Opinion: Big Donors Use Wealth to Set Policy Agenda

Big-ticket “philanthrocapitalism” carries a hidden cost as the country’s wealthiest donors increasingly use their giving to set public-policy priorities in education, health, and other issues, a sociology professor writes in The Washington Post.

“Giving is becoming governance,” Robin Rogers of Queens College and the City University of New York writes, citing examples such as concerns over how Newark, N.J., is spending Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s $100-million gift to city schools; the commitment of public funds for a New York initiative to help young minorities championed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and George Soros; and fears among some scientists that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s priorities dominate public-health spending.

“The enormous resources that the Gateses, [Warren] Buffetts, and Zuckerbergs of the world are devoting to their chosen causes are crucially important,” Ms. Rogers says. “But there is a risk that a growing dependence can make us reluctant to critically review such generosity.”