October 3, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
President Obama has established policies that limit free enterprise and is starting to do the same with philanthropy, a panel said at the Philanthropy Roundtable conference.
Arthur C. Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, said Mr. Obama has increased government control of business with his bailout of General Motors and other decisions.
The White House proposal to limit the charitable deduction for wealthy Americans, Mr. Brooks said, is a sign that the president would like to see greater regulation of philanthropy as well.
(The president suggested limiting itemized deductions, including charitable donations, to pay for a health-care overhaul and predicted it would not have a significant effect on giving.)
The nonprofit world should expect “probes into traditional philanthropic policy,” Mr. Brooks said. He encouraged philanthropists to support education efforts to teach Americans about how a free-market economy and philanthropy are intrinsically link and that both are “creating value.”
Linda Childears, chief executive of the Daniels Fund, a foundation in Denver, echoed that idea. “Simply put, without capitalism, there is no philanthropy,” she said, calling for a public-television documentary that examines this link.
In regards to the charitable deduction change, she said given massive state budget shortfalls, “philanthropy should be encouraged in this environment and not stifled.”
She also worried that the Obama administration will be swayed by arguments that foundations do not provide enough money to minority and poor neighborhoods and seek policies to influence what causes grant makers support.
“We’re in a government-controlled environment,” she told the audience. “There are no shortage of special-interest groups that want to tell us what to do with our philanthropic dollars,” she said.
