Pablo Eisenberg, Critic of Nonprofits, Philanthropy Died At 90, Folk Hero of Grassroots Nonprofits
- NPR, 'Pablo Eisenberg, a fierce critic of nonprofits and philanthropy, died at age 90,' Nov. 28, 2022. - Ed. 💜
In the rarefied world of private philanthropy, where nonprofits are loath to criticize the moneyed donors whose largesse they depend on, Pablo Eisenberg was an anomaly. A nonprofit leader, professor and social justice advocate, he was a loud and influential watchdog of the philanthropic sector, which he routinely castigated for promoting inequality and neglecting the most pressing concerns of society.
Eisenberg, who died Oct. 18 at age 90, argued that charitable giving often benefits the wealthy more than the needy.
He chastised prosperous donors for giving disproportionately to Ivy League schools, rich hospitals & well-endowed museums, all while getting tax breaks for their donations. Why not share more of that wealth, he asked, with community colleges, low-income health centers, small arts group & other struggling organizations? Even mega-donors, including billionaires Warren Buffett & Bill and Melinda Gates, who have pledged to donate the majority of their wealth to charity, were not spared Eisenberg's ire. He rebuked Buffett for not giving away more of his fortune immediately & was incensed that the Gates Foundation spends so much money overseas rather than focusing on the poor in the United States.
"He felt like they had enough money that they could do both," explained Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where Eisenberg was a regular columnist.
Indeed, Eisenberg urged deep-pocketed donors to give away even more, to increase funding for grassroots groups working to remedy racial & economic inequalities, and to seek greater input from nonprofits on how to spend their charitable dollars. He also pushed for private foundations to be held more accountable for where their money goes. He was livid when they spent charitable funds on lavish offices, high trustee pay & bloated administrative costs. And he fumed over how little the IRS and state attorneys general regulate the charitable sector.
His views made him unpopular with some private foundations, to whom he was a relentless thorn in the side.
"It was easy to cross Pablo Eisenberg," said Ray Madoff, a Boston College Law School professor who studies philanthropy. "And I'm sure it was plenty annoying for people who were big donors & felt they were doing something good, but then to be told they weren't doing something that was good enough." Eisenberg was well-known for his blistering critiques of charitable executives who didn't meet his high standards. "Gutless wonders!" he would often shout, referring to a foundation president whose funding decisions he disagreed with...
- More, https://www.npr.org/2022/11/28/1138986150/pablo-eisenberg-a-fierce-critic-of-nonprofits-and-philanthropy-died-at-age-90
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- Pablo Samuel Eisenberg (July 1, 1932 – Oct. 18, 2022) was an American scholar, social justice advocate, & tennis player. He played in Wimbledon 5 times, making the quarterfinals once, & won a gold medal at the 1953 Maccabiah Games in Israel. He was a Senior Fellow at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute. Prior to his role at Georgetown, he served for 23 years as executive director of the Center for Community Change, a progressive community organizing group. He was born in Paris, France, on July 1, 1932, to a Jewish family. He came to the U.S. in 1939, when he was 7 years old, & grew up in New Jersey. He was the godson of cellist Pablo Casals.
Eisenberg lived in Maplewood, NJ, & attended Millburn High School, where he played tennis & basketball. He was later inducted into the Millburn HS Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016. Eisenberg was a graduate of Princeton Univ. & Merton College, Oxford, where he earned a BA & a B.Litt, respectively. He received a German Marshall Fund fellowship in 1989 to study the nonprofit sectors in Great Britain, the Netherlands, & France. He was a nationally ranked tennis player & was captain of both the Princeton & Oxford tennis teams. After serving 2 years in the U.S. Army, Eisenberg spent 3 years in Africa as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Information Agency.
He then served as program director of Operation Crossroads Africa for 2 years, before going to work as director of Penn. Operations for the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) in Wash. D.C. He subsequently became deputy director of the Research & Demonstration division at the Office of Economic Opportunity. After leaving OEO, he served as deputy director for field operations at the National Urban Coalition. After almost 5 years with the Coalition, he worked as a freelance consultant for a variety of nonprofit organizations & foundations. Eisenberg was a visiting professor at both the University of Notre Dame and New Orleans University. He was also a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute.
Prior to his role at Georgetown, Eisenberg served for 23 years as exec. director of the Center for Community Change, a progressive community organizing group. He published articles & chapters of books & was a regular columnist for The Chronicle of Philanthropy. His book, Challenges for Nonprofits and Philanthropy: The Courage to Change, was published by the New England Press & Tufts University in Dec. 2004. In 2003 he wrote, with Christine Ahn & Channapha Khamsvongsa, the report, Foundation Trustee Fees: Use and Abuse (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown Public Policy Institute, Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership, Sept. 2003). Eisenberg was a founder of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy & was president of Friends of VISTA...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Eisenberg