Unions Target Arnold Grants in Tussle over Pension Policy

Nonprofit organizations are increasingly being caught in the crossfire of a fight over pension reform between labor and public-employee groups and billionaire philanthropist John Arnold, writes The Wall Street Journal.

Government workers’ unions and pension systems are pressing groups such as the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Brookings Institution to reject grants from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation for research on pension issues. Unions maintain the foundation is seeking support for replacing public pensions that offer guaranteed benefits with 401(k)-style defined-contribution accounts.

Groups that take Arnold money have “rented their credibility to a right-wing ideologue bent on gutting public pensions,” said Jordan Marks, executive director of the National Public Pension Coalition, a union-funded advocacy group.

Mr. Arnold, a former energy trader and hedge-fund manager who retired from finance two years ago to pursue full-time philanthropy, said he wants to stabilize rather than do away with public retirement systems and does not favor any one solution. He termed the union effort “an organized smear campaign” to stifle discussion of underfunded public pensions.

Read a Chronicle of Philanthropy opinion column by John Arnold on the pension controversy.