Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Fidelity Charitable and Vanguard Charitable, two of the largest donor advised fund providers in the country, blocked their donor account holders from making grants to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), citing a federal indictment brought by the Department of Justice. An indictment is an allegation. It is not a conviction.
The SPLC has spent more than fifty years doing some of the most consequential civil rights work in American history. They won major legal battles against the Ku Klux Klan, shutting down the largest white supremacy organization in the United States. They have tracked, named, and fought violent hate groups when few others would.
Giving platforms are not acting neutrally when they cut off access to charitable resources based solely on a charge, before any court has weighed the facts. They are imposing a penalty in advance of due process, reinforcing the very deterrent effect such prosecutions are intended to produce, and weakening civil society in the process.
At the San Francisco Foundation, we will continue to allow our donors to make grants to the Southern Poverty Law Center and other nonprofits fighting for civil rights, as many have done over the years. That will not change. We will always stand up for our community’s needs – as we have done throughout our history. We are guided by our values and by our donors, not shifting political winds.
As a community foundation serving the Bay Area, San Francisco Foundation supports individual philanthropy through donor advised funds. These funds are more than a way to organize giving; they are a tool for positive social change, and at their best a reflection of a donor’s values.
If you have a donor advised fund somewhere that will allow a federal indictment to override your charitable intent without due process and a conviction, you should be aware of that fact. And if you don’t like that provider’s policies, you have other options.
How You Can Take Action
- Ask questions of donor advised fund providers: If you have a donor advised fund or are considering opening one, now is a good time to learn more about different donor advised fund providers’ policies and their values.
- Consider moving your donor advised fund: If you hold a donor advised fund at Fidelity Charitable or Vanguard Charitable and want to continue directing grants to the full range of civil rights and other organizations you believe in, we encourage you to have a conversation with us about moving those assets to the San Francisco Foundation. Contact us at [email protected] or 415-733-8521.
We will never turn our backs on the organizations doing the hardest work and the donors who want to support them.
In solidarity,
Fred Blackwell
CEO, San Francisco Foundation
