No Strings Attached: Philanthropy, Race, and Donor Control From Black Power to Black Lives Matter

This article examines a moment of crisis and experimentation in philanthropy from the late 1960s to analyze how race shapes philanthropy. Specifically, it considers two giving circles in Boston launched as a linked funding initiative to address economic and racial inequality: (a) a group of wealthy, White suburbanites who started the Fund for Urban Negro Development to direct donations with “no strings attached” to the other, (b) the Boston Black United Front Foundation, an entity started by Black power activists in the city. Using archival records of the two groups, I analyze their efforts to decouple hierarchies of race and giving in funder–grantee relationships, and connect scholarship on African American history and philanthropy to that on donor control. I frame the notion of “no strings attached” giving as relative and shaped by positioning and identity in ways that produce multiple understandings of the material and abstract “strings” of philanthropy.

Community Diversity and Donor Control: An Empirical Analysis of Contributions to Donor-Advised Funds at Community Foundations

This study examines the relationship between community ethnic-racial diversity and contributions to donor-advised funds (DAFs) held by community foundations. Unlike general contributions, DAFs allow donors to retain advisory control over their fund distribution based on individual preferences. In contrast to prior research that generally finds that diversity dampens private provision of public goods, we show that greater ethnic-racial diversity is significantly associated with higher levels of contributions to DAFs at community foundations but not with general contributions. The findings contribute to the literature on diversity and public goods provision and have practical implications for the policy role of private philanthropy.

Enhanced Homology-directed Repair for Highly Efficient Gene Editing in Hematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cells

Lentivector gene therapy for X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (X-CGD) has proven to be a viable approach, but random vector integration and subnormal protein production from exogenous promoters in transduced cells remain concerning for long-term safety and efficacy. A previous genome editing-based approach using SpCas9 and an oligodeoxynucleotide donor to repair genetic mutations demonstrated the capability to restore physiological protein expression, but lacked sufficient efficiency in quiescent CD34+ hematopoietic cells for clinical translation. Here, we show transient inhibition of p53-binding protein 1 (53BP1) significantly increased (2.3-fold) long-term homology directed repair (HDR) to achieve highly efficient (80% gp91phox+ cells compared to healthy donor control) long-term correction of X-CGD CD34+ cells.

Mission Change Over Time in U.S. Family Foundations

How much do foundations change their missions over time? Grant making emphases may shift due to the evolving preferences of trustees and directors, the changing needs of grant recipients, the location of the successor trustees, and so on. A countervailing force to this change is donor control. The founding donor’s stipulations and values figure prominently as legal and sentimental forces that could enhance mission permanence despite the passing of generations. This study first proposes a mission change theory framework designed for the long time span of endowed family foundations. Via changes in the stated location of the grant making and the field of the grants made (e.g., from grants for religious instruction to grants for arts), we then measure the revealed preferences of trustees and how their grant making practices change over the decades.

Sipuleucel-T (sip-T) to induce cytolytic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity against target antigens in men with hormone-sensitive and castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

5046 Background: Sip-T is an FDA-approved autologous cellular immunotherapy for patients with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic CRPC (mCRPC), manufactured from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) cultured with the immunogen PA2024 (prostatic acid phosphatase [PAP] conjugated to granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor). Treatment with sip-T induces cellular and humoral immune responses to both PA2024 and PAP (Antonarakis, ASCO 2015; Petrylak, ECC 2015; Small Clin Cancer Res 2015). To further elucidate the mechanism of sip-T–induced immune responses, we evaluated proliferative and cytolytic characteristics of PA2024- and PAP-specific T cells. Methods: Antigen-specific proliferation of CD4 (T helper [TH]) and CD8 (CTL) T cells was quantified using flow cytometry. To assess CTL lytic activity, cell-surface CD107a expression, indicating lysosomal fusion with the cell membrane and expulsion of lytic enzymes, was measured after stimulation with PAP or PA2024. CTL lytic activity was assessed in 13 patients (from 3 sip-T trials [NCT01431391, NCT01981122, and NCT01487863] in hormone-sensitive PC and mCRPC patients) and 1 healthy donor (control). Results: In sip-T–treated patients, a significant increase in proliferation of both CTLs and TH cells was detected in response to PA2024 (p < 0.05) and PAP (p < 0.10) at week 6 compared with baseline. Increased PA2024-specific proliferation was maintained in TH cells through week 26 (p < 0.05). CTL CD107a expression increased in sip-T patient samples stimulated with PAP and PA2024 but not in the healthy donor control. Preliminary analyses suggest that patients with longer overall survival (OS) may have greater CTL CD107a activity. Conclusions: Sip-T treatment was associated with well-maintained antigen-specific cellular responses, including robust CTL responses, demonstrating sip-T induces antigen-specific tumor lysis and providing a biologic basis for OS benefit in mCRPC patients. Ongoing work will examine whether patients with longer OS display greater CTL activity. Clinical trial information: NCT01431391; NCT01981122; NCT01487863.

Who Controls Foreign Aid? Elite versus Public Perceptions of Donor Influence in Aid-Dependent Uganda

Does foreign aid enable or constrain elite capture of public revenues? Reflecting on prominent debates in the foreign aid literature, we examine whether recipient preferences are consistent with a view that foreign donors wield substantial control over the flow of aid dollars, making elite capture more difficult and mass benefits more likely. We compare elite and mass support for foreign aid versus government spending on development projects through a survey experiment with behavioral outcomes. A key innovation is a parallel experiment on members of the Ugandan national parliament and a representative sample of Ugandan citizens. For two actual aid projects, we randomly assigned different funders to the projects. Significant treatment effects reveal that members of parliament support government programs over foreign aid, whereas citizens prefer aid over government. Donor control also implies that citizens should favor foreign aid more and elites less as their perceptions of government clientelism and corruption increase. We explore this and report on other alternative mechanisms. Effects for citizens and elites are most apparent for those perceiving significant government corruption, suggesting that both sets of subjects perceive significant donor control over aid.

Exposing elusive cationic magnesium–chloro aggregates in aluminate complexes through donor control

Judicious choice of Lewis donor provides control over the aggregation state of the [MgxCl2x−1]+ cation in a series of Mg battery relevant magnesium aluminates.