Font Size: a A A

PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS AND PUBLIC POLICY: THE POLITICAL ROLE OF FOUNDATIONS

Posted on:1981-07-25Degree:Ph.DType:Dissertation
University:University of California, BerkeleyCandidate:COLWELL, MARY ANNA CULLETONFull Text:PDF
GTID:1476390017966094Subject:Sociology
Abstract/Summary:
This research demonstrates that philanthropic foundations influence public policy through the nonprofit organizations they support and, increasingly, through programs they initiate and develop. This political role of tax exempt foundations has been essentially ignored, unknown, or not assessed in the usual analysis of public policy formation.; Grants data, interviews, and the researcher's experience as a participant observer in the foundation world support several key findings. (1) Foundation influence on public policy through grants and "in house" activities such as establishing task forces and action projects, or commissioning or doing research on current public policy issues, apparently is increasing. It reflects a wide range of political and economic ideologies. (2) The majority of foundation trustees are from the donor family and/or the donor corporation and, therefore, the economic elite. The trustees of four out of five foundations independent of donor control in this research sample (Carnegie, Ford, Rockefeller, Russell Sage) exemplify the political and economic elite. Boards of the better known policy organizations include very large percentages of foundation trustees. There is a complex network among the public policy foundations and the recipient organizations through board overlaps, grants, and other connections. (3) Many foundations do not voluntarily report their grants to the Foundation Center, the usual source of data on foundations. The foundations in this public policy sample which did not report their grants were involved in conservative funding. There is a hidden conservative portion of foundation funding which refutes the view that almost all foundations are liberal in their orientation toward public policy. (4) Ford Foundation grants for public policy issues are so large a percentage of the total that research on grants which does not differentiate between Ford and other grants is likely to be misleading. Conclusions from research on foundations based on incomplete Foundation Center data, and not separating Ford grants, are subject to question. (5) In this research, without the Ford grants, contributions to conservative policy organizations were a substantial percentage of the total. (6) Foundations influence recipient organization's policy work through grants, the grant negotiation process, and through not funding certain issues and projects. The independence of "third sector" policy formation organizations from the business sector is subject to question (e.g. American Enterprise Institute, Aspen Institute, Brookings, Council on Foreign Relations, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace).; This research was based on data from all foundations over {dollar}100 million and a random sample of foundations between {dollar}10 million and {dollar}100 million in 1974 assets. Grants in 1972 and 1975 from these seventy-seven foundations were categorized. Grants focused on the legal/political and economic systems formed a public policy-public affairs category. Based on the amount of percentage of public policy grants, twenty foundations were selected as a public policy sample. Organizations funded by three or more of these foundations made up a recipient sample. Interviews were arranged with staff and board members of a large portion of these foundations and organizations. The public policy funding of these foundations was analyzed.; The foundation role in the political process remains an area which requires much more comprehensive research. The findings raise questions about whether the "third sector" operates as it has been described and about accountability for public policy in a democracy. Suggestions for increasing the accountability of foundations through more disclosure and monitoring and new foundation forms are discussed.
Keywords/Search Tags:Foundations, Public policy, Political, Grants, Organizations, Role
Related items