Opinion: Philanthropic Freedom Being Eroded

According to an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, foundation leaders, board members, and those with charitable aspirations should be paying attention to legislative efforts that the paper says could compromise the freedom of charities nationwide.

The focus of the critique is a bill, intended to ensure diversity, that was introduced in California that would have required foundations with more than $250-million in assets to report the racial, gender, and sexual orientation of their board members, employees, and grant recipients.

The bill was recently abandoned by its sponsors in exchange for an agreement worked out with 10 of the state’s biggest grant-making organizations.

The implications of this compromise may prompt similar actions across the country, the newspaper said.

For more on the California bill and similar efforts in other states, read “The Chronicle’s coverage.

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