The holiday season is typically when US charities collect the majority of their donations. Let me start by noting that the US non-profit sector is vibrant, generating positive outcomes across many aspects of society. But there’s an unfortunate dark side, and a degree of abuse of the system that is appalling. When organizations with CEOs making $10M+ per year spend little on charitable services and pretend to be non-profits, that’s appalling. When organizations that are blatantly political in nature raise limitless funds and pay no taxes, that’s appalling. When some of the largest hedge funds in the land pretend to be “universities” while raking in billions, that’s appalling – and the list goes on.

I have given to charities for many years, but with the start of our family foundation, I’m now formally involved in the sector, making choices about grantees. The process of grant-making has enabled me to refine my thinking on the kinds of impacts we’d like to see, and on how to measure and quantify our impact. But seeing a range of pitches and organizations also helps me to see and understand what I don’t support – this rant could run a mile, but here are the quick hits, the sorts of organizations that I believe fundamentally abuse the tax code:

Non-Profit US Hospitals: The majority of US hospitals are organized as non-profits, and yet non-profit hospitals spend only 2.3% on charity care, which is actually less than for-profit hospitals! Non-profit Hospital chain CEOs have compensation similar to Fortune 500 CEOs, and don’t do much charity work, so why don’t we end the sham and strip their status? Senator Chuck Grassley has been a lonely voice of reason on this issue for years. Ask yourself – why is it that doctors, pharmacies, medical labs, pharma companies all pay taxes – so why do hospitals get a special free pass?

And what’s more evil than pretending to be a non-profit while bankrupting patients by the thousands? Doing it while using sick kids as a way to tug at heart strings. Unfortunately most children’s hospitals also provide very little charitable care, and also pursue patients into bankruptcy just like any for-profit company.

501 (c) (4) organizations: These organizations were original meant to be “social welfare” organizations, but have now devolved into another form of super-pac which lobby and influence politics via donated funds! But why aren’t they taxed on “profits” like any other corporation? Both parties have used and abused these structures to the max now – pray for us poor souls in Georgia who have been pummeled non-stop by Walker and Warnock ads for months. Here’s an idea: instead of spending $500M on ads, you are raising enough money to actually impact the issues you claim to care about? You could literally buy school supplies for every teacher in Georgia, or pay for police officer training or equipment – whatever your issue, you could impact it with that kind of money, and prove your ideas to voters!

University Endowments: Elite universities have fallen into the same trap as hospitals, in that they no longer spend significant sums toward the public good, but hide behind non-profit status as their endowments grow ever larger. Harvard, Yale, Stanford and other universities with massive endowments spend less than 4.5% of their endowment annually, while generating investment returns of over 8.5% annually over the last decade. They grow the cash pile further by soliciting donations that they have no plans to spend! Is the primary purpose of a university to be a brand for endowment fund-raising?

Honorable Mention: Donor Advised Funds enable individuals to “donate” money to a “charity” and gain a tax deduction, but do not require that the funds ever be distributed! As a result, $142 Billion in donations sat in DAFs as of mid-2021, generating fees for investment managers while not being used for any further societal purpose.

What’s the solution here? Has the American non-profit system become so bloated that it needs to be torn down? A simple starting step might be to raise and enforce requirements around actual charitable work – if private foundations are required to distribute 5% to charities annually, surely operating charities can be required to spend 5% of their revenue on bonafide charity work annually?

P.S. I think there are a great many causes worth supporting out there in this giving season. GiveWell and the Copenhagen Consensus do a good job researching both charities and areas where donations can provide maximum benefit. And you can see my family foundation’s grantees here.