This section of DiscoverTheNetworks examines the immensely wealthy charitable foundations that provide financial backing for leftist groups and causes. These foundations (sometimes called endowments or charitable trusts) are nongovernmental, nonprofit entities whose assets are provided by donors and managed by their own officials, who each year earmark portions of their assets for what they consider to be socially useful purposes. Most of these foundations can be classified under the following categories:
a) Community foundations, which build their endowments through contributions from many donors within a given geographic region, and typically focus on local needs
b) Corporate foundations, which are private foundations established by for-profit corporations but legally separate from the parent corporation
c) Family foundations, in which the original donor or the donor's family plays a significant role in governing the foundation
d) Independent foundations, which are private foundations, usually endowed by one source such as an individual's bequest
e) Operating foundations, which are private foundations that use most of their income to provide charitable services or programs of their own, rather than making grants to outside organizations
f) Public foundations, which are public charities that operate significant grantmaking programs
The DiscoverTheNetworks database currently identifies more than 115 major foundations whose political and philanthropic orientations are generally Left, and whose combined assets exceed $90 billion. Many of the foundations described in this section are so large that entire cultural and political movements can be shaped by a single one of them. (See, for example, the Ford Foundation's role in underwriting The Open Borders Lobby.) The four largest foundations that consistently fund leftist agendas are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The total assets of this quartet in 2004 amounted to approximately $49.343 billion. Out of this, they gave some $2.448 billion to their selected donees.
Several very large tax-exempt entities -- most notably the Tides Center, but also the Liberty Hill Foundation, the Shefa Fund, and the Proteus Fund -- are pass-through operations designed to mask the relationship between donor and gift. That is, they take money from donors who specify the precise groups and causes for which they want it earmarked, and in turn funnel that money to those recipients, allowing the donors to not be publicly associated with the groups being funded. Such transactions are called donor-advised funds. (The JEHT Foundation, which closed its doors permanently in 2009, was yet another pass-through.)
As of 2003, the major left-leaning foundations not only held $51 billion more in assets than their conservative counterparts (those that consistently fund groups promoting individual rights, a pro-market stance, and limited government), but also funded the Left with more than twenty-six times the funds dispensed by foundations that could be considered conservative. With many billions of dollars at their disposal, the foundations profiled in this section of DiscoverTheNetworks are positioned to permanently shift America's political dialogue to the Left through their grant-making power. Leftist activists commonly hold key positions on the staffs and governing boards of these foundations, and in many cases they serve on multiple boards.
Many recipients of foundation money today are the immensely influential activist organizations popularly known as Section 527 committees. Dedicated to promoting political candidates and agendas, 527s are, by definition, private, nonprofit groups that are less regulated and require less disclosure than other types of nonprofit groups engaged in electioneering. They need not register with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as "political organizations." Consequently, they need not observe the FEC's strict limits on political contributions. The 527 committees may collect as much ”soft money” as they like from individuals or corporations.
In this section of DiscoverTheNetworks, the category titled Guide to the George Soros Network explores the philanthropic activities and agendas of multi-billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Institute.
The category titled Funding the Left examines the diverse and interrelated agendas of the leftist organizations that receive grants from charitable foundations nationwide.
The category titled Comparison of Left v. Right Funding looks at those foundations that are the biggest donors to conservative and leftist causes, respectively, and documents the disparity between the amounts given by foundations of each type.
The category titled Funding the Opponents of the War on Terror investigates the philanthropic aims of an immensely influential coalition known as the Peace and Security Funders Group.
The category titled Philanthropy and Affirmative Action examines how identity politics has intruded into the world of philanthropy. To avoid the possibility of being sued for racial discrimination, charitable foundations must now meet "diversity targets" not only in the makeup of their workforce, but also in the way they choose to allocate the money they give away.
