Philanthropy Can’t Replace Our Broken Government — but It Can Help Rebuild It

The election of Joe Biden to the presidency marks a potential transition from an extraordinarily chaotic and dysfunctional period in American government — topped off by the unprecedented assault on the U.S. Capitol — to a future in which our government can better fulfill its fundamental responsibilities. Philanthropy can play a crucial part in making this transition successful, but it must first recognize the enormous challenges ahead.

Perhaps more than any other issue, Covid-19, which has killed more than 360,000 Americans as of this writing, exposed the government’s failure in the Trump era. While much of the blame rests with President Trump’s poor leadership and disregard for science, his singular failures should not distract us from the deeper government dysfunctions revealed by the pandemic.

Decades of disinvestment in government at all levels has resulted in weakened institutions that are less capable of addressing our most challenging societal problems. And anti-government campaigns during the past several years have left us with a public that no longer trusts government institutions. In the face of these failures, philanthropists cannot simply step into the breach and try to replace government. Instead, philanthropy should insist on government’s essential role in protecting the welfare of its residents and dedicate itself to restoring the ability of governmental institutions to fulfill that role.

Where government has failed, philanthropy has sought to fill the void. During the pandemic, philanthropists have mobilized resources to furnish protective equipment for health-care workers, provided emergency food assistance for those who have lost their jobs, and injected millions into vaccine research.

Stepping in to safeguard health and life where government has fallen short is a necessary and moral response on the part of philanthropists. Yet doing so also risks reinforcing the idea that private philanthropy should be the guarantor of social welfare. Philanthropy has a legitimate and important role to play in addressing societal problems neglected by the marketplace and by government. Yet relying on private philanthropic entities to confront deadly pandemics signifies an extreme corrosion of government’s role in providing for the public good.

The pandemic has brought into stark relief the indispensable role government must play in safeguarding the public good. Philanthropy has done much to respond to the explosion of needs and threats, but it cannot pass laws requiring companies to provide workers with paid leave; it cannot borrow against the good faith in the U.S. Treasury to deploy trillions in economic stimulus and relief; it cannot implement monetary policies that ensure the liquidity of our capital markets; it cannot mandate that manufacturers produce personal protective equipment.

As Covid-19 has shown, government is the only entity with the authority and resources to mobilize the large-scale, societywide responses needed to confront the types of global and existential threats we may face with increasing frequency in the coming years — including climate change, acts of terrorism, and another pandemic.

How can philanthropy work to bolster government over the long haul and not merely seek to make up for its deficiencies? First, we should recognize that our current challenges were decades in the making. Redressing them will require investments that may take a generation. To get started, philanthropists can do four things:

Invest in efforts to create more accountable and effective government. This includes supporting efforts to increase civic engagement and political participation, funding litigation and watchdog groups that strengthen government transparency and accountability, and supporting independent journalism to investigate and expose government malfeasance. During the past decade, foundations invested less than 2 percent of their capital in these types of government and democracy projects. The good news is that such investments have increased in recent years, and several established grant makers and donor collaboratives, such as the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation, are working to attract more philanthropic capital to the field.

Advocate for tax and fiscal policies that will rebuild government capacity to address social challenges. Philanthropists have a special responsibility to promote fiscal policies that can sustain good governance since the field’s own favored tax status diverts funds from the public coffers. The charitable tax deduction is the nation’s sixth largest tax expenditure and costs the federal government more than $60 billion a year. Yet very few philanthropic organizations focus on fiscal policy writ large, giving a paltry $186 million in grants for public finance in 2018, according to Foundation Center data. To the extent grant makers focus on the federal budget, they tend to take a narrow, issues-based approach rather than advocating for progressive tax and fiscal policies that can enlarge the pie and strengthen government as a whole.

Given the field’s preoccupation with “leverage,” it’s surprising fiscal policy advocacy isn’t a greater priority. But opportunities abound to correct that deficit by supporting groups that advocate for equitable tax and fiscal policies at the federal or state level, including the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Americans for Tax Fairness, and the State Priorities Partnership.

Invest in strategies to shift public attitudes about government and strengthen trust in the institution. Groups such as FrameWorks Institute, Topos Partnership, and the Narrative Initiative have developed strategies for transforming the public discourse about the role of government. Donors can work with these and other groups to transform the dominant narrative about government’s critical responsibilities.

Support efforts to reduce political polarization. The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is a frightening sign of how fractured our society has become and of the dangers that political polarization poses to our social cohesion and the stability of our democracy. An increasing number of Americans view members of the other party as an existential threat to their values and vision for the country. Meanwhile, hyper-partisanship in Congress has created political gridlock, which prevents constructive negotiation and compromise needed to solve significant problems and build public trust.

The causes of polarization are complex. Some donors have focused on revamping the electoral system, promoting ideas such as proportional representation that would open the door for a multi-party system that is more stable and less polarized than our current two-party system. Philanthropists must also play a role in changing today’s media landscape in which poorly regulated social-media companies and cable news are supercharging polarization and fragmenting the public into separate information spheres based on partisan identities. Equally important are grassroots organizing efforts that help build social cohesion by bringing people together across race, ethnic, and ideological divisions to forge relationships and find common ground.

What’s more, political-science research suggests that economic inequality may be contributing to increased political polarization. Tackling deep structural problems in our economy is critical to repairing government dysfunction.

At a time of increasingly complex threats, our government is hobbled and our society is badly divided. The transition to a new administration offers an opportunity for philanthropy to go beyond simply compensating for government’s limitations to actively resisting assaults on its legitimacy and value. Without good governance, achieving the many other goals philanthropists care about — a clean environment, good schools, an end to poverty, healthy communities — will likely prove impossible.