Stopping Juvenile Detention: The Joyce Foundation Betraying donor intent in the Windy City By Jonathan Hanen Summary : The Joyce Foundation’s en- dowment came from David Joyce, a lum- ber magnate who believed in the American system of free enterprise. Today the foun- dation that lives off his wealth is a hotbed of trendy, left-wing thinking and grant- making. It funds efforts to hurt the lumber industry, turn schools into union-controlled sources of Democratic Party patronage, block Americans’ gun rights, and constrict economic freedoms. Barack Obama sat on its board from 1994 to 2002, and directed the foundation’s money to causes Joyce al- most certainly would not have favored. he Joyce Foundation, based in Chicago, Illinois, was founded in T1948 by Beatrice Joyce Kean, the Leftist Ellen Alberding runs the Joyce Foundation. sole heir to the Joyce family fortune. The Joyces of Clinton, Iowa, originally made by the end of his life he was “a stockholder gave him the ownership of several plants.” their money in the lumber industry. The in twelve different sawmill plants located Joyce was “prominent in public enterprises patriarch who created the Joyce fortune was in all sections of the country, one within and contributed large amounts to various the great nineteenth-century entrepreneur eighteen miles of Lake Superior at the North religious institutions and was a subscriber David Joyce (died 1904). Of “old New and another within eighty miles of the Gulf to society and educational work.” England Puritan stock,” he was “strong, of Mexico in the South, while still another bold and resourceful.” “He was one of the was on Puget Sound.” “Mr. Joyce was a staunch Republican, though captains of industry, able to command men, not a politician in the ordinary acceptance things and events to the accomplishment of Joyce also had signifi cant investments in his purpose,” according to a contemporary pinelands in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and trade publication (“The Personal History and Texas, and his “careful personal supervision February 2014 Public and Business Achievements of One of [his investments] was well known to all Hundred Eminent Lumbermen of the United acquainted with him.” He helped to create CONTENTS States,” Third Series, American Lumberman , the First National Bank of Lyons (Iowa) Joyce Foundation Chicago, 1906). and was its president when he died. He also Page 1 held an interest in a street railway running Joyce trained as a civil engineer. At age 12, through Lyons and Clinton, Iowa. He was Center for American Progress corporate donor list he began working for his father, who ran a top-notch businessman and a visionary. Page 7 a blast furnace and foundry and machine “Few men showed more shrewdness than he shop. At 15 he took over bookkeeping there. or a clearer comprehension of the possibili- Philanthropy Notes Years later he took over a lumber mill, and ties of the industry. Reinvestment of profi ts Page 8 Foundation Watch of that term. He sought no public offi ce, but 90 percent of her estate, to the foundation, ports campaign fi nance reform, redistricting when the mayoralty of Lyons [Iowa] was according to DiscoverTheNetworks.org. reform, and opposes commonsense policies pressed upon him, in 1872, he fi lled that such as voter ID. position with marked ability and success. Over time the Joyce Foundation moved away The confi dence of the people in his integrity from the philanthropic inclinations of Kean A closer look at the so-called “democracy” and in his ability to manage the municipal and her wealthy ancestor and turned hard left. proposals of the Joyce Foundation reveals affairs was well shown in that election. The Professional staffers took over the founda- its partisan and statist agenda. city fi nances were in a low condition, city tion and began putting the wealth generated bonds selling for forty-fi ve cents on the dol- by a great capitalist trailblazer at the service On the subject of campaign fi nance reform, lar. He was the nominee of the business men of social engineering schemes and so-called the foundation takes a negative view of the of Lyons for the offi ce and was elected by a social justice activist organizations. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United very substantial majority; a second time was case that allows corporations and labor he nominated and was elected by the entire “At fi rst,” notes DiscoverTheNetworks, unions alike to donate unlimited amounts vote of the city, the only vote not cast for “universities and cultural institutions were to 527 committees and super PACs that him being his own. The confi dence which added to its roster of grant recipients. A advocate on behalf of causes or candidates the people placed in him was well justifi ed, few years later, radical environmentalist and so long as the groups do not coordinate with for when, after four years, he retired at the conservation groups entered the picture, as, campaigns. end of his second term, the city’s credit eventually, did organizations dedicated to was reestablished and there was suffi cient social justice, prison reform, and increased Specifi cally, the foundation decries the in- money in the treasury to pay all its obliga- funding for government-provided social creased spending from outside groups, left tions in full.” services—particularly those targeting non- and right, in local and statewide judicial elec- white minorities. The Foundation’s annual tions. Joyce does not propose to eliminate His last heir, Beatrice Joyce Kean, generally giving skyrocketed from less than $100,000 the free speech of super PACs in exchange went about her philanthropic activities on a at the time of Mrs. Kean’s death, to $10 mil- for eliminating the much greater campaign small scale, spending under $100,000 per lion in 1976.” spending by unions. The suppressed premise year. Most of her grants went to apolitical of the foundation is that only unions should benefi ciaries , such as hospitals and health Mission be allowed to spend unlimited amounts, while organizations. It is unclear if she had po- The Joyce Foundation sees itself as being conservative donors should be restricted to litical opinions or was partisan during her in the business of supporting initiatives to individual contribution limits. The only free life. When she passed away in 1972, Kean improve the quality of life for people in the speech the foundation wants to regulate is bequeathed more than $100 million, or about Great Lakes region (Illinois, Indiana, Michi- conservative free speech. gan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin), with Editor: Matthew Vadum a focus on improving workforce development On the subject of redistricting, the Joyce and education systems in the region. Publisher: Terrence Scanlon Foundation’s website states “Gerrymander- ing – the drawing of districts to promote “The region faces the challenges that are Foundation Watch particular interests rather than the fair is published by Capital Research epitomized in the ‘Rust Belt’ label,” accord- representation of citizens – is as old as the Center, a non-partisan education and ing to the foundation. “But it is also home research organization, classifi ed by Republic. But new technologies have made the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. to America’s largest freshwater resource, its most fertile farmland, an energetic and it a fi ne art, reducing choice and competition Address: diverse population, dozens of Fortune 500 in elections and undermining the public’s 1513 16th Street, N.W. companies along with thousands of smaller sense of the importance of voting. The Joyce Washington, DC 20036-1480 enterprises, and a cultural heritage ranging Foundation has supported thoughtful efforts Phone: (202) 483-6900 from Motown and the Cleveland Symphony to address this problem through open and Long-Distance: (800) 459-3950 to Frank Lloyd Wright and Oprah Winfrey. nonpartisan redistricting procedures.” This The Joyce Foundation seeks to ensure the E-mail Address: could sound like a public-spirited, good faith continuing vitality of the Great Lakes region [email protected] gesture. But the remedy suggested by Joyce and to make sure that benefi ts are widely Web Site: shared among its people.” is anything but democratic. The foundation http://www.capitalresearch.org funded a study by the Midwest Democracy Organization Trends welcomes let- The foundation supports “democracy,” which Network (MDN) that advocates “Take the ters to the editor. to leftists means big government solutions to process away from partisan control: Redis- Reprints are available for $2.50 pre- every problem. To the end of aggrandizing tricting should be carried out by carefully paid to Capital Research Center. the administrative state, the foundation sup- crafted independent commissions.” 2 February 2014 Foundation Watch The remedy suggested here by the foundation is suspect, not merely because Joyce has should come increasing responsibilities, i.e., is to turn proportional redistricting over to donated $1 million to the Brennan Center the right to vote, being the quintessential right unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. since 1998. in a representative democracy, comes with The Joyce Foundation’s remedy for the ills of the responsibility to secure the legitimacy The Joyce Foundation’s statement on election of elections. It would be diffi cult to come gerrymandering is simply inconsistent with law continues: “Voter ID laws have long up with a more concise formula for civic the intention of the framers of the Republic been seen as efforts to suppress participat- virtue, without which a republic cannot long who intended redistricting to be a political ing in elections. Their supporters claim the endure. Representative democracy requires process because it is an integral part of the laws are necessary and prevent voter fraud. the maximum of political responsibility from citizens’ political liberty; it is part and par- But, studies have shown that instances of their citizens -- as compared to monarchies cel of democratic self-governance to have voter fraud – that is, a voter voting twice or and moderate aristocracies where a love of one’s elected representatives determine the an ineligible person voting – are miniscule.