Global Social Challenges

Private philanthropic foundations increasingly shape what global justice means and how it is translated into practical action. Despite sitting outside of the transitional accountability mechanisms applied to the sustainable development programs, with what consequences in the global environmental governance.

The BEYONDGIVING project is bringing together the leading experts studying the influence of philanthropic foundations to develop crucial new knowledge about how these increasingly important actors are shaping global justice. The project will advance our understanding of philanthropy as an act of organised political activity, rather than simply individual giving.

This project is funded for four and a half years (2023-2028) through an Open Competition Grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Why this research?

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.

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.

Researchers

• Agni Kalfagianni | The BEYONDGIVING project is led by prof. dr. Agni Kalfagianni, Professor of Management of International Social Challenges in the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences,
• Mark Dehlsen | PhD Candidate | Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences | Department of Public Administration and Sociology | Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• Femke Salverda | PhD Candidate | Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences | Department of Public Administration and Sociology | Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Project Collaborators

• Michele Betsill | Professor of Global Environmental Politics | Department of Political Science | University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• David Schlosberg | Professor of Environmental Politics and Director of the Sydney Environment Institute | Department of Government and International Relations | University of Sydney, Australia
• Dimitris Stevis | Professor and Director of Center for Environmental Justice | Department of Political Science | Colorado State University, United States of America
• Joost de Laat | Professor and Director of Utrecht Center for Global Challenges | School of Economics | Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance | Utrecht University, The Netherlands
• Rebecca Gruby | Associate Professor of the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources | Warner College of Natural Resources | Colorado State University, United States of America
• Anne Monier | Research Fellow | Philanthropy Chair | École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales, France
• Edouard Morena | Senior Lecturer in French Studies and International Politics | University of London Institute in Paris, France
• Carole-Anne Sénit | Assistant Professor of Inclusive Sustainability Governance | Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development | Faculty of Geosciences | Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Publications

• Kalfagianni, A. (2023). How Philanthropic Foundations Fuel Transformations and With What Consequences for Sustainable Food Systems. In P. Dauvergne, & L. Shipton (Eds.), Global Environmental Politics in a Turbulent Era (Edward Elgar Publishing).
• Pedersen, S., Stevis, D., & Kalfagianni, A. (2022). The Earth System, Justice, and Governance in a Planetary Age: Engaging a Social Turn. Environmental Philosophy, 19(2), 221-240.
• Kalfagianni, A. (2022). Philanthropic foundations as agents of justice in global sustainability governance. Global Studies Quarterly, 2(3), 1-7.