Giving Ventures

American conservatives and libertarians can get really excited about ideas but aren’t generally known for their enthusiasm about Congress. Among free marketers, “government” can almost sound like a bad word. Yet seeing the ideas of limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise put into action means engaging with the legislative process. Peter recently sat down with some of the folks doing this important work in the latest episode of Giving Ventures.First, Committee to Unleash Prosperity (CUP) co-founder Steve Moore, a Heritage Foundation scholar and former senior economist of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, outlines the importance of championing fiscal responsibility and pro-growth economic policy to elected officials.Next, Paul Winfree, a three-time Heritage alumnus with experience as an economist in the White House and U.S. Senate, tells Peter about his work as president of the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC).Rounding out the lineup, Senator Jim DeMint, who has himself served as a legislator in both houses of the U.S. Congress and previously led the Heritage Foundation, shares about the powerhouse organization he founded in 2017, the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI).

Stories have incredible power to shape us. From the bedtime tales we tell our children to the latest installments of multi-billion-dollar film franchises, compelling characters and skillful storytelling grab our attention like nothing else. On the most recent episode of Giving Ventures, Peter is joined by guests from a trio of groups whose visual storytelling is capturing audiences with the message of freedom. First, Nick Reid and Lana Link from the Moving Picture Institute describe how their incubator and workshop programs cultivate the talents of young creatives with stories about human freedom. Then, Free the People president Matt Kibbe considers the power of video content to reach America’s young and “liberty curious.” Finally, Jim Tusty of Sky Films draws on his extensive career to explain how compelling documentaries can persuade without telling the audience what to think.

How do you know if an organization you support is really effective? What are the metrics you as a donor should be looking for? And are they hard metrics like numbers of policy wins, softer metrics like the amount of press coverage, or really amorphous metrics like a feeling that the organization is going in the right direction? Today, we talk with Leah Kral of the Mercatus Center about how donors should consider effectiveness of organizations they support. We also explore how we can go beyond looking at metrics to actually helping inspire groups we care for to innovate and grow.

Perhaps you've followed the controversy about the most recent set of proposed changes to Title IX, the rules that define equality based on sex in education. The changes were originally offered in June of 2022, but it wasn't until April of this year that the final proposed changes came out. Colleges were given until August 1 of this year to comply, so this topic certainly has some urgency to it. Today on Giving Ventures, we're going to dive into those proposals to understand what they are, why so many conservatives (but not just conservatives) take issue with the revisions, and what various nonprofit groups are doing to challenge the legality of these changes in court.

With just 27 words, the 2nd Amendment of the Bill of Rights secures gun rights for millions of Americans—at least in theory. In practice, the text of the Second Amendment has been subject to legal, political, and cultural controversies, and Americans’ gun rights are not always respected. In this episode of Giving Ventures, we hear from two of the most accomplished organizations in the gun rights space: Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition’s FPC Action Foundation.

Today, we're digging into the media landscape and talking to three groups helping people to make sense of the narratives that are out there as well as challenge those narratives when they stray from the truth. First up is our watch dog, the Media Research Center. Then we'll hear from a group that has become a watchdog with teeth, Accuracy in Media. We'll round things out digging into investigative journalism from a more free-market perspective with Real Clear Foundation. It's easy to be despondent about the state of media. These three groups will help you lift your chin a little higher and see that all is not lost.

Ever since the terror attacks in Israel on Oct. 7 of last year, we have seen an increased focus on giving to causes related to Israel and Jewish life. Investor and venture philanthropist Adam Milstein joins us to offer his insights on how donors might think of challenging anti-Semitism, supporting Jewish culture, and the relationship between all of this to our own challenges in America.

Donor-advised funds are a powerful charitable vehicle, and one that has grown rapidly in the past decade. However, just because the use of DAFs has grown doesn't mean everyone fully grasps the value and power that a fund can offer. Even less, there are lots of questions around what the role of the provider of DAFs can offer both to donors but also to the nonprofits who receive grants from those providers on behalf of its donors. In this episode, we explore the ins-and-outs of donor-advised funds.

In this interview with James Whitford, we explore a better way to do human-services charity. The word "charity" often leads people to think of the human-suffering side of giving, or rather efforts aimed to alleviate human suffering. Think homeless shelters, food banks, church-run thrift stores, and after-school programs in tough neighborhoods. All of these places have a role to play, but are they enough?Many listeners likely agree it's not. On the very first episode of Giving Ventures explored free-market approaches to alleviated poverty. We talked with groups trying to help individuals get over the welfare cliff and reclaim their dignity through work. Today, we'll expand on that theme and explore a concept called True Charity. The True Charity idea challenges the notion that kindness and giveaways to the poor are enough, and argues that true compassion comes by helping individuals in dire straights find a path toward self sufficiency and dignity.True Charity is both an idea and the name of an organization started by James Whitford. James originally founded Watered Gardens Ministry with his wife in Joplin, MO, which did many of those human-suffering alleviating things we mentioned at the start, but came to realize that wasn't enough and now is an evangelist for other human service organizations across the country to rethink how they do charity.

On the latest episode of Giving Ventures, DonorsTrust Vice President Peter Lipsett talks with Darla Romfo, president and CEO of Children's Scholarship Fund; Norton Rainey, CEO of ACE Scholarships; and Carol Liebau, president of Yankee Institute. The guests share what their nonprofits are doing to ensure every child gets a quality education no matter where they live. Tune in for this and more on the latest episode of Giving Ventures.