The Daily Signal - The Role of Charities in COVID-19 Era

Episode Date: March 27, 2020

Private philanthropy is one of the most powerful tools in times of crisis. Peter Lipsett, vice president of Donors Trust, joins the podcast to explain why big government programs and bailouts often have unintended negative consequences.   Lipsett explains how we can help our communities economically during the coronavirus and challenges Americans to think about crisis situations with the future in mind. It is up to the American people to maintain a free and prosperous nation for our children and our grandchildren. Handing over excessive power to the government now can have long-term negative effects. Listen to the podcast below or read the lightly edited transcript. We also cover these stories: Coronavirus deaths hit 1,000 in U.S. as global death toll passes 20,000. The House is set to vote on the CARES Act Friday, per House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who’s also already looking at another new bill to tackle it. Unemployment claims surge to 3.3 million as coronavirus devastates economy.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, March 27th. I'm Richard Dahl Judas. And I'm Kate Trinko. Today, our colleague Virginia Allen speaks to Peter Lipset of Donor Trust. He'll talk about how charities can play a role as Americans face job losses and other economic struggles during the coronavirus crisis and what people can do to help their neighbors. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcast. and encourage others to subscribe. Now on to our top news. A sad milestone, the number of coronavirus deaths in the United States is now over 1,000. The largest number of those deaths occurred in the New York region, which has had 280 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. 619 people have recovered from COVID-19 in the U.S., and in total, there have now been 7,000.5.5.5.5.5.5. And in total, there have now been 7.5.5. 75,000 coronavirus cases in our nation. Worldwide, 23,000 have died from COVID-19.

The Senate's coronavirus aid package is up for a vote today in the House. In a Thursday morning tweet, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, the Senate just pivoted from one of the most divided periods in recent memory to passing the largest rescue package in American history, and we passed it unanimously. Americans deserve this outcome. I am proud the Senate stepped up. The legislation passed the Senate unanimously on Wednesday and is expected to be voted in the House on Friday after a substantial amount of partisan struggle. The $2 trillion stimulus package includes $250 billion earmarked for direct payments to families and individuals, $350 billion allocated for small business loans, $250 billion in unemployment insurance benefits,

and $500 billion in loans for distressed companies, CNN reported. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had harsh words for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her wish list of items to be included in the legislation, saying Thursday during a press conference, how many people were laid off as Democrats fought to change the election law or implement the Green New Deal? Unemployment numbers have skyrocketed, according to the Labor Department. Last week, there were nearly 3.3 million unemployment claims, up from a around 300,000 the prior week. This is the most dramatic increase in history for unemployment claims in the U.S. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said in a statement, this large increase in unemployment claims was not unexpected and results from the recognition by Americans across the country that we have had to temporarily halt certain activities in order to defeat the coronavirus.

The hard impact of this on American workers was anticipated in the bill passed by the Senate, which provides hundreds of billions of dollars in unprecedented funding for traditional unemployment insurance and pandemic unemployment assistance, and one-time cash payments of $1,200 or more to Americans making $75,000 or less, $150,000 for those who are married. Perhaps more important, the Senate bill also provides incentives and funding for businesses to keep their workers on payroll, so that, as soon as possible, we can spring back to the strong economic conditions we enjoyed just weeks ago. Chicago is cracking down on people who don't follow the city's stay-at-home order. Chicagoans who violate the order will only receive one morning, a fine of $500, and repeat violators will be arrested. In a statement, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that people cannot go on long bike rides, walks, runs along the lakefront where you're going to be congregating with lots of other people. China is taking steps to severely curb who can come within its borders. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Thursday that foreign nationals, even with visas and resident permits, couldn't come in, and only certain exceptions, such as for diplomats, would be made.

In a press release, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the suspension is a temporary measure that China is compelled to take in light of the outbreak situation and the practices of other countries. Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro and 14 current and former Venezuelan officials have been charged with narco-terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking, and other criminal charges, according to a Thursday press release from the United States Department of Justice. Today we announced criminal charges against Nicholas Maduro Moros for running together with his top lieutenants, a narco-terrorism partnership with the FARC for the past 20 years, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Berman said in a statement, the scope and magnitude of the drug trafficking alleged was made possible only because Maduro and others corrupted the institutions of Venezuela and provided political and military protection for the rampant narco-terrorism crimes described in our charges. Right now, restaurants are some of the businesses most struggling. Many of them order to only do delivery and takeout as regions try to curb the spread of COVID-19. Well, one restaurant leader is taking a pay cut. W. Kent Taylor, who is the chief executive of state chain Texas Roadhouse, won't get a salary or bonuses until next January, according to Market Watch, which says the money he would have received will now be used to pay frontline workers.

According to Lowellville Business First, Taylor's compensation was $1.3 million in 2018 and $8.5 million in 2017. Meanwhile, New Orleans Saints quarterback, Drew Brees, and his wife, Brittany, are going to spend $5 million to help Louisiana. That money, according to Breeze's Instagram post, will provide, in partnership with other organizations, 10,000 meals per day throughout Louisiana for as long as it takes to children on meal programs, seniors, and families in need. Breeze wrote, let's all do our part, maintain hope, and get through this together. Next up, we'll have Virginia's interview with Peter Lipset of Donors Trust. The Daily Signal is doing all we can to provide you and your family with the information you need on how to stay healthy through the coronavirus pandemic. Social distancing is one of the best proven ways you can protect yourself and your loved ones. Dr. Burks, Dr. Fowlerke, Dr. Fowler.

and U.S. Surgeon General Adams explain why. Take a listen. Social distancing is what we refer to when we ask people to say at least six feet apart. Staying away from people whom you might get coronavirus from or who are at high risk and whom you might spread coronavirus too. You can socially distance yourself from people in social settings by not going to bars, not going to restaurants, not going to theaters where there are a lot of people. It all just means physical separation so that you have a spin. between you and others who might actually be infected or infect you. I am joined by Peter Lipset, Vice President of Donors Trust, a donor advisor fund committed to protecting our nation's constitutional liberties and strengthening civil society through private

institutions rather than government programs. Peter, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me, Virginia. So to begin, can you just explain a little bit about what a donor advisor fund is? Sure. A donor advised fund is, you can think of a little bit like a charitable savings account. So donors put dollars in, immediately get their tax deduction for that. And then they've got this little pot of money set aside explicitly for charitable grant making. Once it's in the fund, that's what it has to go for. It has to go to 501C3 charities. And there's a lot of reasons that people use donor advised funds from just the fact that it simplifies their giving. just have it all in one place.

We do the back end work, so we write the checks from the donor advice fund, and the donor just gets to focus on the fun part, which is figuring out what causes they really want to advance. There's good tax reasons to do it. It's a lot simpler than, say, setting up a private foundation. It can be a little more private for donors who value their privacy and their giving and the ability to give without having their name attached, which is important to some people.

So a lot of reasons, there's a lot of providers out there. And our unique niche is the fact that we're focused on that liberty-minded donor who really wants to use their philanthropy to advance the ideas of limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise. Yeah, well, let's talk a little bit more about that because, like you said, one of those pillars of conservatism is this idea of personal responsibility. And that really extends to our communities at large, whether that's, you know, our churches and our families and the towns that we live. So can you explain how donors trust is a part of actually serving the needs of individuals and communities apart from government programs on just a really practical level? No, it's a great question. And we really do see ourselves as a community foundation, similar to the geographic community foundations that you see in your city or county or a regional

area. Those are bound by geography. We're bound by ideas. We care about advancing these principles of liberty. And that means we spend a lot of time where the donors who care about that sort of thing. But we also spend a lot of time with the grantees, organizations like Heritage Foundation and so many others in the think tank community, the student organizations out there that are helping to take these ideas, all of those types of organizations. We spent a lot of time really trying to know what people are doing, understand their priorities so we can go back to the donors and help them with their giving and help to say, hey, there's this new project going on with this organization. It's right in the wheelhouse of what you care about. And hopefully,

through all of that, we see more money going into these sorts of causes, more philanthropic dollars moving, not just to the liberty organizations, but also to those civil society organizations that really form the backbone of the country and are so important to everything, the churches, the Boy Scouts, the Salvation Army, the, the local arts group. All of those things matter too. Yeah. Well, obviously right now with the coronavirus, we're seeing that civil society is being drastically affected very, very quickly. And a lot of people are finding themselves in really difficult financial situations. But, you know, for those out there that maybe have, you know, a little bit of money that they can use to bless others or a lot of money that

they can use, what advice would you give to them? Yeah. There's, there's so much need right now, as you say, and for a lot of reasons. Obviously, there's a public health crisis, and we've seen some of the major donors, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Gates Foundation, the ones that can throw, you know, eight and nine figures worth of dollars at a situation, really jumping in on the health piece. And that's probably a great place for them. I think your typical donor, the donor who doesn't get to spend eight or nine figures worth of cash, I think there's a few other places, particularly in those harmed by the economic effects and the fallout of the disruption that's happening as a result of all of this. So things, organizations that care for

the elderly, for example, so many of them are really getting isolated and not even able to see their families in some cases. Organizations like Meals on Wheels become even more important in times like this. Obviously, those dealing with the economic effects, the food banks, and local organizations that can help people ride the storm out are really important. And frankly, actually, you know, being charitable doesn't always mean giving to charity in order to advance our ideas and help those feeling those economic effects. It's also getting a gift card from the restaurant that can't open, but, you know, we'll reopen in a few months and things like that, thinking to make sure that businesses and the economy that we believe in so strongly can continue to

thrive. And then the last pillar, and we can talk about this in a little more detail, is really making sure our ideas don't get lost in all of this. Yeah. And how do we do that? Because obviously, you know, the government is moving forward and has just passed the CARES Act. And we're seeing literally trillions of dollars being pumped in to the economy and big business and small business. So what is that? What is that? that balance of finding, you know, the value of, you know, really kind of that grassroots involvement and pumping, you know, citizens' money into the economy versus government. Yeah, I think there's obviously a real risk that a lot of the liberties that we care about,

the freedoms that we care about, just the economic strength and resilience that we care about can kind of get themselves pushed out the door in this rush for government to do something, right? And the bill that you're talking about is a great case and point. Who knows what's in there, frankly. But it's probably not going to have a lot of good things for those of us who really believe that government should be smaller, not bigger, that people should be more free, not more restricted. And they're all the great network of state think tanks and national think tanks and advocacy groups, citizen education groups, that are really starting to realize, hey, this is an issue, and we can actually do something about it.

These think tanks in particular are really leveraged to quickly come back and say, hey, you know, you, we need more nurses in the state. You and the legislature have set up all of these restrictions that don't allow people from the next state over to come and help in our hospitals. Let's get rid of those barriers. And in some states, we're seeing that take place. We're seeing things like plastic bag restrictions getting stripped away in Colorado and New Exco and elsewhere from a hygiene standpoint that all of a sudden bringing these reusable bags

may not be the right thing to do. The good reasons to do it, but sometimes we need a little more flexibility. And so I think it's exciting to think that the freedom movement is able to push back on some of these places where government is overstepping or has. overstepped in the past and really raise a flag to say more freedom can actually get us through this crisis a little bit better. You know, when when you really get down to the nitty gritty of it, if someone comes to you and asks, you know, well, why not have the government, you know, give millions and billions of dollars, you know, they they have it, quote unquote, have it.

You know, why, why is it better to have, you know, citizens and kind of that smaller grassroots level engagement? It's a great question, and I think people on our side kind of take for granted the fact that we know philanthropy is a good thing and reflexively understand it, but it's good to re-articulate why that's so important, particularly in civil society. I mean, one of the reasons is it just moves faster. Take, for example, we've mentioned the stimulus bill. It hasn't even passed the House yet.

It's past the Senate. President hasn't signed it. in theory there's going to be money coming out of the government into people's pocketbooks. That is weeks away, maybe months away. Who knows how long it's going to take them to get that money out? Whereas churches and elder care groups and the food banks, etc., are already there. They're already knitted into the fabric of these communities. They're already on the ground helping people get through some of these things,

even giving them checks in some cases for organizations that are equipped to do. that. And more importantly, those same organizations are going to be there after the government steps back. You know, the government money is a blip. The government intervention, hopefully, will be a blip. But the Meals on Wheels is still going to be serving the elderly population in two years and in five years and hopefully in 20 years. And then third, you get that human connection. Government is a big faceless bureaucracy. That's what it's built to be. That's not an insult. That is what it is. But the person running the local soup kitchen knows the people coming in there and knows when they may look a little sick and may need a little intervention.

That human connection matters so, so much in actually giving caring. You know, the Senate calls their bill, the CARES Act. Care really comes through human connection, human philanthropy, and human involvement. that's so good that makes so much sense can you give us maybe some practical examples of times when we really have seen philanthropy have that positive effect and that positive impact whether that was you know after a national disaster of some sort or um another kind of challenging situation that we as a nation have faced yeah one of the more recent major examples of that i think has really been after Hurricane Harvey when it just devastated Texas and Houston in particular.

And you saw a lot of really great nonprofit groups rise up. I'm forgetting Project Rubicon is one that was able, I mean, these retired or off-duty military guys who came in and just dug people out, move people around. FEMA wasn't there yet. And when FEMA was gone, Project Rubicon was still there. and there was a lot of organizations that can move quickly. I mean, Red Cross gets pummeled, rightfully so, every once in a while, but they are quick to be able to move.

They're built for times like that where they can come in quickly and inject some help, have they have cots at the ready. What's different here, what's so weird here, is we are, I think, better equipped to deal with the earthquake and the hurricane and the tornado. and here we have this situation where we, it's beautiful outside. We have this extended snow day with no snow, but there's a real crisis. And I think that's making people a little slower to act. Nobody quite knows how to act. And the fact that you can't per se put hands on somebody to help them in this situation

makes it a little trickier because that's what philanthropy is so good at. And I think that that poses a challenge for philanthropy. and requires organizations in this current crisis to really think creatively. Yeah. So with the organizations and the individuals that you work with, what is the advice that you're giving to them? Because it is a really tricky situation where, like you say, you know, we're not able to necessarily all gather to help our neighbors who are sick.

We're being told to, you know, stay home and stay away. Yeah. So, you know, so much of what we do is in that think tank community. So I'll kind of focus it on on that. and how do we make sure that the economy gets going again and our liberty and rights gets protected in all of this? And the challenge that we're giving to the organizations that we work with and a lot of our donors care about

is to be creative, to look at the situation and say the work you do is important and it matters and it still matters in this current situation because we're going to come out of this and we need to be a strong, resilient country again. And so we're trying to be. trying to figure out how can we help those organizations get catalyzed towards action. We've actually begun a new fund to help donors who know they want to help, but don't

necessarily have the wherewithal to figure out all the different projects out there. We're helping to corral some of that support into a growth and resilience fund with donors' trust, playing that community foundation role that we do to help some of these nonprofits take advantage of these opportunities, to push back against. some of the regulations that are standing in the way of people's lives, both in this crisis and normally, and places that are rules that are blocking the health or the education or the workforce recovery that we really need. And so we're excited about that and excited to be a part of hopefully catalyzing some new action that will not just get us through this crisis,

but we'll have a long-term positive effect for the country. Yeah, and I really want to thank you for your work with that, because, you know, that's something that here at the Heritage Foundation, we are so passionate about that, you know, we, we want to be really a pillar of a freedom and of civil society for America. That, you know, when we do kind of come out of these difficult challenges and situations and even all through it, that, you know, we can be messaging, you know, okay, this is how you can move forward in a way that that furthers our freedom and that allows our generation. to enjoy the freedoms that we have instead of kind of waking up on the other side of these travesties, thinking, wow, we sacrificed a lot in order to get through that. Right. That's so true.

And, you know, it's, you can be excused for a knee-jerk reaction that says, well, think tanks and policy groups and citizen education groups, those don't really matter in a crisis like this. Those are not the compassionate way to give. But I want to push back on that thinking for exactly. the points that you were just making because it is compassionate to think about the long-term welfare for people and for liberty and for their freedom. Because by stripping away these regulations, by making it more easy for businesses to form, to people to get back to work, to people get the education and job training they need, that's good for prosperity. That's good for everybody.

And so, yes, it's a longer-term play. Yes, it doesn't per se put a meal on someone's table today, but it makes sure they can eat tomorrow. And that is, frankly, as compassionate as I think you can be. Yeah, I agree. So how can our listeners find out more about the work that you're doing and that Donors Trust is up to? Sure. DonorsTrust.org is our website. If you're under 40 and listening to this, we have a special program called the novice society, novicesociety.org, focused on engaging donors under 40 and building those philanthropic muscles for them because the great donors that we have today need to one day be replaced by great donors that aren't giving as much yet. And so we believe in that continuum of giver. So you can go to either of those websites,

learn more about us. I'm always happy to chat about how folks can think about giving to these ideas, supporting these ideas, and also just leveraging the power of a donor-advised fund as a vehicle for simplifying, protecting, and giving it a more tax-advantage way. Great. Peter, we really appreciate your time today. Thank you. I appreciate all that you do and all heritage does and appreciate you having me. Thanks. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. We really appreciate your patience as we record remotely during these weeks. Please be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or Spotify. And please leave us a review or

rating on Apple Podcasts to give us your feedback. Stay healthy and we'll be back with you all on Monday. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Shrinco and Rachel Del Judas. Sound design by Lauren Evans, Fulia Rampersad, Mark Geinie, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailySignal.com.