PADM-GP.2413 (001) Philanthropy and Public Policy
Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
New York University
Gara LaMarche
Tisch LC-9
Spring 2012
Thursday, 6:45-8:25
Course Objectives
This course aims to introduce students to the critical role played by U.S.
foundations on public policy issues and in American society generally.
The manner in which the U.S. tax laws encourage charitable giving has
had a significant impact on civil society and social welfare. Philanthropy has not
only been critical to the establishment of leading educational and cultural
institutions and medical research and discovery, but also to numerous public
policy advances such as public television, urban renewal, school vouchers and the
modern human rights and women’s rights movements.
The course will touch on some of that history by way of a short
introduction to institutionalized philanthropy, with particular emphasis on the
foundations emerging in the first half of the 20th century from great American
fortunes like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford. But the principal focus will be the
public policy activities of contemporary foundations.
Proceeding from the legal and historical environment, classes will be
devoted to a number of key public policy approaches and strategies, including
research, litigation, organizing and communications. Classes will also be devoted
to more intensive case studies of particular philanthropy-supported policy
initiatives and to two foundations at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum
particularly known for public policy engagement, the Open Society Foundations
and the John M. Olin Foundation.
Several classes will feature guest lecturers who are either the authors or
subjects of assigned books, and one class, to be planned and organized by
students, will take the form of a public forum on a leading topic in public policy
philanthropy that will be determined by the group in consultation with me.
Purchased readings
Fleishman, Joel, The Foundation: A Great American Secret, Public Affairs Books,
2007
Miller, John J., A Gift of Freedom, How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed
America
Sudetic, Chuck, The Philanthropy of George Soros: Building Open Societies,
Public Affairs, 2011
Course requirements and grading
All students are required to:
1. Complete readings in advance of class sessions.
2. Attend class regularly and participate in discussions.
3. Write one ten-fifteen page paper, focusing on the public policy work of a
particular foundation or foundation leader, to be chosen in consultation
with the instructor
4. Assist in the planning of a public forum centered on issues relevant to the
scope of the class
Course Schedule and Readings
Note: Assigned readings follow session description in this small font. URLs provided for most;
for the balance, handouts will be given at least one class session before. Optional readings are
marked with an asterisk.
I.

January 26: Introduction and Overview: Why some foundations
support public policy initiatives – and why they don’t. Come
prepared to talk about yourself and your expectations of the class,
and I will do the same. I’ll provide an overview of what the class
will cover, and we’ll explore why support of public policy advocacy
is viewed by many foundations as a critical tool for advancing their
mission, as well as why many foundations are skittish about it.
The Foundation, Fleishman, Chapters 1, 2 and 8.

The Cost of Caution: Advocacy, Public Policy and America’s Foundations, National Press
Club Forum, April 21, 2005 http://cpnl.georgetown.edu/doc_pool/IF03CostofCaution.pdf

Words to Give By: Leading Voices in Advocacy Funding, Alliance for Justice,
http://www.afj.org/assets/resources/nap/words_to_give_by.pdf
II.
February 2: Legal and regulatory framework (guest resource:
David Sternlieb, General Counsel, The Atlantic Philanthropies)
III.
February 9: Historical antecedents, from the Progressive Era to the
1960s
The great fortunes, including Carnegie and Rockefeller, and the template set by
the foundations they spawned one hundred years ago; the Russell Sage, New
York, Rosenwald and Ford Foundations; the support provided by foundations
such as Field and Taconic for the social movements of the 1950s and ‘60s.
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“Taking Risks That Matter”, Centennial Publication of The New York Foundation, 2007,
http://www.nyf.org/taking-risks-100
Carnegie Reporter, Special Centennial Edition, Part 2, Spring 2011,
http://carnegie.org/publications/carnegie-reporter/single/view/issue/item/387/
“Rosenwald’s Shadow?”, Stephanie Deutsch, Philanthropy, Fall 2011,
http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/donor_intent/rosenwalds_shadow
Remarks of David R. Hunter, North Star Dinner, September 24, 1984, and at 26 th Annual
Conference, Council on Foundations, April 22, 1975 (handout)
“Field Foundation, Civil Rights Pioneer, to Die at 49; Survivors Will be Legion,” Kathleen
Teltsch, The New York Times, February 19, 1989,
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/19/us/field-foundation-civil-rights-pioneer-to-die-at-49survivors-will-be-legion.html?pagewanted=all
“Richard Boone and the Field Foundation: Beacons of Leadership for Social Justice
Philanthropy,” Gara LaMarche, Atlantic Currents, April 13, 2009,
http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/currents/richard-boone-and-field-foundationbeacons-leadership-social-justice-philanthropy
IV.
February 16: Strategies for public policy change: research, policy,
communications campaigns
First of two classes focused on particular approaches to policy
change. How foundation support for research and policy analysis
builds a case for action; how investments in communications
campaigns (including public opinion research and framing) builds
on that. Likely to cover federal budget battles of the last thirty
years and criminal justice campaign on drug policy, incarceration
and the death penalty.

Spitfire Communications Toolkits: Smart Chart 3.0, Discovering the Activation Point, Just
Enough Planning Guide, http://www.spitfirestrategies.com/spitfire-tools.html
V.
February 23: Strategies for public policy change: public interest
litigation, organizing, movement-building
Second class focused on approaches. How litigation can dovetail
with community organizing and other strategies to advance policy
change in certain fields. Why some funders are investing more in
organizing and movement-building. Likely to focus on several
younger organizations, like The Advancement Project and Make the
Road New York, that combine litigation and organizing strategies.
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“Social Movements and Philanthropy: How Foundations Can Support Movement
Building,” Barbara Masters and Torie Osborn, The Foundation Review,
http://evaluationinnovation.org/sites/default/files/Masters%20Movement%20Building%20.
pdf
“Why Movements Matter,” Vivien Labaton and Gara LaMarche, The American Prospect,
May 11, 2011, http://prospect.org/article/why-movements-matter
“A Strategic Evaluation of Public Interest Litigation in South Africa,” Atlantic
Philanthropies, 2009, http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/learning/evaluation-publicinterest-litigation-south-africa-offers-lessons-advocates
“Leveraging Limited Dollars: How Grantmakers Achieve Tangible Results by Funding
Policy and Community Engagement,” National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy,
January 2012, http://www.ncrp.org/files/publications/LeveragingLimitedDollars.pdf
VI.
March 1: Evaluation: how should advocacy and policy funding be
assessed?
With increasing investment in policy and advocacy work, funders are
increasingly concerned with how such initiatives can be properly assessed,
requiring different tools than appropriate for evaluating, i.e. school
performance or health improvements.

“The Elusive Craft of Evaluating Advocacy,” Steven Teles and Mark Schmitt, Stanford
Social Innovation Review, Summer 2011,
http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_elusive_craft_of_evaluating_advocacy

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“Philanthropy’s New Agenda: Creating Value,” Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer,
Harvard Business Review, November-December 1999,
http://hbr.org/product/philanthropy-s-new-agenda-creating-value/an/99610-PDF-ENG
“Building Capacity for Maximum Impact,” Speech by Gara LaMarche to the Better
Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York, February 8, 2008,
http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/learning/speech-building-capacity-maximumimpact
VII.
March 8: Case study #1: The Open Society Foundations and civil
liberties in the wake of the 9/11/01 attacks
Among the many impacts of the attacks of September 11, 2001 was a
significant resurgence in civil liberties violations, from mass arrests to
increased surveillance and monitoring of political organizations – and a
growing debate over the balance between liberty and security. The field of
organizations dealing with such matters was caught largely underfunded
and understaffed. How one funder responded to the crisis.

Newsmaker Conversation with Gara LaMarche, Philanthropy News Digest, May 17, 2002,
http://fdncenter.org/pnd/newsmakers/nwsmkr.jhtml?id=8000103
March 15: Spring recess – no class
VIII.
March 22, Case study #2: The Atlantic Philanthropies and health
care reform
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 was by most accounts the most
significant piece of social welfare legislation since Lyndon Johnson’s great
society programs like Medicare and Medicaid. We will examine the role
that foundations played in the lead-up to the legislation, the battle over it,
and the aftermath, with particular attention to the Atlantic Philanthropies,
which made a grant to $26.5 million to Health Care for America Now, at
the time the largest advocacy grant ever made by a foundation

Excerpts from Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American Struggle Over Health Care
Reform, Paul Starr, Yale University Press, 2011, and Fighting for Our Health, Richard
Kirsch, The Rockefeller Institute Press, 2012 (to be distributed)

“The Key Role of Advocacy Funding in the U.S. Health Care Reform Debate,” Gara
LaMarche, Grantmakers in Health Conference, Orlando, Florida, March 11, 2010,
http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/learning/speech-key-role-advocacy-funding-ushealth-reform-debate-gara-lamarche

HCAN Evaluation: Executive Summary, prepared for the Atlantic Philanthropies by
Grassroots Solutions, 2010, http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/learning/evaluationexecutive-summary-findings-and-lessons-hcan-campaign
IX.
March 29: The Open Society Foundations (guest resource: Aryeh
Neier, President, OSF)
The largest funder of advocacy on the “progressive” end of the policy
spectrum, OSF has been the leading funder of criminal justice and drug
policy reform in the United States, and campaigns for the rights of Roma,
harm reduction, and transparency of natural resource revenues abroad.
Aryeh Neier, OSF’s foundation president, who will retire this year after 19
years in the job (before that leading the ACLU and Human Rights Watch)
will join us to reflect on OSF’s work.
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The Philanthropy of George Soros, Sudetic, particularly chapters by George Soros and
Aryeh Neier and Parts I, III and V
Conversation with George Soros and Aryeh Neier, May 12, 2011,
http://fora.tv/2011/05/12/Building_Open_Societies_Soros_in_Conversation
“George Soros’s Social Agenda for America,” Capital Research Center, April 2003,
http://www.capitalresearch.org/pubs/pdf/x3770435801.pdf
X.
April 5: The John M. Olin Foundation (guest resource: James
Piereson, former President of Olin
Before the Olin Foundation spent down its assets and went out of business,
it had a major impact in promoting conservative policies, including the
launch of the law and economics movement, the Federalist Society and the
Heritage Foundation. Olin’s last president, James Piereson, will join us to
discuss its approach to changing public policy
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A Gift of Freedom, Miller
“How Vast the Left-Wing Conspiracy?” Hudson Institute Transcript, November 30, 2006,
http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=hudson_upcoming_events&id=324*
Transcript of James Piereson forum, Open Society Institute, September 21, 2006,
http://www.soros.org/resources/events/piereson_20060921/piereson_20060921.pdf*
“Investing in Conservative Ideas,” James Piereson, Commentary, May 2005,
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/investing-in-conservative-ideas/
“Compassionate Aversionism,” Gara LaMarche, The Nation, April 19, 2001,
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010507/lamarche*
XI.
April 12: Emerging critiques of foundation policy initiatives
With greater foundation engagement in policy comes greater scrutiny and
criticism: of the Gates Foundation as so big and opinionated that it
dominates the fields of education reform and public health and drowns out
other voices and approaches; of many “mainstream” funders for being too
timid; of “venture philanthropists” for adopting business practices ill-suited
to the non-profit world and insisting on crude metrics that don’t capture
the nuances of how change takes place. We’ll survey these critiques and
examine a few of them in detail.

“The Gated Community,” Edward Skloot, Alliance Magazine, September 2011,
http://www.alliancemagazine.org/node/3834

“Metrics Mania: The Growing Corporatization of U.S. Philanthropy,” Alison R. Bernstein,
Thought and Action, Fall 2011, http://www.nea.org/home/50022.htm*

“Why Do Progressive Foundations Give Too Little to Too Many?,” Michael H. Shuman,
The Nation, January 12/19 1998, http://www.thenation.com/archive/why-do-progressivefoundations-give-too-little-too-many*

“Got Dough? Public School Reform in the Age of Venture Philanthropy,” Joanne Barkan,
Dissent Magazine, Winter 2011, http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=3781

Transcript of “Living With the Gates Foundation,” Hudson Institute, December 6, 2011,
http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=hudson_upcoming_events&id=899
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“Should Philanthropies Operate Like Businesses?” Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2011,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204554204577024313200627678.html

“What Does It Mean to Say that Philanthropy is ‘Effective’? The Philanthropists’ New
Clothes, Stanley N. Katz, American Philosophical Annual Meeting, April 23, 2004,
http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/490201.pdf*
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The Foundation, Chapter 14
Conversation with Jeff Raikes, CEO of the Gates Foundation, Philanthropy New York,
May 12, 2011,
http://fora.tv/2011/05/12/A_Conversation_with_Jeff_Raikes_and_Gara_LaMarche
XII.
April 19, Public forum, topic to be determined
XIII. April 26: Everything You Wanted to Know About Philanthropy But
Were Afraid to Ask. Q and A with Joel Fleishman, author of The
Foundation. You should definitely have finished the Fleishman
book by now!
XIV.
May 3, Review, critique, loose ends
Note: Most of my speeches and writings on philanthropic topics, including the ones
recommended in the syllabus, can be found at:
http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/news/news?filter=speeches or on my personal blog,
http://www.garala.typepad.com/