New HistPhil post: Andrew Fisher on Nathan Straus, the Macy's magnate and somewhat forgotten philanthropic titan from turn of the century NYC, the man who brought us affordable pasteurized milk, and an early paragon of "giving while living." histphil.org/2026/06/04/n...

Not sure if there’s a more Trumpy storyline than the rise of Bill Pulte from narcissistic Twitter philanthropist to Director of National Intelligence. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/u...

New HistPhil post: Kathi Badertscher on philanthropic archives: the barriers that explain why systematic archiving remains the exception rather than the norm w/in the sector, and their importance fundamental importance to the pursuit of philanthropic mission and legacy. histphil.org/2026/05/26/p...

32 House Democrats joined the GOP to vote to criminalize bail funds. clerk.house.gov/Votes/2026169

A fascinating event just wrapped up at Cato, featuring @palfrey.org, DonorTrust's Lawson Bader & @walterolson.bsky.social discussing the Freedom to Give. An important expression of what Bader called the emerging "strange bedfellows" coalition in defense of civil society. www.cato.org/events/freed...

New HistPhil post: Carmen Rojas continues our book forum on @johnfabianwitt.bsky.social The Radical Fund, calling it "one of the best books I’ve read about the perils & promises of philanthropy in the United States," offering important lessons for leaders of the sector. histphil.org/2026/05/04/h...

I still trust the process

BREAKING: Fidelity won't let customers donate to the SPLC anymore via their charitable gift/donor-advised funds, citing Trump admin indictment of SPLC. No response yet from Schwab, Vanguard... but soon. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/b...

I am very excited about UAR Bernard. 🦅🦅🦅

SCOOP --> Paramount, Meta, and X are refusing to say what happened to their huge contributions to Trump's presidential library after Sen Elizabeth Warren raised questions about its fund getting dissolved. Ds say tens of millions remain unaccounted for. Details here: newrepublic.com/article/2092...

The challenge facing good-faith reformers of our institutions, in face of plummeting public trust, is to take on the project of reform while pushing back on unrelenting attacks from bad-faith critics, who borrow some reformist tropes but just want to burn stuff down. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/u...

INBOX: Amid rising tendons between Trump and Pope Leo, the administration has abruptly canceled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities to shelter and care for migrant children who enter the U.S. alone, ending a relationship dating back to the first arrivals of Cuban exiles in South Florida.

Some important reporting that marks a new chapter in the broader recent history of the globalization of efforts to shrink civic space, w/ the vectors of influence flowing back and forth btw the US and other right-wing regimes. We don't just import this stuff! www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/u...

In an Urban Institute research brief, I lay out 4 ways the current turbulence facing US nonprofits might transform the giving infrastructure, including the emergence of systems of triage to respond to funding disruptions & efforts to recover & protect public datasets. www.urban.org/sites/defaul...

The request for list of the members of Jewish campus groups seems to me a clear threat to the right of association and opens a door for targeted harassment of certain disfavored group by govt authorities under pretense of combating discrimination. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/u...

Buried *far* beneath the admin's weaponization of accusations of anti-semitism & efforts to enforce anti-affirmative action ruling, there's been occasional efforts to address admissions to college and universities linked to major donors. Curious who is behind this & what they think the politics is.

Democrats have offered to pay the salaries — fully fund, no conditions — for TSA. It’s Republicans who keep blocking that.

“I knew there was no place for me in the Justice Dept if I was being asked to bring felony charges against these protesters...,” Mr. Barker said.... “This was not an organized conspiracy. It was a protest where people were exercising their free-speech rights.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/u...

My god. Humanitarianism as extortion. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/h...

A good piece from @teddyschleifer.bsky.social on the rise & fall of the Giving Pledge. This is a moment of exhaustion, cynicism & disillusionment wrt to large-scale giving. But I still think an imperfect set of philanthropic norms are better than none at all. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/b...

Texas excluded about two dozen Islamic schools from its $1 billion voucher program for being linked to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group. The group does not appear on federal lists of foreign terrorist organizations. https://wapo.st/40m11qX

New HistPhil post: David Callahan reviews Bill Clinton's 2024 memoir of his post-White House years, "Citizens," and argues that his philanthropic legacy (almost always discussed in the glare of right-wing attacks) deserves more attention and respect. histphil.org/2026/03/09/b...

Florida Gov. DeSantis issued an order barring Muslim advocacy group CAIR or "any person known to have provided material support or resources" to CAIR from receiving any contract or benefit from Florida state or local governments. A court just struck that down, notes Eugene Volokh, who concurs.

Breaking: The House Oversight Committee is requesting transcribed interviews with 7 new individuals as part of the panel's Epstein investigation: Bill Gates: May 19 Kathryn Ruemmler: April 21 Ted Waitt: April 16 Doug Band: May 5 Leon Black: May 13 Lesley Groff: June 9 Sarah Kellen: June 3

My god.

There should be a law against naming any institution for a sitting president and a norm against naming institutions for a living individual.

New HistPhil post: Deepak Bhargava reviews @johnfabianwitt.bsky.social The Radical Fund, finding in the early 20th C. history of the Garland Fund lessons for today's progressive, radical, and movement-oriented funders. histphil.org/2026/02/17/a...

1: There’s been lots of talk abt the Tyler Austin Harper Atlantic piece on the Mellon Foundation as an intervention (whether commendable or silly) in the contemp crisis of the humanities, but much less as one wrt to the crisis of philanthropy in a democracy. I'm not surprised.

Maggie Lemos & Guy-Uriel Charles revisit their 2018 article on "patriotic philanthropy," big private gifts to public programs or institutions, in light of its embrace by Pres. Trump, highlighting its links to the imperial presidency & hollowing out of state capacity. histphil.org/2026/02/12/r...

Freedom 250 has "emerged as another vehicle...thru which ppl & companies w interests before the Trump admin can make tax-deductible donations to gain access to...a pres who's maintained a...willingness to use the levers of govt power to reward financial supporters." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/u...

Normalize the rejection of in vivos naming rights--across the board. punchbowl.news/article/whit...

WIN: A federal court blocked Texas AG Ken Paxton’s attempt to revoke a pro-voting group’s corporate charter. The group, which focuses on increasing voter turnout among young Latinos, argued Paxton’s actions were part of an intimidation campaign meant to halt voter registration efforts.

New post-doc position working with me in a new lab at @snfagora.bsky.social ! It's one year appointment, renewable for up to 5 years. The position includes data analysis and independent research, mentorship of lab members, and participation in SNF Agora Institute life. apply.interfolio.com/178796

it is important to assert, while recognizing all the dangers it faces, and all the ways it has disappointed in the last year, that civil society in the US is still vital and strong. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/o...

The Dells' $6b pledge to support Trump Accounts has been understood as a push for nonprofit "disintermediation." But, as Madeline Brown & I argue, it also highlights the import of the robust nonprofit infrastructure that's advanced the cash benefit field. www.urban.org/urban-wire/d...

New HistPhil post: histphil.org/2026/01/13/r... Jeffrey Berry, James Glaser, & Deborah J. Schildkraut outline the findings on the relationship btw political ideology and charitable giving from their recent book, Everyday Democracy: Liberals, Conservatives, and Their Routine Political Lives.

For a bit of a timeline cleanse...I recently finished watching Heated Rivalry, and the obvious question I have is: Is the proposed Hollander-Rozanov hockey/mental health nonprofit the most narratively consequential charity is recent cultural history?

The 10-year old me would have had his mind blown to know that Don Mattingly would one day be wearing a Phillies uniform. I don't remember why, but even as a devoted Phillies fan, he was always my favorite player growing up. I remember checking box scores every morning to see if he outhit Wade Boggs.

Finally saw Sinners; founds parts of it enjoyable, others heavy-handed. But one thing that really confounded me was its treatment of trad Scots-Irish music, literally the devil's music. Esp. given celebration of non-Anglo trad music in film, doesn't this point to a pretty ugly cultural politics?

I think there should be regulation for public bodies--and a strong norm for private ones--that having one's name attached to an institution should be an exclusively posthumous honor. www.cnn.com/2025/12/18/p...

For those trying to get a handle on the sprawling Darwin-at-the-galapagos variety of contemp mega-philanthropy, I highly rec @insidephilanthropy.com series on billionaire giving in a new Gilded Age. Here's the first post from David Callahan w/ predictions: www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/the-fut...

New Histphil post: Dana Brakman Reiser reviews Gelles's Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune and Gave It All Away. She finds it a compelling read but wanted more scrutiny of the purpose trust, Chouinard's main philanthropic instrument. histphil.org/2025/12/16/t...

NEW: The Trump-Vance White House has falsely accused an ally of Pope Leo — Sr. Norma Pimentel — of illegal activity tied to migrant aid, and cut off all federal funding to Catholic Charities in Texas. Church leaders say it’s a targeted, political reprisal against Pope Leo and the Catholic Church.

Showdown looming? NYT notes that tied for second largest gift in this $7.2b tranche from Scott was $70m to Hispanic Scholarship Fund. The week before, HSF was target of lawsuit from Edward Blum's American Alliance for Equal Rights for illegal discrimination. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/b...

I think you have to sit Hurts for a bit.

Jalen Hurts is simply not playing well now.

New HistPhil post: John Miles Branch writes on the history of debates over union exemptions for nonprofit organizations, and in doing so, helps bridge labor and nonprofit history, two subfields that, as Branch notes, have often moved along "separate tracks." histphil.org/2025/12/08/u...

NEW: I got a hold of letters from nearly 20 of Trump's ballroom donors, sent to a senator who requested details on how much they gave + who solicited money from them. Most ignored the actual Qs and instead boasted of their philanthropy and love of America. www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

Scott Bessant at WH event announcing Dells $6.2B pledge toward the Fed Savings Accounts for Children: it will usher in a "new age of capitalism and market interest for the whole country..." and of philanthropy, providing an inspiring platform. “Every Tuesday can become Giving Tuesday.”

New HistPhil post: Gizem Zircirci on her book, The Muslim Social: Neoliberalism, Charity, and Poverty, which recently received ARNOVA's 2025 Outstanding Book Prize. histphil.org/2025/11/24/t...