Understanding the “Small-Philanthropy” in Education: Networks, School Engagement and Public-Private Collaboration in Chile.

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 '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 "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).

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. 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 online search based on philanthropic foundations operating in Chile in K-12 education; desk research of these philanthropic foundations in diverse dimensions and; individual interviews with executive directors of 15 philanthropic foundations.

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. Secondly, despite a variety of forms of action, foundations primarily focus on direct philanthropy to public schools. 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. In sum, the paper allows us to discuss how philanthropic foundations influence the construction of education in the Global South.