OPINION: Foundations Need to Be More Accountable

An opinion article in the Financial Times sharply criticizes foundations for their lack of openness and accountability.

Michael Schrage, the writer, is a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who also led a philanthropic-education effort for a U.S. investment bank, according to the newspaper.

Foundations “seem to measure success more by how much is given to whom than by how much social or economic value they create. Any harm their initiatives may cause—inadvertent or otherwise—is rarely discussed,” Mr. Schrage argues.

He writes that tax breaks for foundations must come with new, stringent restrictions: “For any organization, preferential tax treatment should be contingent on performance measures that go beyond grant giving and wealth redistribution. Institutions unable or unwilling to proffer auditable results should lose their subsidy.”