Silicon Valley public-private partnerships in the US and India

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Emerging Landscape of Philanthropy and Education

Proposal

Relevance
Public-private partnerships incentivized by corporate social responsibility (CSR) collaborations are found in the Silicon Valleys of the US and India, help provide all-inclusive services that some schools struggle to offer, allowing public education to be comparable to some fee-based private schools. Utilizing public-private partnerships between non-governmental organizations and CSR outreach serves as a critical resource used to bolster existing funding already allocated to public schools. Thus, offering alternative funding sources by exploring supplements to public education finance.

While both countries have robust philanthropic endeavors for education, the systems are quite different. Thus, in the United States, alternative pipelines to government subsidies include funding through non-governmental organizations in collaboration with CSR outreach. Philanthropic interests in the public education space also donate or make grants available for schools, non-profits, or community organizations supporting local students and families. Similarly in India, since the passage of a 2013 law certain Indian corporations are mandated to donate two percent toward CSR causes (Seddon, 2013). This approach to educational investment helps bolster funds raised from public finance.

My research examines the relationships between educational institutions, corporate donations, and non-governmental organizations, which aligns with sub-theme III: “School Systems and Educators to Improve Learning and Teaching in Formal or Informal settings.” Goals of this research are to identify how corporate giving is shaped by laws as well as tax incentives, and whether corporate giving influences how policies shape social services like education.

Theory/Context
Habitus is not only a cornerstone of Bourdieu’s argument but is a tool that makes sense of the quantitative analysis of my public polling data. Bourdieu’s cultural and social capital theories through the lens of habitus qualify people’s experiences within education as shaping their perceptions of education’s overall importance. These symbolic, cultural, and social experiences are influenced by the historical context individuals bring to them, which strongly influence the positive influence they have on education; thus, people are generally in favor of publicly financing education (English & Bolton, 2016).

By contrast, where social and cultural capital offers individuals an opportunity to buy into public education, Human Capital Theory aims to explain why governments might invest in universal education for their citizens (Maynes, 1985). Thus, the number of skills and resources needed for students to excel globally has become financially more costly than public finance can cover.

Inquiry
The questions giving this research shape seek to triangulate motivation, influence, and outcomes. Thus begging, what impacts do corporate donations have in funding Elementary Secondary Public Education in the US and India? What expectations do corporations have when aiding public educational institutions in the US and India? What motivates corporations to donate annually to education in the US and India? On average, what is the duration of donation that corporations fund in specific districts, organizations, or institutions found in the US and India?

This exploratory study will look to understand the relationship between public attitudes toward funding public education and how experts view the development of policies, practices, and implementation of education finance. Therefore, the aim is to use a mixed methodology that implements a sequential explanatory design where the quantitative data is the first in a sequence of steps meant to help the researcher use one method to help inform, support, and ultimately explain the qualitative portion of the mixed method (Ivankova et al., 2006). Within this context, I use large quantitative data sets that are collected from public opinion polls (such as Pew Research, Roper Center, and the International Social Survey Program) to contextualize and inform the qualitative semi-structured interviews with experts. In this sense, the sequential explanatory design will aid in creating and ordering questions that allow experts to start by describing their personal experiences to better contextualize their attitudes toward education finance and then comment on the general public’s attitude to educational finance. It will end by offering the perceived barriers that hold back their government from allocating additional educational funding to public education (Ivankova et al., 2006). In other words, compelling poll data will guide the expert questions to translate or explain public sentiments toward educational finance.

Findings
This is an ongoing exploratory project. Quantitative data on public opinion polling has been collected and initially analyzed, completing a portion of the first part of the mixed method study. Another finding that may be significant in the comparative analysis between the US and India will be the role that mandates, and taxes play in giving. India’s 2% mandate for giving and US tax laws may be direct or indirect variables that affect giving, outcomes of giving, and appetites for sustained giving. Identifying the relevance of these different variables between India and the US is important for this comparative study.

Next, I will meet with Indian Tech companies in Bangalore, identifying leaders in CSR who can speak to work being done in India. Consequently, I will conduct field research in Bangalore, India from August 18 through August 28, 2022. Conducting qualitative interviews, I will take into consideration the first part of my analysis, reflecting on the questions and results highlighted in the public opinion poll data about attitudes toward education and spending.

After processing the initial qualitative data from my semi-structured interviews in India, next, I will speak with similar experts in California’s Silicon Valley who have experience understanding and navigating corporate giving. In each of these two locations, I will identify representative leaders from CSR teams, non-governmental organizations, and public education leaders.

Contributions
Current CSR literature primarily looks at transparency and accuracy in reporting. After collecting, summarizing, and synthesizing data collected from interviews of individuals with expertise in corporate giving and educational finance, I hope to add to the literature that aims to address CSR’s impact and effectiveness. This literature can show how donation and collaboration between public-private partnerships means communities’ benefit.

Thus, alternative funding options in the US and India that create ongoing, sustainable, and measurable resources for public education may finally be able to reconcile favorable public opinions about bolstering education spending on one hand but financial resistance on the other.

Author

• Robert Andrew Duran, Soka University of America