The philanthropic limited liability corporation: Wielding business influence over EdTech

• In Event: The Politics of EdTech: Exploring the changing conditions of educational governance in the age of technocapitalism (Part II)

Proposal

For-profit philanthropic models are blurring the lines between High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWI) and the corporations that they found and lead. These models were pioneered in the Silicon Valley technology sector as an alternative to the highly regulated traditional US 501(c) 3 private foundation. The rising trend toward for-profit philanthropy has implications for education governance as these actors hold particular techo-solutionist world views, sensibilities and goals for reforming education according to their unique institutional or personal agendas and domain expertise; and, they are emerging as a distinct class of education-focused donors who use mechanisms drawn from business to achieve their philanthropic endeavors (Patil, 2023). To date there are insufficient studies that explore how these new dynamics are being enacted in Global South countries and how they concern Global North/South relations (Avelar and Patil, 2020, 2023).


In this vein, this paper explores a specific legal format of for-profit philanthropy, the Limited Liability Corporation (LLC). The philanthropic LLC has endeavors in the social sector, but is formed as an ordinary limited liability company (Brakman Reiser and Dean, 2023). Many people first became aware of the philanthropic Limited Liability Corporation when the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) was created, not as a traditional, tax-exempt US 501(c)(3) private foundation, but as an ordinary limited liability company (Brakman Reiser and Dean, 2023). CZI did not invent the philanthropic LLC — the Emerson Collective and the Omidyar Network use this format and pre-date CZI by over a decade—but it certainly popularized the model. Other philanthropic organizations have followed suit, however the scope of this trend is unclear as no public notice of formation of a philanthropy LLC is required.


The aim of this paper is to analyze how the underlying business rationale for the philanthropic LLC vehicle wields influence over the development of digital education products and, in turn, affects power dynamics and inequalities in education. The authors pose the following questions: How are for-profit philanthropic LLCs blurring the lines between HNWI and the corporations they found and lead? How are these shifting relations between philanthropic and corporate endeavors impacting the nature of their digital platforms and education solutions? What are the potential implications of shifting power dynamics and inequalities for systems of public education and Global North/South relations?


To explore these questions, the authors analyze the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) and two of its present day education platforms: Summit Learning, its personalized learning platform, and Along, a digital application aimed to improve teacher and student communications. This paper is not a case study of CZI or its education platforms for personalized learning and teacher-student relations. Rather, the authors draw and build upon prior research of CZI to: (1) provide a specific example of the institutional rationale of a philanthropic LLC and technology corporation blurring lines between corporate and foundation institutional commitments for financial gain; and (2) analyze the opportunities and risks of the blurring of lines through the LLC vehicle for systems of public education in the Global South and how they concern North/South relations.

Authors

• Lara Patil, NORRAG

• Dana Dana Brakman Reiser Brakman Reiser, Brooklyn Law School