suerie Moon, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID)
The world rightly expressed shock and dismay at Donald Trump’s suspension of US funding for WHO. To respond, other governments, funders and citizens are urgently needed to fill the gap.
Philanthropy in the form of financial donations is not a solution to the natural disasters caused by climate change. A new philanthropy of social change is needed.
Jeff Bezos wants to save the world – it’s been good to him, after all.
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From helping fight coronavirus to supporting education and biodiversity projects, China’s tech billionaires have moved boldly into philanthropy, continuing what is an ancient tradition.
The foundation Bill and Melinda Gates run has more assets than any other.
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Associate Professor of Philanthropic Studies and Donald A. Campbell Chair in Fundraising Leadership, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University
Professor of Economics and Philanthropic Studies; Associate Dean for Research and International Programs, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University