The federal government shouldn't be in the business of picking winners and losers regarding which charitable organizations its employees can support with their donations. But that's exactly what will happen if some new rules currently under consideration get approved.

The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is the world's largest...

The 113th Congress must complete the unfinished business of financial reform if they hope to place our nation on a strong footing for future prosperity. Unfortunately, the banking industry will continue to use every tool at its disposal -- including overblown claims about its philanthropic giving -- to stave off...

The plan passed by Congress over the New Year's holiday to avoid going over the "fiscal cliff" is a resounding victory for nonprofits that serve or represent those with the least wealth, opportunity and power. I applaud President Obama and Vice-President Biden for negotiating a good deal for...

Whatever right-wing media would have us believe about the likes of George Soros and Warren Buffett and the philanthropic pursuit of "social justice," the truth is that social justice grantmaking is still a small fraction of foundation giving in this country.

A new analysis of social justice...

What should be the top priorities for nonprofit organizations during the fiscal cliff negotiations?

If you've been listening to the associations that claim to represent nonprofits and foundations, you could easily believe that fighting off any change to the charitable deduction is the only issue that matters. Nothing could be...

Independent Sector, a D.C.-based trade association and leadership network representing hundreds of our nation's largest charities and foundations, recently released a long-awaited study. Beyond the Cause: The Art and Science of Advocacy offers more than 200 pages of modestly helpful insight and analysis that is a...

Does funding for the arts benefit only elite arts patrons, or does the rest of society benefit, too? In these times of limited philanthropic dollars, this is an incredibly important question.

On June 8th, Americans for the Arts released findings from its fourth report on the arts and...

Kevin Laskowski, research and policy associate, contributed substantially to this commentary.

Former Congressman Steve Gunderson recently left the helm of the Council on Foundations, a philanthropic trade association whose 1,700 members give away some $20 billion annually in grants. The Council wisely solicited comments on the...

By Aaron Dorfman and Bob Edgar.

This week, a few hundred people who lead foundations will gather in Scottsdale, Arizona., for the annual meeting of Philanthropy Roundtable, an organization that promotes independent giving to solve America's challenges while encouraging laws and regulations that make it easy for wealthy people to...

Leaders of our nation's nonprofit sector are vehemently opposing the cap on itemized deductions proposed by President Obama as a way to help pay for the American Jobs Act. Instead of acting out of a concern for the common good, these charity leaders have been acting to protect the narrowest...

Kudos to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies for making a $50 million grant to the Sierra Club for its work to advocate and organize against coal-fired power plants in the United States. The story broke in Thursday's Washington Post.

The grant...

This is the second and final part of a series of posts that looks at why I am skeptical that The Giving Pledge will have the kind of impact many people are saying it will. In Part I, I explored how the pledge is likely to...

Last week, 17 more billionaires signed on to the Giving Pledge and declared their intention to give away to charitable organizations at least 50 percent of their wealth. The initiative is being spearheaded by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates.

I've been following this effort since it...

There's a new report touting how the foundation world came charging to the rescue of nonprofits during the recent historic recession. I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but nonprofit groups serving vulnerable communities don't exactly feel that foundations should pat themselves on the back quite yet.

The...

There were more than 100 charitable foundations that lost a combined total of more than $2 billion to Bernie Madoff and his Ponzi scheme. These are funds that were intended to serve the public good and cannot be replaced.

The blame for this rests overwhelmingly with Mr. Madoff, who cleverly...