PLAY PODCASTS
Ezra Klein on Philanthropy’s Role at a Precarious Time
Season 5 · Episode 14

Ezra Klein on Philanthropy’s Role at a Precarious Time

Giving Done Right · The Center for Effective Philanthropy

December 2, 20251h 12m

Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (mgln.ai) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.

Show Notes

As the current federal administration makes sweeping cuts to social safety net programs, political divisions deepen, and the guardrails of American democracy are tested, what is philanthropy’s role in this precarious time? 

In the final episode of this season, Phil Buchanan and Grace Nicolette interview New York Times columnist and podcast host Ezra Klein live at CEP’s 2025 conference. Klein contends that America needs to renew a politics of plenty, face up to the failures of liberal governance, and abandon what he calls the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life. But what does this analysis mean for philanthropy, particularly at a moment of so many competing and urgent crises?


Additional Resources:

Mounting Pressure: U.S. Foundations and Nonprofits on the 2025 Political Climate

Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D. on the Giving Done Right podcast

Abundance,” by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson