Our team works to create and implement public policy at the state, local, and international level to address inequality. We are in service to social movements that drive these policy priorities on behalf of broad coalitions. We work on wide range of initiatives in which we have developed experience and expertise.
Here is a short description of the issues we’re working on right now:
Charitable Giving Reform Initiative
The growing concentration of wealth and power is distorting philanthropy and imperiling our democratic institutions. Philanthropy has become one more way for the ultra-wealthy to exert undue influence. The IPS Charitable Giving Reform Initiative aims to overhaul the rules governing philanthropy to boost the flow of funds to the independent nonprofit sector and protect vital democratic institutions at the same time.
Closing the Gap between CEO and Average Worker Pay
For over two decades, IPS has been a recognized leader in CEO compensation reform, We research the negative consequences of CEO to average worker pay disparities and promote national, state and local reforms to rein in runaway CEO pay. This includes our annual Executive Excess report.
Defend and Expand Estate and Wealth Taxation
We promote public policies that reduce the concentration of wealth and power, including estate, gift and wealth taxation. We coordinate the Americans for a Fair Estate Tax, a national coalition defending the estate tax and promoting progressive reforms. We assist state campaigns to defend or institute state-level estate and wealth taxation.
State and Local Policy Initiatives
We consult with state and local policy advocates and elected officials to institute public policies to reduce inequality, including CEO-worker pay ordinances and progressive tax and revenue initiatives. This includes policy research, expert testimony, and communications assistance.
Hidden Wealth Working Group
Wealthy individuals and corporations are hiding trillions in wealth in offshore accounts and opaque trusts, making it challenging to reverse inequality. Private wealth managers and family offices enable this sequestering of wealth, placing it outside of accountability and taxation. The working group includes researchers and campaigners identifying pressure points to increase transparency and discourage hidden wealth practices.
Racial Economic Divide
We illuminate the interaction between race, caste, and class in perpetuating social and economic inequalities. With national partners, we are publishing research reports and promoting public policies to address the racial dimensions of income and wealth inequality.
Black Worker Initiative
Black workers have been particularly hard hit by the rising tide of inequality in today’s economy. The Initiative supports the historic and contemporary aims of the labor and civil rights movements by expanding opportunities for black worker organizing, and thereby greatly contributing to the revitalization of the U.S. labor movement as a whole.
The Global Economy Project
We work to speed the transition from an economy marked by excessive corporate power to an equitable and sustainable economic model. Through researching and critiquing corporate-driven trade, finance, and investment policies, the project exposes the systems that empower the already wealthy to protect and expand their wealth.
Top Heavy Philanthropy Reform
As inequality grows, so does the concentration of wealth in private philanthropy, donor advised funds, and charitable foundations. We publish research about the perils of top heavy philanthropy and promote philanthropic reforms to encourage broader giving and democratic decision-making in the charitable sector.