Conservative philanthropy is in crisis, and it has been for a long time. For decades, right-of-center donors and foundations have presided over the intellectual stagnation of the conservative movement. During the last two election cycles, the Republican Party has failed to even offer a policy platform, with predictable results. Legacy institutions have seen executive compensation, property costs, and fundraising expenses balloon, while their policy influence and intellectual contributions have noticeably declined. These institutions have largely failed to engage with new ideas and a rising generation of thinkers, and their priorities remain conspicuously out of step with the desires of conservative voters and the needs of the country as a whole.

If conservative philanthropy is on the defensive, then, it is not simply because of smaller foundation endowments or various structural and procedural disadvantages, though these may well exist. Conservative philanthropy in general is poorly managed and badly executed. Compared to the left, philanthropy on the right is less organized, less proactive, less engaged, and less intelligent, yet often more rigid and dogmatic. Conservative donors often seem unable to straightforwardly articulate their goals, particularly the relationship between their own material interests and public purposes. As a result, the means chosen to pursue them are often profoundly inadequate or counterproductive.

(via Memeorandum)

[Republican donors and conservative organizations had better read this and think hard about what they expect to get out of the next two years — and what they are willing to put into it. The GOP has underperformed without a coherent agenda and ideological platform. It is not enough to just be The Other Guys. This really should be the central topic of the next CPAC, and the questions of platform, policies, and core expressed values be at the center of those discussions. — Ed]