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Excerpt
of:
MOVING A PUBLIC
POLICY AGENDA: THE STRATEGIC PHILANTHROPY OF CONSERVATIVE FOUNDATIONS
by Sally Covington
National Committee
for Responsive Philanthrophy
July 1997
Introduction
For more than three decades, conservative strategists have
mounted an extraordinary effort to reshape politics and public
policy priorities at the national, state and local level. Although
this effort has often been described as a “war of ideas,” it
has involved far more than scholarly debate within the halls
of academe. Indeed, waging the war of ideas has required
the development of a vast and interconnected institutional
apparatus. Since the 1960s, conservative forces
have shaped public consciousness and influenced elite opinion,
recruited and trained new leaders, mobilized core constituencies,
and applied significant rightward pressure on mainstream institutions,
such as Congress, state legislatures, colleges and universities,
the federal judiciary and philanthropy itself.
Thirteen years ago, this apparatus was appropriately described
by moderate Republican and author John Saloma as the “new conservative
labyrinth.” At the time he wrote, Saloma was warning that this
labyrinth constituted “a major new presence in American politics.”
If left unchecked, Saloma predicted, it would continue
to pull the nation’s political center sharply to the right.
His analysis was prescient. Today, the conservative
labyrinth is larger, more sophisticated, and increasingly able
to influence what gets on – and what stays off – the public
policy agenda. From the decision to abandon the federal
guarantee of cash assistance to the poor to on-going debates
about the federal tax structure to growing discussion of medical
savings accounts and the privatization of social security,
conservative policy ideas and political rhetoric continue to
dominate the nation’s political conversation, reflecting what
political scientist Walter Dean Burnham has called the “hegemony
of market theology.”
In this research report, the National Committee for Responsive
Philanthropy documents the role that conservative foundations
have played in developing and sustaining America’s conservative
labyrinth. It offers an aggregate accounting and detailed
analysis of the 1992-1994 grantmaking of 12 core conservative
foundations, the results of which confirm what has been reported
in more anecdotal terms: that conservative foundations have
invested sizable resources to create and sustain an infrastructure
of policy, advocacy and training institutions committed to
the achievement of conservative policy goals.
In just a three-year period, the 12 foundations awarded
$210 million to support a wide array of conservative projects
and institutions. It is not simply the volume of money
being invested that merits serious attention, but the way in
which these investments have helped to build the power and
influence of the conservative policy movement. These
12 funders directed a majority of their grants to organizations
and programs that pursue an overtly ideological agenda based
on industrial and environmental deregulation, the privatization
of government services, deep reductions in federal anti-poverty
spending and the transfer of authority and responsibility for
social welfare from the national government to the charitable
sector and state and local government. Unlike many
nonprofits which feel the dual pressure to demonstrate their
uniqueness to funders and to downplay their ideology and public
policy advocacy, conservative grantees are rewarded for their
shared political vision and public policy activism. They
are heavily supported to market policy ideas, cultivate public
leadership, lobby policy makers, and build their constituency
base.
This report is offered to stimulate thought about effective
public policy grantmaking. It begins by summarizing the
recent grant awards of conservative foundations. It then
reports on the types of institutions supported and reviews
the work of major grantees. A discussion follows of the
funding strategies developed and implemented by these foundations
in their pursuit of broader institutional reform and public
policy objectives.
The report also presents information about the efforts of
conservative donors and strategists to mobilize and redirect
philanthropic resources over the past two and a half decades. Some brief comparisons are made, as well, between the
political focus and grant investments of conservative foundations
and the grantmaking orientation of the philanthropic mainstream.
Finally, the report considers the institutional, ideological,
and public policy impact of conservative philanthropy and reviews
some of the most important lessons that the conservative funding
movement offers for those interested in effective public policy
grantmaking.
Conclusions
As debates continue within the foundation community about
the appropriate public policy role of private grantmaking foundations,
conservative foundations have developed and implemented a highly
effective and politically-informed approach to public policy
grantmaking. The grants analysis shows that their funding
represents an impressively coherent and concerted effort to
undermine – and ultimately redirect – what they and other conservatives
have regarded as the institutional strongholds of modern American
liberalism: academia, Congress, the judiciary, executive branch
agencies, major media, and even philanthropy.
Conservative foundations bring to their grantmaking programs
a clear vision and strong political intention, funding to promote
a social and public policy agenda fundamentally based on unregulated
markets and limited government. They have created and
anchored key institutions, concentrating their resources to
sustain and expand a critical mass of advocacy, litigation
and public policy groups working on the right of American politics
and culture. The results have been cumulative and impressive. Scholars develop the intellectual basis for conservative
social perspectives and policy views. Conservative think
tanks and advocacy organizations produce hundreds of policy
reports, briefings, action alerts, monographs and analyses
on matters both broad and specific, from national fiscal policy
to regulatory reform. Business-sponsored law firms pursue
strategic litigation to advance conservative legal principles. Conservative media outlets profile policy approaches
and proposals to inform and mobilize opinion while attacking
the political and journalistic mainstream. And fellowships,
internships and leadership training programs create an effective
pipeline to move young conservatives into the fields of law,
economics, government and journalism.
Further leveraging their investments, the 12 foundations
have targeted their grants to support activities and projects
intended to bring conservative scholars, policy analysts, grassroots
leaders, and public officials into frequent contact with each
other. Think tank leaders attend meetings to learn how to use
new information and communication technologies for greater
public opinion and policy impact. Grassroots activists
are linked by satellite to training conferences focusing on
how best to frame issues for public consumption. Students
are subsidized to participate in public policy programs that
teach them the essentials of free market economics and place
them in think tanks, advocacy organizations, law firms and
media outlets for further training. And organizations
and projects are supported to build linkages and communication
between grantmaking institutions and grantees.
In funding a policy movement rather than specific program
areas, these 12 foundations distinguish themselves from the
philanthropic mainstream, which has long maintained a pragmatic,
non-ideological and field-specific approach to the grantmaking
enterprise. The success of conservative foundation grantees
in developing and marketing both general principles and specific
policy proposals has also been enhanced by institutional weaknesses
of those who would place alternative policies onto the table
for political debate.
The political implications and policy consequences of this
imbalance have been profound. First, the heavy investments
that conservative foundations have made in new right policy
and advocacy institutions have helped to create a supply-side
version of American politics in which policy ideas with enough
money behind them will find their niche in the political marketplace
regardless of existing citizen demand. Second, the multiplication
of institutional voices marketing conservative ideas and mobilizing
core constituencies to support them has resulted in policy
decisions that have imposed a harsh and disproportionate burden
on the poor.
The grantmaking of the 12 foundations offers valuable lessons
for grantmakers interested in influencing current policy trends
and the tenor of public policy debates. Seven stand out
in particular. They include:
- Understanding the importance of ideology and overarching
frameworks.
- Building strong institutions by providing ample general
operation support and awarding large, multi-year grants.
- Maintaining a national policy focus and concentrating
on resources.
- Recognizing the importance of marketing, media, and persuasive
communications.
- Creating and cultivating public intellectuals and policy
leaders.
- Funding comprehensively for social transformation and
policy change by awarding grants across sectors, blending
research and advocacy, supporting litigation, and encouraging
the public participation of core constituencies.
- Taking a long-haul approach.
While each lesson has its own power and significance, it
is the combination of all seven that has made conservative
philanthropy consequential. The demonstrated willingness of
these foundations to act in such political and strategic terms
serves as a sharp reminder of how much can be accomplished
given clarity of vision and steadiness of purpose.
Link to purchase a copy
of the full report, Moving a Public Policy Agenda:
The Strategic Philanthropy of Conservative Foundations,
or contact:
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
2001 S
Street NW #620
Washington, DC 20009
Telephone: 202-387-9177
Fax:
202-332-5084
e-mail: info@ncrp.org
website:
www.ncrp.org
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