Conservatives target the Pew Charitable Trusts

The conservative Capital Research Center (CRC) - which sees attacking foundations that support 'liberal groups' as one strand of the campaign to defund the left - has criticised the Pew Charitable Trusts in an article in Foundation Watch by the Wise Use Movement leader Ron Arnold. Arnolf bemoaned that a foundation funded with the proceeds from an oil company could be spent promoting action on climate change.

Arnold did not disclose that his organisation, the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise received funding from ExxonMobil in 2003. Nor did CRC disclose that it has received funds from ExxonMobil in 2002 and 2003.

In the context of Pew's financial restructuring, a February 2004 editorial page column in the Wall Street Journal, echoed the complaint that foundations were not complying with 'donor intent'. "Congress writes the laws that make this possible, but the last time Congress seriously debated the issue of foundations and donor intent and the tax breaks that guarantee perpetuity was the famous Patman hearings of the 1960s. Looks to us as though someone on the Senate Finance or House Government Reform Committees hasn't been minding the store," the WSJ wrote. 

Other SourceWatch resources

 * Intimidating public interest groups
 * Intimidating democracy
 * Intimidating foundations