Helen Flannery
@helenofips.bsky.social
Queen of Charts. Researching the relationship between charity and inequality at the US Institute for Policy Studies.
This is worth an hour watching with your family on how to spot and avoid malign psychological manipulation.
Alan Jagolinzer@jagolinzer.bsky.social · 2mo ago@dianebenscoter.bsky.social, Founder & Executive Director of Antidote, & former cult member & deprogrammer, describes techniques for how to best support people who are trapped in psychologically manipulative communities. Cambridge Disinformation Summit webinar series. youtu.be/OottZUfQbns?...
fab visualization by @helenofips.bsky.social of the top 20 U.S. charities over the last 34 years: the most important story in 21st century philanthropy is the rise and (concerning) dominance of donor-advised funds, which don't have payout or adequate transparency requirements
Effective tax rate paid by Jeff Bezos from 2014 to 2018: 0.98% Effective 2025 federal tax rate paid by Amazon: 1.4% Typical tax rate paid by the average American: 14.5% Just thought I should point that out.
Donor-advised fund awards are famously non-transparent, but only a few people on earth can make a $30-million-plus donation. Here’s what DAF megatransfers reveal. Michael Kavate(@kavate.bsky.social) Reports: tinyurl.com/mwpr56kr #DonorAdvisedFunds #Philanthropy #Billionaires #Nonprofits
Where Are Billionaires with DAFs Sending Their Money? A Hidden-in-Plain-Sight Guide
Donor-advised fund awards are famously non-transparent, but only a few people on earth can make a $30-million-plus donation. Here’s what DAF megatransfers reveal.
tinyurl.com
Wondering where your 2025 tax dollars are going? IPS policy experts Lindsay Koshgarian and @hannahomestead.bsky.social break down some of those numbers—including why the average American taxpayer paid over $4,000 this year for weapons and war.
The Average Taxpayer Shelled Out Over $4,000 for War and Weapons Last Year - Institute for Policy Studies
The Average Taxpayer Shelled Out Over $4,000 for War and Weapons Last Year
ips-dc.org
Our co-editor @sarahanderson.bsky.social in conversation with the great Janine Jackson at FAIR.
FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting)@fairmediawatch.bsky.social · 4mo ago"It’s not that these companies don’t have the resources to be paying something other than poverty wages; it’s that they’re choosing to use their resources to enrich those at the top." fair.org/home/its-all...
You cant collect revenue if no one is trained, or even present to do the job. Our former, the last competent Commissioner of the IRS explains.
Watch IRS Cutbacks: US Revenue at Risk - Bloomberg
As President Trump has made cutting government bloat a priority for his second term in office, the IRS has been one of the hardest hit agencies. How will personnel and funding cuts affect the IRS? For...
bloomberg.com
Our co-editor @sarahanderson.bsky.social on solving the wage suppression factor in the affordability crisis through: ⬆️ federal minimum wage 💪 union rights ⬆️ taxes on corporations with big CEO-worker pay gaps www.marketwatch.com/story/multim...
Multimillion-dollar CEO pay at these 20 low-wage companies is costing you. This is now the only fix.
CEO pay at the “low-wage 20” averages $18.6 million, while many of their median workers rely on taxpayer-supported Medicaid and SNAP.
marketwatch.com
Get ready for a shakeup in the world of donor-advised funds www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/the-com...
The Coming DAFpocalypse
The Policy Director of IPS's Charity Reform Initiative predicts the number of donor-advised funds will shrink in the years to come.
insidephilanthropy.com
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
U.S. billionaires made record-breaking extreme wealth gains last year. But "Average taxpayers like you and I," says IPS @inequality.org researcher @ocampomar.bsky.social in @truthout.org, "still pay income tax at triple the rate of the wealthiest Americans."
Top 15 US Billionaires Gained Nearly $1 Trillion in Wealth in Trump’s First Year
The US has 935 billionaires, roughly a dozen of whom have jobs within the Trump administration.
truthout.org
One of the reasons to believe smartphones and social media are bad for kids and teens is the fact that the people who make these technologies forbid them to their own kids. Thank you @neildegrassetyson.com for having me on StarTalk! Full episode in their pod feeds.
NEW: Not only is there "certainly no fentanyl involved" between Venezuela and the U.S., but the region's most prolific drug traffickers have often in fact been U.S. allies. In a new BBC interview, IPS drug policy scholar @sanho.bsky.social dismantles Trump admin claims. Watch:
VIDEO: The Worst Drug Traffickers Are Often U.S. Allies - Institute for Policy Studies
VIDEO: The Worst Drug Traffickers Are Often U.S. Allies
ips-dc.org
Best Data Visualization Projects of 2025, a.k.a. my favorites flowingdata.com/2025/12/31/b...
Best Data Visualization Projects of 2025
Many data things were made this year. These are my favorites.
flowingdata.com
Core faculty Juniper Lovato recently joined Across the Fence to discuss artificial intelligence. Check out the episode "What Does a Computer Scientist (and Philosopher) think of A.I.?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5V8...
11/05/25 What Does a Computer Scientist (and Philosopher) think of A.I.?
YouTube video by Across the Fence
youtube.com
In addition to profiting from shoppers, Amazon is profiteering from ICE's mass deportations this year by powering government surveillance systems. This holiday, shop local and help wrangle power back from billionaires. Ab West on @inequality.org
This Black Friday Weekend, Skip Amazon
The e-commerce giant is powering ICE’s deportation raids while profiting handsomely from Trump administration contracts.
inequality.org
This is it. It ain't easy but it's how we win. The only way out is through. ❤️
Acyn@acyn.bsky.social · 9mo agoAOC: We have a future to fight for, and we're either going to do that together or you're going to be left behind. It's not about Progressive. It's not moderate, it's not liberal. This is about do you understand the assignment of fighting fascism right now? And the assignment is you come together…
friends with large accounts, I'm not going to pester you personally but just generally speaking, I would sure appreciate a signal boost on this thing. We seem to have leveled out, and since this is a one-shot (won't be in bookstores) I'd like to get it out there as much as possible.
Our Long National Nightmare by Tom Tomorrow
Relive the trauma of the last five years through the cartoons of Herblock Award winner and Pulitzer nominee Tom Tomorrow.
kickstarter.com
What do you do when you work on wealth inequality and your childhood hero becomes a billionaire? You write them a letter. inequality.org/article/an-o... #Springsteen #Billionaire @inequality.org
An Open Letter to the Boss
You’re a billionaire now, Mr. Springsteen. Please don’t stay one.
inequality.org
NEW: Hundreds of rich people have signed the Giving Pledge to donate half of their wealth. 15 years on, their lack of progress shows our critical need to fix philanthropy — and tax them more. REPORT by @chuck77.bsky.social, @bdevaan.bsky.social, @helenofips.bsky.social and @dpetegorsky.bsky.social:
The Giving Pledge at 15
15 years on, the Giving Pledge is unfulfilled, unfulfillable, and not our ticket to a fairer, better future.
ips-dc.org
This link between privilege dependence and rule breaking is also why private charity can't substitute for a tax-funded social safety net. Because, like with the public school example, even well-meaning nonprofits can end up reproducing inequalities when they have to cater to wealthy donors. 4/
An insightful new statistical analysis of American #inequality from Bob Lord of @ips-dc.org and @patrioticmillionaires.org: “Since 2012, the concentration in our country’s wealth has almost entirely been limited to just our richest 0.01 percent.” www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Yes, America Is an Oligarchy
Over the past dozen or so years, about half the concentration of wealth in the U.S. has benefited just 19 families.
rollingstone.com
Holy shit, a real masks-off moment. Trump's IRS says churches can continue to claim tax benefits as a nonprofit even while explicitly endorsing candidates. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/u...
I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit
nytimes.com
New Study Shines a Light on the Impact of Donor-Advised Funds nonprofitquarterly.org/new-study-sh... @chuck77.bsky.social @helenofips.bsky.social @ips-dc.org #nonprofits
New Study Shines a Light on the Impact of Donor-Advised Funds - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Where do DAF dollars go—and how quickly do these donor dollars actually arrive at operating nonprofits? The answers, derived from a new study, may be surprising.
nonprofitquarterly.org
Insightful conversation here from @eotaxprof.bsky.social and @countingcharity.bsky.social #nonprofitsky theconversation.com/can-trump-st...
Can Trump strip Harvard of its charitable status? Scholars of nonprofit law and accounting describe the obstacles in his way
The IRS would need to conduct an audit first. And presidents aren’t allowed to make the IRS do that.
theconversation.com
Earlier this year, ProPublica found that the sepsis rate in second-trimester pregnancy loss hospitalizations increased by more than 50% under Texas’ abortion ban. Here’s how we did our analysis. (Published Feb.)
Texas Won’t Study How Its Abortion Ban Impacts Women, So We Did
Since Texas banned abortion, no one has studied the statewide effects on pregnant women experiencing complications. Here’s how we sifted through data on millions of pregnancy hospitalizations and…
propublica.org
