Viewpoints Project — UNCIVIL Website

Civility Nonprofit

The Viewpoints Project

Background

The Viewpoints Project is a campus pluralism and character education nonprofit launched in 2023. According to its founder, Shira Hoffer, it was founded “in the aftermath of October 7th, 2023, which revealed the fault lines and gaps around constructive disagreement on campus.” The Viewpoints Project hosts a college student fellowship program and its current partners include Dartmouth College, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Delaware. Hoffer has been featured in media and events produced by other pluralism organizations, including Heterodox Academy, Braver Angels, and Interfaith America.

Notable People

Shira Hoffer

Founding executive director of The Viewpoints Project

Hoffer is a class of 2025 graduate of Harvard, where she served on the board of Harvard Hillel (an
explicitly anti-BDS organization).

Edward (“Ned”) Hall

member of the Board of Directors of The Viewpoints Project

Hall is a Harvard philosophy professor. He serves on the faculty council of Harvard’s chapter of the Alumni Free Speech Alliance—a group affiliated with the right-wing American Council for Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), an advisory board member to the far-right “Project 2025.”.

Erec Smith

member of the Board of Directors of The Viewpoints Project

Smith is a Research Fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank co-founded by Charles Koch. Smith is a prominent critic of DEI programs and author of the 2021 book, A Critique of Anti-Racism in Rhetoric and Composition. Smith described his motivation for creating his Mutual Persuasion blog in a September 2025 post that ended with a message about the assassination of Charlie Kirk: “Kirk spent his career championing civil discourse; we owe it to his memory to do so ourselves.” In 2026, Smith’s blog became a discrete civil discourse organization, Mutual Persuasion.

See also: Cato Institute.

Notable Funders

Daniel Lubetzky

$5,000+ (2025)

Billionaire KIND Snacks founder and co-founder of Builders Movement. In 2024, Lubetzy’s foundation (Lubetzky Family Foundation) donated $60,000 to American Friends of LIBI (which supports the Israel Defense Forces). Lubetzky also participated in a private WhatsApp group whose communications were obtained by The Washington Post; the Post reported that members discussed how to influence New York City's and Columbia University's response to the spring 2024 encampment and that Lubetzky was part of an April 26, 2024 Zoom call with Mayor Eric Adams. After the call, Lubetzky circulated proposed actions that included contacting Columbia's president and trustees and resharing a link through which supporters could contribute to Adams's reelection campaign. Asked by the Post about the messages, Lubetzky emphasized the importance of building bridges between Black and Jewish communities.. Lubetzky served on the board of the staunchly Zionist Anti-Defamation League from 2018 to 2024 and he delivered these remarks at a November 2023 ADL event:

There’s a lot of challenges on college campuses. The anti-colonial ideology is so rigid. It’s an us vs. them ideology. … The extremists that are calling “from the river to the sea”...they’re causing antisemitism [and] they’re also preventing this conflict from getting resolved.

See also: Stanford University.

Arthur Vining Davis Foundations

Listed as an “Institutional Funder” (2025)

AVDF has made significant grants to Hillel International (an explicitly anti-BDS organization) and Tablet magazine (a self-described “Jewish, Zionist publication” whose editor-in-chief has called on Jewish communal groups to replace leaders who do not explicitly support Israel). Refer to UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on AVDF’s giving.

John Templeton Foundation

Listed as an “Institutional Funder” (2025)

Established by billionaire investor John Templeton. The foundation was led from 2015 to 2025 by his granddaughter, Heather Templeton Dill. It is now headed by the former CEO of Christianity Today, which describes itself as a “globally minded evangelical magazine.” Templeton makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing advocacy organizations such as State Policy Network and Mercatus Center, and Atlas Network (all three of which are described by Greenpeace as “Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Groups”). The foundation also has documented ties to the Koch Network. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Templeton’s giving.