Private Charity and Public Inquiry: A History of the Filer and Peterson Commissions

Abstract

Eleanor L. Brilliant, a professor of social work at Rutgers University, has produced a painstakingly detailed examination of the histories of two commissions created through the intervention of John D. Rockefeller III: the Commission on Foundations and Private Philanthropy (1969–1970) chaired by the Bell and Howell chief executive officer, Peter Peterson, and the Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs (1973–1977), led by the Aetna Life Insurance executive John Filer. Generally known as the Peterson and Filer commissions, these two bodies ostensibly existed to make objective appraisals of the role and operation of foundations in American so-c iet y. In reality, b o t h sou gh t to sta n ch po te n -tial bloodletting by changes in taxes. Internal disagreements prevented either body from reaching consensus on large questions such as the appropriate relationship between government, business, and nonprofits. Instead, both focused intently on foundations and tax policy and defended the equity of charitable deductions.