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Helen Flannery

@helenofips.bsky.social
779 followers 1.4K following 202 posts

Queen of Charts. Researching the relationship between charity and inequality at the US Institute for Policy Studies.

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Reposted by Helen Flannery
Alan Jagolinzer @jagolinzer.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
This is worth an hour watching with your family on how to spot and avoid malign psychological manipulation.
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Reposted by Helen Flannery
Bella DeVaan @bdevaan.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
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
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Reposted by Helen Flannery
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
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.
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Inside Philanthropy @insidephilanthropy.com · 12/05/2026
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
tinyurl.com
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.
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Reposted by Helen Flannery
Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 21/04/2026
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.
ips-dc.org
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
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Inequality.org @inequality.org · 21/04/2026
Our co-editor @sarahanderson.bsky.social in conversation with the great Janine Jackson at FAIR.
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Reposted by Helen Flannery
Alt-IRS @alt-irs.altgov.info · 07/04/2026
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.
bloomberg.com
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...
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Inequality.org @inequality.org · 07/04/2026
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...
marketwatch.com
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.
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Reposted by Helen Flannery
dpetegorsky.bsky.social @dpetegorsky.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Get ready for a shakeup in the world of donor-advised funds www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/the-com...
insidephilanthropy.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.
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Bruce Springsteen @brucespringsteen.net · 28/01/2026
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
youtu.be
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
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Reposted by Helen Flannery
Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 16/01/2026
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."
truthout.org
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.
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Jonathan Haidt @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
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.
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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 06/01/2026
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:
ips-dc.org
VIDEO: The Worst Drug Traffickers Are Often U.S. Allies - Institute for Policy Studies
VIDEO: The Worst Drug Traffickers Are Often U.S. Allies
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Nathan Yau @flowingdata.com · 31/12/2025
Best Data Visualization Projects of 2025, a.k.a. my favorites flowingdata.com/2025/12/31/b...
flowingdata.com
Best Data Visualization Projects of 2025
Many data things were made this year. These are my favorites.
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Vermont Complex Systems Institute @vcsi.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
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...
youtube.com
11/05/25 What Does a Computer Scientist (and Philosopher) think of A.I.?
YouTube video by Across the Fence
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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 02/12/2025
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
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.
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🗽LOLGOP🗽 @lolgop.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Everybody gets that Bloomberg is the main reason Cuomo is still afloat, right? archive.ph/4sE8g
Donors opposing Mamdani 
Name	Amount Donated	Group(s) Supported	Net Worth
Michael Bloomberg	$8.3 million	Fix the City	$110 billion
Joseph Gebbia	$3 million	Fix the City · Defend NYC · Put NYC First	$7.9 billion
Lauder family	$2.6 million	Fix the City · Sensible City	$25.9 billion
Bill Ackman	$1.75 million	Fix the City · Defend NYC	$9.2 billion
Tisch family	$1.2 million	Fix the City	$10.1 billion
John Hess & family	$1 million	Fix the City	$2.4 billion
Daniel Loeb	$775,000	Fix the City · Defend NYC · NYers for a Better Future	$3.8 billion
Barry Diller	$500,000	Fix the City	$5.1 billion
Steve Wynn	$500,000	Fix the City	$3.9 billion
Marcella Guarino Hymowitz	$400,000	Fix the City · Put NYC First	$2 billion
David Walentas	$350,000	Fix the City · Empower NYC	$2.3 billion
Reed Hastings	$250,000	Fix the City	$6.5 billion
John Fish	$250,000	Fix the City	$2.3 billion
David Lichtenstein	$250,000	Fix the City · NYers for a Better Future	$2 billion
Alice Walton	$200,000	Fix the City	$115 billion
Deborah Simon	$200,000	Fix the City	$11.6 billion
Jerry Speyer	$150,000	Fix the City	$2.2 billion
Stephanie Coleman	$150,000	Fix the City	$7.1 billion (family)
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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 05/11/2025
This is it. It ain't easy but it's how we win. The only way out is through. ❤️
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Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
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.
kickstarter.com
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.
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Helen Flannery @helenofips.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
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
inequality.org
An Open Letter to the Boss
You’re a billionaire now, Mr. Springsteen. Please don’t stay one.
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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 30/07/2025
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:
ips-dc.org
The Giving Pledge at 15
15 years on, the Giving Pledge is unfulfilled, unfulfillable, and not our ticket to a fairer, better future.
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 27/07/2025
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/
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Sam Pizzigati @sgp.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
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...
rollingstone.com
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.
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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 17/07/2025
🔴 Watch the Henry Wallace Symposium LIVE: us02web.zoom.us/j/85433611380
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
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...
nytimes.com
I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit
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NPQ (Nonprofit Quarterly) @npquarterly.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
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
nonprofitquarterly.org
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.
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Helen Flannery @helenofips.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
For #nonprofitsky 🤝
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Jamie Levine Daniel @jamielevdan.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Insightful conversation here from @eotaxprof.bsky.social and @countingcharity.bsky.social #nonprofitsky theconversation.com/can-trump-st...
theconversation.com
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.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 06/05/2025
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.)
propublica.org
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…
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Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
The average American has three friends
Three rocks: granite, schist, and sandstone
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Helen Flannery @helenofips.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Tagging for #nonprofitsky 🤝... #ARNOVA ... #NVSQ ... And my team at @inequality.org @ips-dc.org @dpetegorsky.bsky.social @bdevaan.bsky.social @chuck77.bsky.social @rachelleighcash.bsky.social!
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Brian Mittendorf @countingcharity.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
New research with @helenofips.bsky.social on donor-advised funds (DAFs) now in NVSQ: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... A short thread. 1/4
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Or — hear me out — we could all pool our money together and hire experts to do the research for us, thus creating a "center" for disease control and prevention.
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Helen Flannery @helenofips.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
I never thought I'd say this but Michigan 🤝 OSU #GoBlue #GoBucs
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Brian Mittendorf @countingcharity.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
I don’t have words…
dispatch.com
Doctors: We've been warned criticism of OSU's dangerous DEI decision will be squashed |Letter
Ohio State's anti-DEI decisions will directly impact the health and well-being of students, staff and patients at the Wexner Medical Center.
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Brian Mittendorf @countingcharity.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
OSU student Ahwar Sultan discusses his visa revocation and the case filed against the Trump administration.
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Brian Mittendorf @countingcharity.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
OSU faculty senate votes in favor of B1G Mutual Defense Compact (76% voted yes). OSU 🤝 Michigan
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Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis @kendrawrites.com · 23/04/2025
Columbia has signed. Dartmouth remains the lone ivy league hold out
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🗽LOLGOP🗽 @lolgop.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
"He may declare 'I’m revoking the IRS status of your organization!' Right away, you should not just cave and comply. Instead, hear it as: 'Trump wants us to believe he can revoke the IRS status.' This flies in the face of 26 U.S. Code § 7217..."
wagingnonviolence.org
If fear is the goal, then solidarity is the antidote
As nonprofits become Trump's next target, the lesson so far is that standing together is the only way forward.
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Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Just announced: University of Michigan Faculty Senate resoundingly votes to support Big Ten academic mutual defense compact. 92.8% of over 3,000 votes.
Motion 1: Resolution to Establish a Mutual Defense Compact for the Universities of the Big Ten Academic Alliance in Defense of Academic Freedom, Institutional Integrity, and the Research Enterprise
 
Option   	Votes
Yes	2761 (92.8%)
No	214 (7.2%)
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Brian Mittendorf @countingcharity.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Another class of nonprofits slated for political targeting.
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Brian Mittendorf @countingcharity.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Full statement of support for international scholars by the Ohio State chapter of @aaup.bsky.social (@osuaaup.bsky.social), including specific commitments to action steps: 👇
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Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.com · 17/04/2025
Absolutely my reaction
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Nathan Yau @flowingdata.com · 17/04/2025
It's okay, men. You chop those onions. flowingdata.com/2025/04/17/a...
flowingdata.com
American Crying
People cry for different reasons and some tend to cry more than others. What makes people cry the most?
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Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
For those who are curious how Nixon weaponized the IRS against his critics, here are a few pages of background on how he did it to my office. The IRS considers it one of the most embarrassing episodes in its institutional history. Let’s see if they remember their lesson.
Screenshots of a few pages from The Power to Destroy: The Political Uses of the IRS from Kennedy to Nixon (2002).
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Alan Cantor @alcantor.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
It's out! The 1st-ever independent rep't on donor-advised funds, w. REAL percentages for what goes out in grants (not much) & the REAL average size of individual DAFs (huge!). Well done, @chuckcollins.bsky.social @helenofips.bsky.social Dan Petegorsky & Bella DeVaan! inequality.org/article/the-...
inequality.org
The Independent Report on DAFs
Demystifying donor-advised funds and their impacts on charitable giving, fair taxation, and our democracy itself.
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Helen Flannery @helenofips.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
I'm immensely proud of our brand-new donor-advised fund report. Did you know that the 3 biggest charities in the US are DAFs? That DAFs have no payout requirement at all? And that DAFs are one of the biggest conduits for dark money? Find out more at @inequality.org! 🤝 #DAFs #nonprofits #charity
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Bella DeVaan @bdevaan.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Excited to share our Charity Reform Initiative's first Independent Report on DAFs! @chuck77.bsky.social @helenofips.bsky.social @dpetegorsky.bsky.social and I seek to shed a little more light on the flow of these tax-benefited billions... @ips-dc.org @inequality.org inequality.org/article/the-...
inequality.org
The Independent Report on DAFs
Demystifying donor-advised funds and their impacts on charitable giving, fair taxation, and our democracy itself.
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Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.com · 07/04/2025
Nearer June, I would like to see updated info showing how much USAID medicine and food aid could be bought by what he's spending on a fascist military parade. He's trading lives for pomp.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
The biggest thing we need to do is let people know that the protests are FUN. Yelling fuck the man is fun. You will meet fun people. We also need to make them more fun. Bring grills like the French. Bring instruments like it’s Mardi Gras. Give people a reason to spend their weekend in the streets.
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