AGENDA SETTING MILLER Agenda Setting A Wise Giver’s Guide to Influencing Public Policy Donating money to modify public thinking and government policy has now taken its place next to service-centered giving as a constructive branch of philanthropy. Many donors now view public-policy reform as a necessary adjunct to their efforts to improve lives directly. This is perhaps inevitable given the mushrooming presence of government in our lives. In 1930, just 12 percent of U.S. GDP was consumed by government; by 2012 that had tripled to 36 percent. Unless and until that expansion of the state reverses, it is unrealistic to expect the philanthropic sector to stop trying to have a say in public policies. Sometimes it’s not enough to build a house of worship; one must create policies that make it possible for people to practice their faith freely within society. Sometimes it’s not enough to pay for a scholarship; one must change laws so that high-quality schools exist for scholarship recipients to take advantage of. Yet public-policy philanthropy has special ways of mystifying and frustrating practitioners. It requires understanding of governmental practice, interpretation of human nature, and some philosophical perspective. Public-policy philanthropists may encounter opponents operating from different principles who view them as outright enemies. Moreover, public-policy struggles never seem to end: victories and ZINSMEISTER and ZINSMEISTER one year become defeats the next, followed by comebacks, then setbacks, and on and on. This book was written to help donors navigate all of those obstacles. It draws Agenda on deep history, and rich interviews with the very best practitioners of public- policy philanthropy in America today. Whatever your aspirations for U.S. society and governance, this guide will help you fi nd the best ways to make a difference. Setting $15.00 A Wise Giver’s Guide to Influencing Public Policy ISBN 978-0-9892202-7-9 51500> John J. Miller and Karl Zinsmeister with Ashley May PhilanthropyRoundtable.org (202) 822-8333 9 780989 220279 Free copies of this guidebook are available to qualifi ed donors. An e-book version is available from major online booksellers. Agenda Setting A Wise Giver’s Guide to Influencing Public Policy John J. Miller and Karl Zinsmeister with Ashley May Copyright © 2015,The Philanthropy Roundtable. All rights reserved. Published by The Philanthropy Roundtable, 1730 M Street NW, Suite 601,Washington, DC, 20036. Free copies of this book are available to qualified donors. To learn more, or to order more copies, call (202) 822-8333, e-mail [email protected], or visit PhilanthropyRoundtable.org. An e-book version is available from major online booksellers. A PDF may be downloaded at no charge at PhilanthropyRoundtable.org. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 U.S. Copyright Act, without the written permission of The Philanthropy Roundtable. Requests for permission to reprint or otherwise duplicate should be sent to [email protected]. Cover: © Roel Smart/istockphoto; © aleksandarvelasevic/istockphoto ISBN 978-0-9892202-7-9 LCCN 2015933664 First printing, March 2015 Current Wise Giver’s Guides from The Philanthropy Roundtable Agenda Setting: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Influencing Public Policy By John J. Miller and Karl Zinsmeister with Ashley May Excellent Educators: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Cultivating Great Teachers and Principals By Laura Vanderkam From Promising to Proven: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Expanding on the Success of Charter Schools By Karl Zinsmeister Closing America’s High-achievement Gap: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Helping Our Most Talented Students Reach Their Full Potential By Andy Smarick Blended Learning: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Supporting Tech-assisted Teaching By Laura Vanderkam Serving Those Who Served: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Assisting Veterans and Military Families By Thomas Meyer Protecting Donor Intent: How to Define and Safeguard Your Philanthropic Principles By Jeffrey Cain Transparency in Philanthropy By John Tyler How Public is Private Philanthropy? By Evelyn Brody and John Tyler Clearing Obstacles to Work: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Helping Strugglers Become Self-reliant By David Bass (forthcoming 2015) Catholic School Renaissance: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Strengthening a National Asset By Andy Smarick (forthcoming 2015) Karl Zinsmeister, series editor For all current and future titles, visit PhilanthropyRoundtable.org/guidebook TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface: What is Public-Policy Philanthropy? Why Is It so Hard? 7 1. A Modern Home Run 10 How public-policy philanthropy can shift ideas, culture, politics, and finally law. • Policy Player Profile Michael Grebe • Policy Player Profile Melissa Berman 2. The Very First—and Still Biggest—Triumph 24 The most significant public-policy reform in American history was the abolition of slavery. Its success shows that no cause is too big for deeply committed philanthropists with truth on their side. • Policy Player Profile Koch brothers • Policy Player Profile Chester E. Finn Jr. 3. Planting Seeds for the Long Run 37 Support for a new intellectual movement can have big effects, if you’re willing to wait. • Policy Player Profile Gara LaMarche • Policy Player Profile Kim Dennis 4. Betting on People 50 When it comes to social change, there’s nothing more important than the right leaders. • Policy Player Profile Roger Hertog • Policy Player Profile Christopher DeMuth 5. Winning Now 66 Some problems can’t wait a generation—they require fast-action philanthropy, with time horizons measured in weeks, months, or elections cycles. Sidebar: Charity vs. Politics —What’s Allowed? • Policy Player Profile John Kirtley • Policy Player Profile Bill Kristol 6. Conflict, Consensus, and Competence 83 There are many ways to reform public policy. Meet donors 4 who are trying to build models that sidestep partisan conflict. • Policy Player ProfileTom Carroll • Policy Player Profile Fred Klipsch 7. The Power of Invention 94 If the group you seek doesn’t exist, you need to create it. • Policy Player Profile Dick Weekley • Policy Player Profile Paul Brest 8. Working through the Courts 107 Not all public-policy philanthropy involves politics; more donors are turning to litigation. • Policy Player Profile Clint Bolick • Policy Player Profile Seamus Hasson & Bill Mumma 9. Lead Donors 122 Sometimes the ideas and leadership that philanthropists contribute are as important as their money. • Policy Player ProfileArt Pope 10. Give Locally, Achieve Nationally 131 Spot a problem in your own community, fix it in an innovative way, and you might be surprised how your work echoes on the national stage. • Policy Player Profile Betsy DeVos 11. Prepare to Be Surprised 143 Serendipity is not a strategy, but some of the great achievements in public-policy philanthropy were unexpected. Annex: Major Projects in U.S. Public-Policy Philanthropy 148 (1833-2015) Index 248 About The Philanthropy Roundtable 274 About the Authors 278 Agenda Setting 5 PREFACE What is Public-Policy Philanthropy? And Why Is It so Hard? The traditional categories of philanthropy are familiar and broad- ly accepted: faith and religious works, medicine and health, scientific research and the advancement of knowledge, the education of young people, almsgiving and economic uplift, disaster relief, environmental conservation and stewardship, culture and the arts, and so on. It may not be self-evident that trying to reshape public policy is an equally worthy cause. Yet donating money to change public thinking and government policy has now taken its place next to service-centered giving as a con- structive branch of philanthropy. In its highest-octane version, policy philanthropy is sometimes com- bined with political contributions. Political giving, of course, is not tax-deductible, and must be done separately from charitable giving. But many of the leading-edge donors quoted in this book have found that charity is often more effective and lasting if supplemented by an intelli- gent mix of policy giving and political giving. Education reformers, for instance, have learned that in addition to planting better schools, they need to hold policy and political umbrellas over the new seedlings to prevent them from being dashed in storms. Mind you, nearly all donors give away far more money on the char- itable side than they do on the policy or politics sides. For instance, a Chronicle of Philanthropy analysis of the last Presidential cycle found that among America’s top philanthropists, the ten who donated most to polit- ical campaigns—people like Sheldon Adelson and George Soros—gave many times more to charitable causes than to political causes. Grants that aim to reform society’s rules are sometimes controversial, but less so than in times past. Professor Stanley Katz has traced changing views on this matter: The early foundations mostly danced around public policy and denied that they sought policy influence. That remained char- acteristic until the mid-twentieth century, when the overtly policy-oriented behavior of the Ford Foundation, under the Agenda Setting 7 PREFACE leadership of McGeorge Bundy, evoked the congressional back- lash of the Tax Reform Act of 1969. After that episode, the major foundations were once again ostentatiously careful about taking strong positions on matters of political contention. All that has changed in the twenty-first century. Today, many donors view public-policy reform as a necessary adjunct to their efforts to improve lives directly. From charter school- ing to creation of think tanks of all stripes, from tort reform to gay advocacy, donors have become involved in many efforts to shape opinion and law. This is perhaps inevitable given the mushrooming presence of government in our lives. In 1930, just 12 percent of U.S.