ABSTRACT
According to the Internal Revenue Service, which collects data on such things, in 1999 the total fair market value of investment assets held by private foundations in the United States was $444 billion; gifts and grants by these foundations totaled $22.8 billion.1 That includes not only the activities of the progressive activist foundations on the short list in chapter 3 and all their like-minded counterparts but the activities of every other private foundation in the country-from the health-and education-centered projects of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (the nation’s largest and fastest growing) to those, like the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the other supporters of conservative causes listed in chapter 1. Indeed, although the Progressive agenda has spread to a great many foundations in recent years, they still account for well less than half of all gift and grant-making activity, which continues to favor traditional charitable causes like the arts, universities, and health care research.
