Recent Op-Ed Is Right: Wealth Hoarding Harms Nonprofits
More donors should follow op-ed author’s lead and spend down their endowments.
September 22, 2025
To the Editor:
Katherine Hayes is spot on that family foundations must radically alter their giving — “I Said No to Wealth Hoarding and Left My Family Foundation Behind” (September 4). And she’s exactly right to call out the 5 percent minimum mandate, which incentivizes stockpiling resources instead of generosity.
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To the Editor:
Katherine Hayes is spot on that family foundations must radically alter their giving — “I Said No to Wealth Hoarding and Left My Family Foundation Behind” (September 4). And she’s exactly right to call out the 5 percent minimum mandate, which incentivizes stockpiling resources instead of generosity.
Illustration by Elizabeth Haugh; iStock
At its best, philanthropy exists to promote the public good: Donors don’t focus on growing their endowments indefinitely but transferring money and power to people and organizations in need.
But too often donors do the opposite. Funds sit in endowments unspent, which deprives grassroots groups of the money required to do their work and even continue to operate. This leaves them unable to protect vulnerable people — and democracy as a whole.
That’s why more wealthy donors and foundations should spend down their endowments like Hayes did, invest in community-controlled funds, and shed the belief that they know best. This is particularly important in the current tumultuous sociopolitical climate. Frontline organizations desperately need resources to defend basic civil rights and make up for massive federal funding cuts that will exacerbate inequality. And they need money to pay rent, maintain and expand essential programs, and keep themselves safe.
As federal safety nets shrink and authoritarianism takes greater hold, it’s clear the country is in a generation-defining moment. But by moving away from perpetuity as a measure of success and increasing their giving, funders can help build a better future.
alvin starks, Vice President of Programs Helen Wong, Vice President of Programs Borealis Philanthropy
