Restricted Donations Rise

The New York Times reports that the new generation of philanthropists, who acquired their wealth over the last decade, increasingly are tying their large gifts to demands about the use of the money, both as a way to assert their will and to enforce accountability in the groups they fund (Nov. 15).

Big but Not Easy: As Donors Set Terms, Some Charities Resist
By STEPHANIE STROM

MORE than ever before, donors are tying strings to their gifts and pulling them hard to ensure that their dollars do exactly what they want them to do.

Thanks to the immense wealth created in the last decade, the country has a new generation of philanthropic lions, and, like their predecessors, these donors seek to invest not just their money but their ideas into the causes that are their passion.

Eli Broad's recent gift to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, for example, gained him virtually exclusive control over the construction of a new building and strong influence over the art that will go into it. Michael and Susan Dell structure their contributions so they can measure the effects.

Like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, the founders of America's peculiar brand of capitalist compassion, this new breed of donors has an understanding of the power of money to produce results. The difference is that the earlier philanthropists built new institutions while many of today's donors are working through established groups — at a time when public confidence in charities is low. (Read "Big but Not Easy: As Donors Set Terms, Some Charities Resist")