The Heritage Foundation spends fully a third of its comfortable budget on outreach, yet few progressive funders want to pay for spreading the word. Grants for institution building are also important because they allow progressive researchers and writers to prepare for the future and keep up the momentum. Smart, dedicated, idealistic young people often want to work for progressive organizations and are willing to make material sacrifices to do so, but the core funds to employ them simply aren't there. By focusing almost exclusively on projects, progressive funders have helped to ensure right-wing dominance of the debate. Issues we used to take for granted, including the third world itself, have almost vanished from the debate.
Donors can make the leap of faith from projects to institutional and intellectual movement building.
Remarkable institutions and individuals deserve long-term support that alone can allow them to do their best work. Donors should set aside a respectable portion of their disposable funds to endow worthwhile institutions. Formulas providing guarantees and flexibility to both donor and recipient could be readily negotiated. Hegel claimed that the only thing history teaches us is that nobody ever learns anything from history. The neoliberals' onslaught continues and their intellectual hegemony is almost complete.