Thursday, April 20, 2023

Ah, yes -- the wonderful world of foundation funding

In a new article from Tom Dispatch, Erudite Partner marks tax season with a graceful, and highly readable, explainer about how our annual duels with the IRS feed our misconceptions about how positive change comes about.


A Deal With the Devil: Non-Profit Status and Political Action 

 ... For many ... of us, it’s time to pat ourselves on the back for the charitable donations we made to tax-deductible organizations in 2022. Time to pat ourselves on the back for being clever and generous enough to “do well by doing good,” right? Time, perhaps, to wonder why, even when we give to organizations seeking radical change, the IRS still rewards us with a tax deduction. Do the feds really support organized opposition to, for example, the military-industrial complex? Or is there more to the story of what my students sometimes refer to as the “nonprofit-industrial complex”?
... am I suggesting that we shouldn’t give money to non-profits, because we often don’t really benefit from the tax deduction? Absolutely not. I’m saying that when we donate, we shouldn’t do it because of the tax deduction. We should do it, if we can, because it supports activities crucial to our own and the long-term survival and even flourishing of so many other people. ...

Read all about it.

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