New Report Spotlights Philanthropy Under Oligarchy and How to Reform Charitable Giving to Defend and Expand Democracy

Washington, D.C. – On September 15, the Charity Reform Initiative of the Institute for Policy Studies released a vital new report, “Gilded Giving 2026: Philanthropy Under Oligarchy,” which reveals how many major grantmakers have been more likely to accumulate assets or capitulate to rising authoritarianism than to financially support social movements and causes. 

The new analysis combines data-driven findings with common-sense recommendations for much-needed charitable giving reforms, finding that adjusting payout requirements would unleash hundreds of billions for working charities. 

The report identifies what the charity sector needs to change to deliver on its promised potential and protect our democracy. It reveals how the current administration’s inequality-fueling economic policies and appetite for appeasement have exacerbated disturbing trends in elite philanthropy. But while some grantmakers are yielding to those harmful practices, certain pioneers in the philanthropic world are actually leading by example, giving significant portions of their capital each year to defend and expand democracy.

The analysis spotlights the impacts of three major trends in charitable giving practices among philanthropists under this administration’s “rule by the wealthy few” – accumulation, capitulation, and, in rare but instructive cases, solidarity. The report recommends vital structural charitable giving reforms and provides case studies of organizations like the Solidaire Network, the Wallace Global Fund, and new funder coalitions to show how grantmakers can spark major wins for causes they support, grow their portfolios responsibly, and build momentum for other foundations and philanthropists to do the same. 

Key findings include:

• Accumulation:America’s 144 foundations with endowments over $1 billion had a median payout of just 5.1 percent in 2024, 0.1 percent above their legal requirement. Donor-advised funds (DAFs), which have no such requirement, comprised 11 of America’s top 20 charities in contributions received and have grown 475 percent in 16 years.
  • If the 121 billion-dollar-plus private foundations that paid out less than 10 percent had to pay out at 10 percent in 2024, it would have resulted in an additional $23.4 billion going to charity.
  • That $23.4 billion is likely worth many times the total amount of funding that goes towards social movement infrastructure each year. 
  • IPS’ National Priorities Project estimated that this $23.4 billion equals the cost of fully restoring cuts to SNAP benefits made in H.R. 1 and providing a year of Medicaid coverage for over 560,000 people.
• DAFs and foundations together take in 38 percent of all individual giving in the United States. If these two types of intermediaries continue to grow at the rate they have for the past five years, by 2028, they will take in half of all U.S. individual giving. The assets held in DAFs and foundations have eclipsed over $2 trillion this year.
• In the charitable giving sector, up to 73 cents of each dollar donated by very wealthy individuals is subsidized by taxpayers.
  • Raising the legal private foundation payout requirement would unleash an estimated $66.3 billion in stagnated philanthropic wealth to working charities in 2026, and using 2024 projections, could unleash a total of $351 billion through 2029. 
• Capitulation: Synthesizing findings across journalism and the philanthropic sector, the report presents mega-donors’ distressing inclination towards inaction, silence, self-censorship, and appeasement. Behaviors from major grantmakers like pre-emptively censoring web language, abandoning social justice principles, contributing to funds that burnish the administration’s reputation or arguably function as payola, and pausing grants to charities due to political considerations cause great concern that taxpayers are subsidizing philanthropy that accommodates rising authoritarianism. 
• Solidarity: The report outlines best practices in backstopping federal funding, moving money quickly to movements, defending and expanding democracy, and aligning portfolios with stated missions. The report features lessons from leaders of spend-out foundations and mission-aligned investment experts, highlighting prominent foundations, donors, and movement organizations that seek to challenge authoritarianism and build a better world. 

The disastrous omnibus tax spending bill further exacerbated the growing concentration of extreme wealth and inequality in the U.S. by expanding tax breaks for billionaires while slashing benefits for millions of everyday Americans. But while the urgent need for charitable donations is growing, many charitable donations continue to pile up in intermediaries like private foundations and donor-advised funds rather than going to active charities. Meanwhile, rather than championing and safeguarding work to protect our communities, too many major donors exhibit concerning patterns of capitulation and appeasement toward an administration that seeks to weaponize charity rules to persecute perceived enemies. 

The report urges leading philanthropists to immediately adopt better practices and rally for structural reform priorities:

• Enact tougher regulations to ensure donations to charity actually reach working charities in a timely manner, instead of sitting for years or decades in donor-controlled intermediaries that continue to provide fees for money managers and evade fair taxation.

• Raise payout from private foundations to at least 10 percent payout as a floor, and build a movement of funders who model spending their endowments down or out.

• Require donor-advised funds to pay out donations within three to five years.

• Encourage funders to align 100 percent of their endowments with their missions, set public targets and timelines, and transparently discuss their progress.

• Build integrity through mandatory disclosures of high-dollar donors to charitable vehicles and mission-related investments, an independent oversight system, and measures to prevent the politicization of the tax system.

• Tax and distribute wealth fairly to put more money in working people’s pockets, broaden the base of charitable givers, and curtail the power of mega-givers in the first place.

The report is the fifth edition of IPS’s widely cited Gilded Giving series on the nexus between inequality and philanthropy, and follows the Charity Reform Initiative’s groundbreaking 2025 report on the failed promise of the Giving Pledge at 15.

“Even turning the dial modestly to require higher payouts from our philanthropic system could unleash hundreds of billions of dollars for our common good. We hope our report inspires grantmakers to evaluate themselves frankly, and to aggressively and immediately engage in solidarity through their giving,” says Bella DeVaan, co-author of the report and Director of the Charity Reform Initiative of the Institute for Policy Studies. “We also hope our findings rally the public to view charity reform as essential to any agenda to fight authoritarianism and topple oligarchy in America.”

“When the nonprofit sector faces existential, politicized threats, it is vital that the philanthropic sector acts to meet the moment and bolster our common cause – protecting and expanding our democracy,” said Chuck Collins, co-author of the report and Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies. “Some philanthropists are falling short right now and choosing to hoard and accumulate wealth instead of supporting active charities. Our report shows concrete measures they can and should take today to follow the example of philanthropic champions who are choosing to give generously in this moment and protect our common good.” 

“I’ve long been concerned by the rampant accumulation of wealth and assets in the philanthropic sector, which shortchanges organizations fighting for multiracial democracy on the ground. Dominant culture in the grantmaking world makes relinquishing control seem irrational, taboo, or too difficult,” said Glen Galaich, CEO of the spending-out Stupski Foundation and author of Who Gives?! and CONTROL. “This report shows that there is not just urgency for philanthropy to give faster and with more solidarity, but that there are existing paths to follow, resources to use, and a movement to join.”

“We are facing intersecting threats to democracy, climate, racial and economic justice, and this moment demands far more from philanthropy than the 5 percent legal minimum payout,” said Ellen Dorsey, Executive Director of Wallace Global Fund. “To meet this moment, philanthropy must be all in: act with courage, fund activism and movements boldly, align our investments with grant making, and lift our own voice to stand up for what is at stake. And, we must give until it hurts — paying out at least 10 percent a year and be prepared to spend it all. The stakes are too high for philanthropy to play it safe.”

Read the full report: https://ips-dc.org/philanthropy-under-oligarchy

Press contacts:

Olivia Alperstein, olivia@ips-dc.org

Chuck Collins, chuck@ips-dc.org

Bella DeVaan, bella@ips-dc.org 

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About the Charity Reform Initiative at the Institute for Policy Studies

The IPS Charity Reform Initiative aims to overhaul the rules governing philanthropy to boost the flow of funds to working charities, protect democratic institutions, and strengthen the entire independent nonprofit sector. The Initiative regularly publishes groundbreaking, accessible, nonpartisan research and commentary regarding existing laws governing charitable giving and necessary transformations to benefit our common good. Their Charity Data Lab provides vital and comprehensive analyses of a large set of publicly-available tax information for all types of charitable organizations, including private foundations, community foundations, donor-advised fund sponsors, and working charities.

About the Institute for Policy Studies

For over sixty years, the Institute for Policy Studies has served as a leading multi-issue research organization that provides key fact-based support for bold policy solutions to urgent issues from rising inequality to U.S. international policy. Highlights from IPS’s programs and research can be found on Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram.