Press Releases

Over the last few years, Wal-Mart, now the world's largest private employer with 1.4 million employees, has received (mostly negative) press coverage for its labor practices and its harmful impact on communities. Less is known however, about the Wal-Mart foundation and its nationwide philanthropic campaigns, whose cumulative assets now rank the corporate giant among the nation's most prominent corporate givers. In "Corporate Philanthropy-Wal-Mart Style," Betty Feng examines Wal-Mart Foundation giving, and critiques its lack of transparency and true accountability to the communities that have been instrumental to the empire's success.

The spring 2005 Responsive Philanthropy also features:

• "The Accountability Toolbox" by Rick Cohen explores the viability and mechanisms of nonprofit self-regulation and points out some of the myths surrounding the debate of nonprofit self-governance. A­s the Senate Finance Committee urges the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors to demonstrate greater accountability and financial probity, Cohen advocates a model in which nonprofits' self -regulatory practices could coexist with reinforced governmental oversight.
• "The Bush Budget: The Triumph of the Beast Starvers?" by Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute is a critical overview of the FY06 Bush budget and its dramatic repercussions on government human services programs-health care, education, housing. The unsustainable levels reached by the current and project budget deficits, Bernstein observes, represent a clear attempt at undermining the government's ability to perform its functions and the nonprofit sector's historic role in complementing and furthering them.
• "Wasting Resources and Risking Lives" by Jeff Krehely shows that, despite scientific evidence pointing at their ineffectiveness and potential harmfulness, abstinence-only programs and the nonprofits promoting them have received increasing amount of public money within the last few years. That such biased programs have been condoned, or even championed, by leading philanthropic organizations represent a serious blow to the nonprofit sector's attempts to regain its credibility and reputation.