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Dana Brakman Reiser

Dana Brakman Reiser

Centennial Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, scholar of nonprofit organizations, corporate governance, and social enterprise law.

Sep 1, 2026

6:55
Sure.
6:55
Absolutely.
6:56
Rockefeller initially tried to get a federal charter for his foundation, as others have chronicled and we talk about in our book.
7:04
And Congress rejected it basically because they thought this is this is the guy that's, you know, a monopolist that we've got this whole antitrust problem with.
7:10
Why would we give him more power over the social agenda? And then periodically, as, you know, the issues of the day changed, right, from antitrust or labor issues that might have been the most salient in the very early part of the century, then you had the Red Scare.
7:27
And there was, again, a congressional commission looking at communist links between philanthropic funders and the Communist Party and just individuals, you know, who were being, you pilloried, I guess, as involved in communist activities, whether that is, you know, whether that was real or not.
7:49
Obviously, there was a big mix going on at that time.

18 MINS LATER

25:58
What are the things that for-profit philanthropy is doing that kind of run against the principles embedded in this grand bargain of 1969?

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