Quixote Foundation: Foundations Hold Money for the 1%. How Can We Stand with the 99%?
The Quixote Foundation's Tiltings post for November 2011 addresses the growing “We are the 1%. We stand with the 99%” movement and focuses on the complicated relationships foundations have with the Occupy movement. It's a must-read for its thoughtfulness and for a pragmatic examination of what foundations can do positively in this political climate:
Why are foundations allowed to hold $672 billion in assets—often invested in companies that help create the problems our programs try to solve—while spending as little as 5% per year no matter how well our portfolios have performed?
However well intended, foundations are extensions of the outsized wealth and power enjoyed by our country’s “1%.” So what, besides going beyond 5%, can we do to stand with the 99%? Here are some ideas...