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Events • May 14, 2026 

# The Freedom to Give: Philanthropy, Civil Society, and the Limits of State Power 

A free, open, and civil society depends on the freedom of individuals and institutions to direct private resources toward the causes they value. Today, that freedom faces growing pressure as the federal government seeks to use nonprofit status as a lever of political control.

Join us for a conversation with President and CEO of DonorsTrust Lawson Bader, Cato Senior Fellow Walter Olson, and President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation John Palfrey on the importance of philanthropic freedom and what’s at stake when the state asserts authority over private giving.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

![Lawson Bader portrait](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-04/lawson-bader-circle.jpeg?itok=FIE4x-Kh) 

##### Lawson R. Bader 

President and CEO, DonorsTrust

[![Walter Olson](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Walter%20Olson.jpg?itok=yhYxyT_7)](/people/walter-olson) 

##### [Walter Olson](/people/walter-olson)

Senior Fellow, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute

[ 

](mailto:wolson@cato.org) 

![John Palfrey portrait](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-04/john-palfrey-circle.jpeg?itok=YSBLQ-dw) 

##### John Palfrey 

President, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

![Maria Santos Bier Cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-11/maria-santos-bier%20Cropped.jpg?itok=VYHmtNE_) 

##### Maria Santos Bier 

Director, Foundation & Corporate Relations, Cato Institute