Philanthropic foundations as agents of justice in
global sustainability governance.

Despite their growing political prominence, major foundations have escaped systematic scholarly attention. Private philanthropic foundations – nongovernmental, non-profit organizations with assets provided by donors for socially useful purposes – increasingly frame their interventions to achieve justice.

Foundations describe their objectives in language that is deeply rooted in concepts of justice. For example, Gates Foundation aims to “reduce inequity,” Rockefeller Foundation seeks to advance “equity and inclusive growth” and the Foundation for a Just Society tries to foster “a world without discrimination.” However, we do not understand how the leaders of foundations understand justice and institutionalize those ideas through their organizations and decision-making.

Philanthropic foundations play a largely undetected part in shaping the meaning and practice of justice in global sustainability governance. The BeyondGiving project is designed to bring light to these processes – enabling those seeking to advance global justice to identify common and conflicting norms with the foundations operating in their domains.

Status

In progress

Lead

Prof. Dr. A. Kalfagianni

Institution

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Duration

Started in 2023, with a duration of approximately 6 years.

Research programme

Open Competition Grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) (grant no. WI.210017.1)

The BeyondGiving project will fill this research gap by:

– exploring agency within philanthropic foundations by focusing on norms and institutionalization of theories of justice (rather than resources and administrative structures); and

– developing and applying a pluralistic justice framework built on existing theories of justice research.

Empirically, the BeyondGiving Project is structured around the role philanthropic foundations are playing in the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda and the influence that ideas of justice are having on those activities. The project will include a diversity of private foundation types – including cooperate, family, private and public foundations of different sizes and structures. A multifaceted research methodology is beaning utilized which combines interpretative, discursive, and quasi-quantitative methods.

The BeyondGiving project will ultimately advance our understanding of global sustainability governance by providing a framework to insert normative questions of justice at the core of sustainability government research, bringing justice to the core of sustainability science, and demonstrating the important role played by philanthropy in both.

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