Why the Super-Rich Will Not Be Saving the World: Philanthropy and “Privatization Creep” in Global Development

Under multistakeholderism, private philanthropic foundations have played an increasingly influential role in global development. As part of which, foundations have promoted what we call “privatization creep” (i.e., mainstreaming market-centric solutions to development). Sidelining redistributive approaches altogether, “privatization creep” favours profit-making over everything else, doing little to “save the world.”

Examining the COVID-19 Response of Canadian Grantmaking Foundations: Possibilities, Tensions, and Long-Term Implications

This article explores how Canadian philanthropic foundations with social justice mandates responded to the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by loosening restrictions for grantees; collaborating on new initiatives; elevating grassroots knowledge; and balancing short- and long-term priorities. This response, however, revealed a series of tensions in the dominant pre-COVID-19 philanthropic model—specifically, as a mechanism to address the social, econ- omic, and ecological crises that predate COVID-19. The early pandemic response of grantmaking foundations can there- fore serve as a model for what a more democratic, agile, collaborative, and justice-oriented philanthropic sector can look like. RÉSUMÉ Cet article examine la réponse de fondations philanthropiques canadiennes aux enjeux de justice sociale pendant la pandémie de COVID-19. Elles l’ont fait en assouplissant les exigences exigées aux donataires; en collaborant autour de nouvelles initiatives; en priorisant l’expertise des communautés; et en équilibrant les priorités à long et à court terme. Cette réponse révèle les tensions inhérentes au modèle classique de l’action philanthropique, particulièrement dans les façons de répondre aux crises sociales, économiques et écologiques. La réponse actuelle fournit des bases solides pour repenser le modèle d’action du secteur philanthropique subventionnaire afin qu’il soit plus démocratique, plus collaboratif et plus axé sur la justice.

Drivers of Philanthropic Foundations in Emerging Markets: Family, Values and Spirituality

This article discusses the ethics and drivers of philanthropic foundations in emerging markets. A foundation organizes assets to invest in philanthropic initiatives. Previous scholarship has largely focused on developed countries, especially the United States, and has questioned the ethics behind the activities of foundations, particularly for strategic motives that served wider corporate purposes. We argue that philanthropic foundations in emerging markets have distinctive characteristics that merit separate examination. We scrutinize the ethics behind the longitudinal activity of such foundations using 70 oral history interviews with business leaders in 18 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. We find that 55 out of 70 foundations associated with these leaders have been used as vehicles for a specific type of philanthropic ethics defined as “spiritual philanthropy”. These foundations often embodied personal or family traditions, culture, and religious values, which emphasized charitable giving and social responsibility. As in the case of many of the industrial foundations in Europe, these foundations also carried founding family names and provided a structure to maintain family control and enhance corporate reputation. We argue that, as business leaders in emerging markets are more directly exposed to dire social, educational and health deprivation than their counterparts in developed countries, they are less inclined toward grandiose world-making, and their foundations are more focused on delivering immediate benefits to communities in their home countries, motivated by implicit or explicit spirituality.

How Far Dare an Evaluator Go Toward Saving the World?: Redux, Update, and a Reflective Practice Facilitation Tool

In 2004, Robert Stake published a provocative article that asked: “How Far Dare an Evaluator Go Toward Saving the World?” This question raises the issue of what role evaluators’ values play in the conduct of evaluations. Following review of Stake’s premises, I present value statements from a diverse group of 40 evaluators working with philanthropic foundations. The results update and revise Stake’s list of “six advocacies common in evaluation.” The findings capture changes in evaluation language and substantive concerns over the last 15 years regarding evaluators’ values and engagement. The conclusion affirms Stake’s original overarching principle. In closing, I offer an additional concern toward saving the world not on Stake’s list or that of the evaluators sampled: global sustainability and environmental justice in the face of the global pandemic and climate emergency. This process of inquiry generated a facilitation tool for use by evaluators, presented here, to support reflective practice about evaluators’ values.

COVID-19: Learning from Past Funding Initiatives and their Dismissal in Southeast Asia

This article examines philanthropic funding of past efforts to control emerging infectious diseases in Southeast Asia and China. The recount, based on personal insights as a foundation professional and a review of both published and unpublished material, shows that American foundations and other like-minded donors identified the risks associated with zoonotic infections early on – including from the same coronavirus family that is causing the current COVID-19 pandemic – and were later followed by bilateral and multilateral donors investing greater resources. At the cusp of the 2000s, foundations played a leadership and catalyst role in advancing a transdisciplinary agenda to better understand and respond to new emerging threats and in building the necessary individual and institutional capacities for regional and local disease surveillance. For more than a decade, this concentration of resources and approaches was recognised as having contributed to better preparedness. Gradually, however, funding initiatives declined in value and intensity due to several internal and external factors. This article argues that COVID-19 arrives in the midst of an unfinished donor agenda and that it is important to reflect on why philanthropic foundations, and the development aid community more generally, found themselves unprepared for the pandemic in order to draw lessons for addressing today’s crisis – and future outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases.