Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Donors Increasingly Blending Philanthropic and Political Giving

Philanthropy News Digest
David Callahan
August 9, 2016

As America's donor class becomes ever wealthier, major donors, conservative and liberal, are pairing their philanthropic giving with campaign contributions to advance their favorite causes, The Nation reports.

One such donor, Art Pope, a prominent conservative figure in North Carolina, gave millions in campaign contributions to conservative supporters of the state's so-called "bathroom bill" while supporting the North Carolina Family Policy Council, a leading nonprofit proponent of the legislation, with donations from the John William Pope Foundation, which he chairs. And in Minnesota, Alida Messinger, a Rockefeller heiress, has given millions of dollars to nonprofits working to advance environmental and energy issues, protect women's reproductive rights, and mobilize low-income voters — as well as to state Democratic committees, PACs, and dozens of candidates, helping to bring about a Democratic takeover of state government and the passage of progressive legislation in 2013 and 2014.

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