Who Should Control The Money? With Glen Galaich and Jamie Allison
Phil Buchanan is joined by Elisha Smith Arrillaga, CEP’s Vice President of Research, as co-host for a conversation focused on some of philanthropy’s oldest tensions: who should decide how charitable dollars get spent and how to balance short-term needs with the long view? Their guests, Glen Galaich, CEO of the Stupski Foundation, and Jamie Allison, Executive Director of the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, are usually the ones asking the questions, as frequent co-hosts on Glen’s podcast, Break Fake Rules.
Glen makes the case from his new book, CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short, that too much charitable wealth sits parked in private equity and hedge fund accounts rather than moving out to the communities that need it, and that donors should treat public stewardship, not private control, as their guiding value. Jamie pushes back on the idea that this is a binary choice between spending down and staying perpetual, describing how the Walter & Elise Haas Fund has worked to increase payout and shift toward larger, unrestricted grants without abandoning a long time horizon. Together, they debate what foundations with large endowments owe to this moment of crisis for nonprofits, why “responsiveness” matters more than any single spending formula, and what foundations might learn from everyday donors.
Disclosure Note: The Stupski Foundation is a podcast sponsor and the Walter & Elise Haas Fund provides grant support to CEP.
Guest Info:
Glen Galaich is CEO of the Stupski Foundation, which is spending down its full endowment to return philanthropic wealth to the communities it serves in Hawaii and the San Francisco Bay Area. Under his leadership, Stupski has moved toward trust-based philanthropy and accelerated the deployment of its resources, with the foundation seeking to distribute approximately $581 million by the time it completes its spend-down. Glen is the author of CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short and co-host of the podcast Break Fake Rules. He previously served as CEO of The Philanthropy Workshop and as Deputy Director of Development for North America at Human Rights Watch.
Jamie Allison is Executive Director of the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, a San Francisco-based family foundation established in 1952. Since joining the Fund in 2018, she has helped transform its grantmaking toward greater trust, transparency and accountability, including a greater emphasis on flexible, multiyear support for nonprofit partners. Before joining the Haas Fund, Jamie spent twelve years at the S. H. Cowell Foundation, rising from Program Officer to Vice President of Programs. She serves on the boards of SFJAZZ, the S. H. Cowell Foundation, and The Whitman Institute, and is a frequent co-host, alongside Glen Galaich, of the podcast Break Fake Rules.
Credits:
Podcast Production: Cold Italian
Artwork: Jay Kustka
Resources:
CONTROL: Why Big Giving Falls Short
Break Fake Rules
Giving Done Right book
Center for Effective Philanthropy State of Nonprofits 2026: What Donors Need to Know
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The Democracy We Are Making: Philanthropy and America’s Next 250 Years
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Rethinking Payout: The Hidden Costs of Undervaluing Social Return
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