>BTW, I would appreciate info on the Pew Charitable Trusts. It
>seems to be religious in origin, founded by Sun Oil heirs, I
>think. Is it Quaker, I wonder?
From Gina Neff's LBO article, "Foundation culture" <http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/Foundations.html>
>Altruism was rarely the motivating factor in establishing the large
>independent foundations - ones like Pew, Ford, MacArthur, Robert
>Wood Johnson that every NPR listener can name. The Ford Foundation
>was established to help keep the company in the family without
>paying estate taxes. John D. MacArthur, founder of Bankers Life and
>Casualty Company, never made any significant charitable
>contributions during his lifetime, but left his estate of nearly $1
>billion to a foundation rather than to his estranged children. One
>of the trusts founded by the Sun Oil heirs, the J. Howard Pew
>Freedom Trust, was established to "acquaint the American people with
>the evils of bureaucracy... and with the values of a free
>market...to point out the false promises of Socialism...." In one
>cozy office the staff of the Pew Charitable Trusts now give out $21
>million a year of the J. Howard Pew Freedom Trust both to right-wing
>groups like the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, and
>the National Right to Work gang - and to crunchy groups like the
>Tides Foundation and the Pesticide Action Network, under terms of a
>different Pew heir's will.
There are lots of links in that paragraph and throughout the piece, by the way.
Doug