Understanding the “small-philanthropy” in education: networks, school transformation and public-private collaboration in Chile

• In Event: Privatizing education policy: exploring the role, networks and strategies of philanthropic actors to advance educational reform glocally (Part 1)

Proposal

The expanding influence of philanthropy in education has become a key contemporary global phenomenon (UNESCO, 2023), which has sparked increased research interest in recent years (Erfurth & Ridge, 2020). Existing research has primarily focused on the rise of 'new' or 'venture' philanthropy, and on foundations' strategies to mobilize nationwide privatization reforms (Ball, 2013; Reckhow & Tompinks, 2018). Yet, besides mainly proceeding from the Global North, literature has tended to focus on so-called "billionaire philanthropists" (Hogan et al., 2022) or "big players" (Ball, 2019) while overlooking the diversity within the philanthropic sector and the national/local expressions of their educational involvement (Hogan et al., 2022).
Considering this background and with the goal of contributing to emerging interest on understanding the local/national manifestations of this global phenomenon (Hogan et al., 2022), this paper analyzes the rise, logic of actions and networks of edu-philanthropy in Chile, highlighting its particularities and contextual factors shaping its specificities. The case of Chile is particularly interesting to this respect, given its extreme exogenous privatization (Verger et al., 2017) and philanthropy’s increasing support to educational initiatives (Aninat & Fuenzalida, 2021), which have largely remained unexplored.
Methodologically, we draw on a combination of research techniques, including i) an online search based on philanthropic foundations operating in Chile in K-12 education, resulting in 28 cases, ii) desk research of these philanthropic foundations in diverse dimensions (ownership, history, governance, forms of action and institutional links), and iii) individual interviews with executive directors of 15 philanthropic foundations. Data was complemented with interviews with experts and policymakers (N=9). An integrated analysis of collected data was carried out to map the main trends in philanthropic involvement in education.
Findings highlight that philanthropic foundations have been growing steadily over time, increasing fivefold since 1990 and almost doubling from 2000 onwards. In addition to describing their main characteristics and the discourses behind their education engagement, our findings suggest three main trends. Firstly, we emphasize the spread of a so-called 'professionalization' trend within foundations, closely linked to the increased use of metrics for evaluating their impact, and to its growing collaboration with academics - which form the basis of their legitimacy as 'new specialists' in the educational arena. Secondly, despite a variety of forms of action, foundations primarily focus on direct philanthropy to public schools, either through program delivery and/or grants to intermediaries, with the aim of influencing the instructional core of education. Finally, while we identify the emergence of new public-private networks and formal and informal strategies for influencing national education policy, most foundations rely on a 'bottom-up' approach to impact policymaking, developing strong networks at local levels and benefiting from the decentralization of the school system.
Based on these findings, we discuss the main similarities and specificities of edu-philanthropy in Chile, contributing to enhance understanding of the nuances of this global phenomenon in local/national contexts (Hogan & Williamson, 2023) and to discuss the embeddedness of philanthropic logics within institutional and cultural frameworks.

Authors

• Cristobal Villalobos, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

• Macarena Hernandez, Centro de Justicia Educacional, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

• Lluís Parcerisa, University of Barcelona