Philanthropy's $1.6 Trillion Suicide Pact

America’s largest philanthropic foundations control more than $1.6 trillion in assets—capital forged in the engine of American enterprise and sheltered by a tax code that facilitates the near-untaxed transfer of intergenerational wealth. Yet despite this extraordinary privilege, these institutions remain largely absent from the defining contest of our age: the preservation of the free world’s technological and industrial base.

While Washington dithers and Silicon Valley chases valuations, the philanthropic sector—uniquely independent of markets and election cycles—possesses the means, legitimacy, and moral duty to lead. Instead, it has retreated into an ideological comfort zone. Data from Future Union shows that the nation’s 100 largest philanthropic nonprofits have overwhelmingly funded initiatives focused on food justice, climate activism, and diversity, while nearly universally neglecting the critical interests of American survival: supply-chain resilience, cybersecurity, and industrial rearmament.

There is nothing unworthy about funding basic human needs. But in the geopolitical reality of 2026, these efforts are insufficient. The sector’s fixation on social engineering ignores the dire state of the bedrock upon which all social progress rests. We are no longer in an era where "national security" is merely a Pentagon affair; it is a civic, economic, and moral one. If America’s philanthropic elite truly believe in justice and equity, they must recognize that freedom itself is the first social good—and that their untapped capital is the most potent arsenal America still possesses.

In effect, this capital represents a decentralized sovereign wealth fund. While countries like Norway and China use centralized sovereign wealth to secure their strategic futures, America relies on a patchwork of pensions ($39 trillion), university endowments ($800 billion), and private foundations ($1.6 trillion). Together, these pools dwarf Norway’s $1.7 trillion fund. Yet unlike our adversaries, American capital remains largely on the sidelines of the fight to preserve the world order that made such wealth possible.

The stakes are civilizational. America’s vision emphasizes human rights, environmental stewardship, and democratic governance. China champions surveillance, coerced labor, and authoritarian control. No philanthropic initiative will matter if Beijing controls the critical technologies—semiconductors, AI, quantum computing, and rare earth minerals—that will shape tomorrow’s global order.

History offers a clarity that the modern philanthropic sector has seemingly forgotten: victory precedes virtue. America didn’t enter World War II to spread specific social ideals; it fought to survive, and only then built the institutions to defend those ideals. Today’s global elite, often captive to an echo chamber of peers, have inverted this sequence. They have traded strategic clarity for moral theater. This decay is visible in global bodies like the WTO and the UN, where serial human rights abusers now lead committees on human rights. The lesson is clear: we cannot outsource our survival to international bureaucrats.

The numbers tell a stark story of neglect. As of last year, U.S. foundations held $1.6 trillion in assets, an 11.5 percent increase from the previous year. Yet a review of grantmaking priorities reveals a categorical neglect of national security and dual-use technologies. George Soros’ Open Society Foundations directed $300 million toward democracy and civil rights; the Ford Foundation committed $104 million to social equity programs; the MacArthur Foundation allocated $173 million to criminal justice reform. Even the Rockefeller Foundation, historically rooted in industrial innovation, has prioritized a "Good Food Strategy."

None of these major allocations were dedicated to the strategic technologies required to keep the U.S. sovereign. Worse, as Future Union’s research has exposed, many of these endowments have previously invested in Chinese venture capital—including companies like ByteDance—effectively funding the innovation ecosystem of the very adversary seeking to displace us. We are subsidizing our own displacement.

The core issue is one of misaligned incentives. Foundations receive extraordinary tax benefits—donors deduct significant portions of income, and the foundations accumulate wealth tax-free. These privileges should actively encourage strategic investment, not merely principal preservation. To fix this, we must elevate National Security Investing (NSI) as a distinct and vital asset class through three specific reforms.

First, the tax code should offer targeted credits for investments in strategic sectors such as advanced manufacturing, IP security, and STEM education. Second, we should mandate that foundations allocate an additional 1 percent above the required annual 5 percent payout specifically to initiatives that enhance U.S. resilience. And finally, we must begin to recognize and rate "Patriotic Capital," certifying those foundations that actively advance American strategic security.

The myth of "neutral" philanthropy must end. America’s philanthropic elite sit atop the most underutilized war chest in the free world. Foundations that claim to champion justice and equity must confront an uncomfortable truth: without national security, no progressive vision endures. If the U.S. loses the global economic battle outlined in “Made in China 2025,” ideals like diversity and democracy will vanish under authoritarian suppression.

If these foundations continue to hoard capital while the foundations of freedom erode, history will not judge them as passive observers. It will remember them as the generation that had the power to act, and chose not to.