Current Department: Ideas
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  • Renaissance Ahead?

    October 2015

    Andy Smarick , Kelly Robson

    For 50 years, American K-12 Catholic education had been in a quiet retreat. Thousands of schools were shuttered. Enrollment plummeted by millions. Though heroic educators and generous donors stemmed the tide in many places, even creating exemplars of what was possible, forecasts were bleak. Education journals carried articles titled, “Can Catholic Schools Be Saved?”

  • Policing Philanthropy?

    July 2015

    Joanne Florino

    In the Summer issue of Philanthropy magazine, Joanne Florino, The Philanthropy Roundtable's senior vice president for public policy, explains why a new federal bureau for investigating charity is a terrible idea. 

  • Why Work Is the Best Charity for the Poor

    July 2015

    David Bass

    What if we’re looking in the wrong place for cures to poverty? If we search out what it is that banishes need and fills wants for most people, the answer is obvious: work. Poverty is one part economics, one part psychology—work helps both. 

  • Changing Hearts, Minds, and Laws

    April 2015

    John J. Miller , Karl Zinsmeister

    History shows that donors can have big, healthy effects on public policy—if they are prepared.

  • Rebounding From Philanthropic Failure

    April 2015

    Karen Minkel, Marc Holley

    Our plan flopped. We didn't give up. We changed course. Ideas from the Walton Family Foundation.  

  • Philanthropy's Dangerous Rival

    January 2015

    George F. Will

    The clamor for limitless government threatens every private initiative. 

  • Excellence in the Classroom

    July 2014

    Laura Vanderkam

    How can philanthropic investment help bring about a world where every child has a string of good teachers—not an occasional lucky assignment?

  • From Promising to Proven

    April 2014

    Karl Zinsmeister

    The charter school boom ahead. 

  • 100 Years of Experts Armed with Money...

    April 2014

    William Schambra

    ...sure didn't do much for Cleveland. Community foundations at a milestone.

  • Anybody Interested in Nation-changing Philanthropy?

    January 2014

    Thomas Meyer

    Help veterans with disabilities stand on their own. 

  • Learning from the Sunset

    October 2013

    Amy Markham, Susan Wolf Ditkoff

    Five lessons for lasting impact from foundations that spend down.

  • It’s About Freedom, Not Finances

    July 2013

    Alexander Reid

    The purpose of the charitable deduction transcends tax policy, argues Alexander Reid. It should be thought of as a form of tax immunity that protects civil society from the government. Reid explores the history of the charitable deduction and the necessary boundaries for a healthy democracy.

  • Getting What We Pay For

    April 2013

    Andrew Kelly

    Andrew Kelly takes a look at magnet schools—what makes them special, and how donors can help.

  • Small Change?

    April 2013

    Jay P. Greene

    Foundations are turning to education-reform advocacy. How’s it going? Check out Jay Greene’s review of “Follow the Money: How Foundation Dollars Change Public School Politics” from the Spring issue of “Philanthropy” magazine.

  • Tom Tierney’s “Conversations with Remarkable Givers”

    January 2013

    A special Q&A with Tierney and videos from his most recent Give Smart project

  • Ex Libris Philanthropy

    April 2012

    Christopher Levenick

    Donors are making Great Books available to the public

  • Opening Up the University

    April 2012

    Andrew Kelly

    The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is funding what could someday be viewed as higher education’s Great Disruption

  • Values Without Borders

    January 2012

    Kari Barbic

    Meet the Venezuelan-American family that teaches universal values to promote character education