Giving Compass' Take:

• Isaac Stoner calls on institutions to increase transparency around donations to prevent morally questionable donors from buying legitimacy, access, and legacy polishing. 

• Is it fair and reasonable to expect charitable organizations to screen their donors for their behavior? Where is the line between acceptable and unacceptable donors? 

• Find out why some organizations don't give back tainted money


The good that can be done with large no-strings-attached gifts cannot be understated. Research efforts ongoing at the Koch Institute will lead to new cancer treatments. The Guggenheim can now afford to curate and display priceless works of art in the security of the Sackler Wing. But when does a private nonprofit institution have the responsibility to reject these large donations?

Intent matters. As wealth disparities continue to grow, philanthropy can increasingly be used as a tool for the wealthy and powerful to advance their own interests. These can range from minor issues, like increasing the odds of a child being accepted into a selective school, to major causes like trying to get the Bible into (and evolution removed from) ALL schools. Well run institutions have formal committees to review private gifts, rejecting those made by donors with unsavory reputations, but the status quo is not working.

Philanthropy is important and good. Even donations made by modern-day robber barons can be a powerful positive force for change. While I disagreed with the politics of the late David Koch and his systematic financing of climate change denial, the cancer center he endowed will result in new treatments that will undoubtedly save lives. But without external oversight and careful internal reviews, large philanthropic gifts are no different from the dark money pools that now plague politics. Donors who seek influence and access or to burnish a tarnished reputation can easily accomplish these goals under today’s rules.

Our institutions must do better. The ability to selectively determine which donations are to be categorized as “Anonymous” gives universities and foundations the ability to take gifts that have invisible strings attached. Internal review mechanisms need to focus on the intent and potential conflicts presented by any large gift, rather than instead reviewing the potential for embarrassment to the institution. We need to demand transparent public disclosure of all gifts taken by tax exempt foundations and universities in order to determine what exactly is going on behind the scenes.

Read the full article about transparency around large donations by Isaac Stoner at Medium.