A day after two prominent progressive foundations were called out by the White House, leaders of more than 100 philanthropies banded together to issue an open letter defending their freedom of speech.
Following the killing of conservative activist and close Trump ally Charlie Kirk, both President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have vowed to dismantle networks of liberal activists and their funders that they believe bear responsibility for the shooting. Vance singled out the Ford Foundation and Open Society Foundations, in particular, as part of a group of organizations that “foments, facilitates, and engages in violence.”
The foundations’ letter said political violence, including Kirk’s shooting and the June killing of Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, is an affront to democracy. Without directly referencing the Trump administration, they criticized attempts to use those tragedies to target political foes.
“We reject attempts to exploit political violence to mischaracterize our good work or restrict our fundamental freedoms, like freedom of speech and the freedom to give,” the statement said. “Attempts to silence speech, criminalize opposing viewpoints, and misrepresent and limit charitable giving undermine our democracy and harm all Americans.”
Among the philanthropies that signed the letter are many of the largest progressive grant makers, including the Ford, Freedom Together, Knight, MacArthur, and Robert Wood Johnson foundations, as well as a handful of regional grant makers, such as the Silicon Valley and Marin County community foundations.
The Trump administration has not taken specific steps against foundations since the Kirk shooting, but according to news reports, attempts to revoke the tax exempt status of groups deemed by the administration to support terrorism and executive orders that redefine hate speech are both on the table.
The foundations’ message should be lauded for its condemnation of violent acts, said Michael Hartmann, senior fellow at the Capital Research Center, a conservative advocacy group that focuses on philanthropy.
But he suggested that “big philanthropy” is being too defensive in response to questions that the Kirk shooting have raised about the results of their grant making.
“While the fear of increased and aggressive scrutiny may be understandable, I suppose, it might be better for there to be at least some introspection,” he wrote in an email.
The message from foundation leaders is a broad show of solidarity that comes after attacks on other institutions, including the media, law firms, and universities, were met with a variety of responses, with some organizations bending to the administration’s wishes and others filing court challenges.
This week’s letter follows preparations for attacks made earlier in the year by foundation heads.
Early in Trump’s second term, he signed a series of executive orders aimed to stop diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, stifle the climate change movement, and attack organizations that support LGBTQ rights. After a few months of relative silence, more than 700 foundations in April signed a statement promising to stand together in the face of “government attacks.”
Trump and the GOP-led Congress have sought to use executive power to curtail activities of nonprofits. Last year, Congress considered a bill that would have given the administration discretion to yank nonprofit status from organizations it labeled as supporting terrorists. And conservative advocacy groups have seized upon Trump’s DEI executive order to press the Internal Revenue Service to rescind the tax-exempt status of the Gates Foundation for offering scholarships specifically to Black students.
In the face of attacks from the top of the executive branch, Kathleen Enright, president of the Council on Foundations, said that charitable institutions are already held to a high standard. She said the federal bureaucracy, including the IRS, and other layers of regulatory authority, including state attorneys general and state charity officials, already exist to provide accountability for the charitable sector.
“In a free and fair society, whether a group’s views align with those in power or fundamentally diverge, they all must be treated equally under the law,” she wrote in a statement.
The Ford Foundation is a financial supporter of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.com.
