No matter whether your candidate won or lost the race for president on Tuesday, philanthropy was dealt a serious blow during the 2016 election race.
Never in our history have the roles of two candidates’ giving records and foundations been so prominently in the spotlight, as reporters uncovered allegations of possible wrongdoing at both the Trump and Clinton foundations and grappled with basic questions about just how generous — or self-interested — they were. History was made when those topics became part of the televised presidential and vice-presidential debates this fall.
To be sure, many people in philanthropy would have been overjoyed if the real issues we all grapple with were the ones getting so much visibility… But instead, all that Americans, and indeed a worldwide audience, heard about the topic of philanthropy were charges of wrongdoing.
Read the entire story published in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.