Philanthropy Roundtable

The Philanthropy Roundtable was established by the Bradley Foundation to help facilitate conservative grantmaking.

About the Roundtable

From the Philanthropy Roundtable website:

"The Philanthropy Roundtable is a national association of more than 600 conservative individual donors, corporate giving representatives, foundation staff and trustees, and trust and estate officers. Its Associates include donors who are involved in philanthropy on a professional basis, as well as individual donors for whom giving is a serious avocation.

"The Roundtable is founded on the principle that voluntary private action offers the best means of addressing many of society's needs, and that a vibrant private sector is critical to generating the wealth that makes philanthropy possible. Its work is motivated by the belief that philanthropy is most likely to succeed when it focuses not on grand social designs, but on individual achievement, and where it rewards not dependence, but personal initiative, self-reliance, and private enterprise - in other words, they have very explicit ties to groups like The American Enterprise Institute (board member Kimberly Dennis) and the Council on Foreign Relations (Vice Chairman Heather Richardson Higgins). They even have a board member who co-authored a book with William J. Bennett, the former Education Secretary under Reagan and Bush.

"The Roundtable attracts independent-minded donors who understand that philanthropy is difficult to do well. In addition to offering expert advice and counsel, the Roundtable puts donors in touch with conservatives who share similar concerns and interests. Roundtable Associates thereby gain access to the full range of ideas and approaches to giving and information on what works and what doesn't.

"The Roundtable is strongly committed to donor intent, and to helping conservatives ensure that their intentions will be adhered to in the long-term administration of their foundations and trusts. As an organization dedicated to serving donors' needs, the Roundtable represents a unique resource for those who want to make the most of their giving."

History

"The Philanthropy Roundtable began in the late 1970s as an informal network of grantmakers who were troubled by an increasing lack of political and intellectual diversity within parts of the philanthropic community, and who wanted to promote greater respect for private, voluntary approaches to individual and community betterment. The goal of the Roundtable's founders was to provide a forum where donors could discuss the principles and practices that inform the best of America's charitable tradition. Currently, there are more than 600 Roundtable Associates.

"Despite its rapid growth, the organizational structure of the Roundtable has remained lean, carrying out a full program of meetings, publications, and consulting services with a staff of eight."

Each year the Roundtable convenes an annual conference drawing together presenters from conservative advocates, media commentators - such as David Brooks from the New York Times - and mainstream non-government organizations. Its November 2004 annual conference at Palm Beach, Florida, USA included a special pre conference environmental meeting. The after dinner speaker was Bjorn Lomborg while other feature sessions were on oceans and aquaculture policy, the fate of the Amazon forests, environmental education and water policy in Florida.

A feature session of the main conference agenda was a discussion on what to do about teachers unions. [1].

In an interview with the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the President of the Philanthropy Roundatble, Adam Meyerson, indicated that education 'reform' was one of the key priorities for the organisation during George W. Bush's second term, "President Bush has the potential to be the most important president in the history of American education -- the president who finally solves our crisis in the education of low-income children. But he cannot achieve this breakthrough simply through the federal No Child Left Behind law, the focus of his first term. Reform of education is going to come primarily from the ground up -- from state and local government, and from philanthropists and social entrepreneurs," he said.[2]

O'Dwyers PR Daily reported that lobbying disclosure forms indicated that on February 2005 the Philanthropy Roundtable hired Venn Strategies, LLC "regarding proposed charitable taxation legislation that would affect private foundations' powers and duties, tax exempt status and possible existence". [3]

Board of Directors

• Daniel S. Peters, Chairman, Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation
  
• Heather Richardson Higgins, Vice Chairman, Randolph Foundation
  
• Joseph S. Dolan, Treasurer and Secretary, Achelis and Bodman Foundations
  
• Kimberly O. Dennis, D & D Foundation
  
• Chester E. Finn, Jr., Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
  
• Michael W. Grebe, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
  
• James Piereson, John M. Olin Foundation
  

Funding

Between 1993 and 2001, the Philanthropy Roundtable received $2,477,000 from ten donors.

• Castle Rock Foundation
• Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation
• Earhart Foundation
• JM Foundation
• John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.
• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
• Philip M. McKenna Foundation, Inc.
• Scaife Foundations (Scaife Family and Alleghany)
• Smith Richardson Foundation

Connection to Koch

In October 2011 the Roundtable awarded Charles G. Koch the William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership. The prize is intended to "honor living philanthropists who have shown exemplary leadership through their own charitable giving, either directly or through foundations they have created." In its explanation for why Koch was the recipient, the Roundtable claimed that "For more than 40 years, he has been at the forefront of strategic investment in ideas, think tanks, and academic research." Not surprisingly, Koch has maintained a longstanding financial relationship with the foundation. Between 1993 and 2005, the Philanthropy Roundtable received $94,500 in donations from Koch's own philanthropic organization, the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation.

Contact

1150 17th Street, NW
Suite 503
Washington, D.C. 20036
Phone: (202) 822-8333
Fax:(202) 822-8325
Web: http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/

Projects

• Team Schiavo, funding the fight over Terri Schiavo

SourceWatch Resources

• Venn Strategies, LLC

External links

• Lauren Kafka, "What Nonprofit Leaders Want: Charity and foundation leaders offer advice on the best ways for the president to help philanthropy", Chronicle of Philanthropy, November 11, 2004.