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Master Resource - Foundations Gone Rogue
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This is a conservative-leaning policy commentary site critiquing philanthropic foundations; tangentially relevant to AI safety only insofar as large foundations (e.g., Open Philanthropy) play major roles in AI safety funding and governance debates.
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Importance: 12/100opinion piececommentary
Summary
This article from MasterResource critiques large philanthropic foundations that have shifted from neutral charitable giving to activist advocacy, particularly in energy and environmental policy. It argues these foundations operate with limited accountability while wielding outsized influence over public policy and civil society. The piece raises concerns about the concentration of ideological power in non-democratic institutions.
Key Points
- •Large foundations have increasingly moved from charitable giving to ideological advocacy, influencing policy outcomes outside democratic processes.
- •These organizations face minimal accountability structures despite wielding significant financial and political influence.
- •The article critiques foundations for funding campaigns that conflict with broader public interests, particularly in energy policy.
- •Concentration of philanthropic power in a few large institutions poses risks to pluralism and open debate in civil society.
- •The piece argues foundations exploit tax-exempt status while pursuing partisan agendas.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| MacArthur Foundation | Organization | 65.0 |
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# Foundations Gone Rogue: Ford Foundation and Beyond
By Jane Shaw Stroup -- February 7, 2025
**Editor note**: The wealth of free-market capitalism creates a robust civil society, where nonprofits and foundations can support the causes of their choosing, many of which might not be viable otherwise. The problem is where philanthropy goes political against the free society and human betterment. [Jane Shaw Stroup](http://www.perc.org/people/jane-shaw/) at her blog [Jane Takes on History](http://janetakesonhistory.org/) takes a look at good money going in negative directions, even violating original intent.
You’ve probably heard that Henry Ford II resigned from the board of the Ford Foundation because it had veered far away from its donor’s intent. In his 1976 resignation letter, Ford (grandson of Henry Ford Sr.) wrote:
> In effect, the foundation is a creature of capitalism—a statement that, I’m sure, would be shocking to many professional staff people in the field of philanthropy. It is hard to discern recognition of this fact in anything the foundation does. It is even more difficult to find an understanding of this in many of the institutions, particularly the universities, that are the beneficiaries of the foundation’s grant programs.” **\[1\]**
What had the Ford Foundation been doing? Essentially it had gone rogue.
_A 1919 photograph of the senior Henry Ford. From the Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs Division. It is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons._
True, the elder Ford had been eccentric and viciously antisemitic, but he changed the world with his autos, he paid workers well, and he hired disabled veterans, the elderly, and the handicapped. He revived a Detroit suburb, Inkster, during the Great Depression by hiring many of its largely black population, paying them $6 a day even if he had only routine chores for them. He started the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
By 1976, the foundation had become the largest charitable foundation in the world, and was leaning toward Democratic Party politics. One of its projects supported the Democratic Party by funding a voter registration drive in Cleveland to elect a Democratic mayor, Carl Stokes. Another gave money to the staff of Robert Kennedy after his assassination—even though former staff members such as Frank Mankiewicz and Peter Edelman were lawyers earning up to $500,000 a year.
Henry Ford II asked McGeorge Bundy (Ford’s president) to support the Henry Ford Hospital. Bundy refused. Only when Henry Ford II’s wife, Cristina, interceded with Robert McNamara, a prominent trustee, did McBundy agree to a one-time $100 million donation in 1973. That appears to be the foundation’s last gift to the hospital. In 2024, the hospital started on a [funding campaign](https://www.henryford.com/news/2024/09/henry-ford-health-launches-$750-million-campaign) a
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