Opinion: Are Foundations Going Too Far in Embracing Political Activism?

Speakers’ remarks at the recent Council on Foundations conference that ended Tuesday, exhibited a trend among foundation leaders to shift charitable organizations’ missions from public service to political activism, writes Anthony Paletta, an editor at the Manhattan Institute’s Center for the American University, in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Paletta cites the speeches of Valerie Jarrett, an adviser to President Obama and the head of the White Office of Public Engagement, and those of numerous foundation leaders at the conference as a sign that foundations are turning away from supporting programs to help those in need and enrich society toward a kind of political activism that Mr. Paletta finds worrisome and dangerous.