A recent story on Marketplace/NPR caught my attention. Prof. Joel Fleishman of Duke University finds fault with foundations in his most recent book The Foundation: A Great American Secret; How Private Wealth is Changing the World. He says that he studied dozens of foundations including the size of the sector, but very few publish results in a way that can help either non-profits or other foundations learn and become more effective.

This is an interesting aspect of the issue recently addressed in the New York Times magazine by economist Peter Singer, who argued for a sliding scale of giving with those with the most means giving the highest proportion of their wealth away. He too noted the limited accountability built into private donations, and that perhaps a taxation system with a more widely distributed decision-making power was necessary. It is an interesting argument; how do you encourage people to do good, if you take the definition of good out of their control?