As federal budget negotiators consider major spending cuts, The New York Times’ Room for Debate feature asks four experts to weigh in on whether charity can “efficiently and fairly take the place of government” in paying for and providing key services.

In separate columns, Howard Husock of the Manhattan Institute, Thomson-Reuters editor-at-large Chrystia Freeland, Harvard University professor and former World Bank official John Briscoe, and Indiana University professor and regular Chronicle of Philanthropy contributor Leslie Lenkowsky address philanthropy’s role in setting priorities and meeting needs in such areas as health, education, and infrastructure development.