“Why does someone need to be the first trillionaire? The damage it’s doing just to get to that level is extreme.” — Glen Galaich

Excessive wealth disorder. It sounds like a disease — which, at least according to Glen Galaich — CEO of the Stupski Foundation and author of Control: Why Big Giving Falls Short, it is. There’s $2 trillion sitting in American charitable accounts Galaich says, mostly invested in hedge funds and real estate. Foundations are legally required to distribute only 5% a year — the bare minimum — and invest the remaining 95% to ensure they can make that back and live forever. The system rewards perpetuity over impact. The money is stuck — like most other things in America. And this philanthropic wealth is predicted to grow to $18 trillion by 2050 — twice the size of the annual federal budget. A truly excessive wealth disorder.
Galaich wants to unstick the system. When a donor puts money in a private foundation, they receive up to a 70% tax exemption. The public is forgoing taxation in return for public stewardship. But donors still think it’s their money. That’s Galaich’s Control problem. Carnegie pioneered this idea that the wealthy know best how to distribute their wealth. The Sacklers perfected its dark arts. Bill Gates sits somewhere in between. While billionaires like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen reject it entirely.

Galaich’s own foundation is giving up control — returning all its resources to communities by 2029. In Hawaii, he gave $15 million to people who actually lived there. They moved all of it within five months to health clinics on neighbouring islands that had never had discretionary money. His deeper frustration is with progressive philanthropy’s failure to coordinate. Conservative donors give around two issues — free markets and liberty — in coordinated fashion. Progressive philanthropy, in contrast, is fragmented, fearful, and obstinately sitting on its capital. There’s a new institute in the Bay Area called the Excessive Wealth Disorder Institute. The disease is real. And so is its cure.

Takeaways
• $2 Trillion Sitting in Accounts. Mostly hedge funds. Foundations give 5% a year. The system rewards perpetuity over impact.
• It’s Not Their Money Anymore. 70% tax exemption means the public is owed stewardship. Donors think otherwise.
• Excessive Wealth Disorder Is Real. Thiel and Andreessen quit the Giving Pledge. Andreessen calls his AI military investments philanthropy.
• Hawaii: $15 Million Moved in Five Months. To clinics that never had discretionary funds. That’s what letting go looks like.
• Progressive Philanthropy Can’t Coordinate. Conservatives can. That’s how you get Trump.

About the Guest
Glen Galaich is the CEO of the Stupski Foundation. Control is published by Wiley.

References
Control: https://www.amazon.com/Control-Why-Giving-Falls-Short/dp/1394352425
Who Gives? Substack: https://whogives.substack.com/

About Keen On America
Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.
Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow

Chapters:
00:00:31 Introduction: Noam Cohen, banning billionaires, and the tide turning
00:02:33 What is philanthropy? Carnegie and the love of humanity
00:05:04 Sloan, Rockefeller, Stanford: the first generation of know-it-all givers
00:06:49 Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen pull out of the Giving Pledge
00:09:05 The Sacklers: the worst argument for philanthropy
00:09:57 Bill Gates: for or against control?
00:11:53 It’s not their money anymore: the public stewardship illusion
00:14:00 Andreessen vs. community: who decides what people need?
00:15:33 The Stupski model: $374 million returned to communities
00:18:47 Hawaii: $15 million moved in five months to clinics that never had discretionary funds
00:21:27 Can philanthropy save democracy?
00:24:22 Democracy Forward and the $2 trillion sitting in accounts
00:29:38 Excessive Wealth Disorder: why does anyone need to be a trillionaire?
00:33:00 Progressive philanthropy’s failure to coordinate
00:35:14 The Monty Python troll: the CEO as gatekeeper to the donor