This article discusses new philanthropy participation in public education in the context of the broader transnational policymaking landscape. Drawing on data published by the Lemann Foundation on its official Twitter, now known as X, along with previous research from the authors, this article examines how policy problems are framed for the general…

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has a number of programs that support undergraduate research and other kinds of research at primarily undergraduate institutions. Two of the most important are the Research in Undergraduate Institutions program and Major Research Instrumentation program. The aims of the programs and types of activities funded…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe: (1) What purposes for grant recipients are shared among private foundation that supported the movement to adopt the Common Core State Standards? (2) How do such shared purposes influence the strategic giving practiced by foundations that supported that movement? and (3) How are grants…

Background/Context: The business and philanthropic sectors have been a persistent force in shaping U.S. schools. Recently, they have used their resources to advance policies that embody newer principles of industry--reforms that suggest that competition, choice, and deregulation can spur improvement and effectiveness. This has most notably…

(IOs) are influential policy actors in higher education. Yet, little is known regarding the role of philanthropic foundations in sponsoring IOs for policy promotion. By relying on longitudinal analysis of grants, semi-structured interviews, and social network analysis, this study examined the most central IOs within foundation-sponsored networks,…

This paper draws on the literature on network governance and new philanthropy to characterize and explain the increased involvement of non-State actors in education policymaking in the Dominican Republic. The study reveals, first, how network governance has intensified since 2010 through hybrid public-private spaces of agenda setting, second, how…

Do donor-driven scholarship funds meet the needs of students? Do they advance equity in college attainment? In numerous instances, the answer to both questions is "no." Scholarship funds housed at community foundations often have complex, merit-based selection criteria and use evaluation methods that are exclusionary or do not recognize…

In 2015, College Futures Foundation launched the Community Philanthropy for Student Success Initiative (CPI) to engage a cohort of community foundations across California as partners and leaders in reducing statewide disparities in college completion rates. Through CPI, College Futures endeavored to build the capacity of participating foundations…

In this paper, we focus on a special use of but in interactions in which those doing the questioning and answering are accountable for producing talk that is relevant to a third party--an overhearing audience. Specifically, we aim to show how participants leverage the contrastive power of "but" in turn-initial position to refocus…

In 2018 Australia's leading national university, the Austrailian National University (ANU), decided to break off consultation with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation over a bequest to fund a course on Western civilisation. It is not every day that a university decides to turn down a $3 billion bequest to fund a humanities program (Groch,…

The connection between the environment and our individual wellbeing can be seen through our indigenous histories, traditional ways of living, and understanding of health benefits of living in balance with our land, water, and sky. Educational settings can be reimagined and transformed to better use outdoor spaces and build the wellbeing of our…

In this paper two foundation program officers describe their experiences as funders engaged in supporting research practice partnerships in two very distinct settings. The authors set the context for their experiences and walk through the challenges and opportunities in supporting research practice partnerships. They also discuss how supporting…

The OECD is a key player in global education policy advice and part of the edu-business network. This network comprises of companies, philanthropies, consulting agencies and think tanks profiting from educational governance reforms and large-scale testing. This article investigates the structure of the OECD global policy network and its capability…

There are competing popular beliefs about whether education reform is a fundamentally bipartisan or conservative movement. Yet, despite the popularity of these prevariling depictions, there has been minimal effort expended toward systematically observing the political beliefs of the key players in the education reform movement. I gauge the…

Investigating the potential of video games as an aid to community mapping and participatory architectural design, the author discusses the use of the sandbox game "Minecraft" by the Block by Block Foundation in collaboration with Mojang Studios, Microsoft, and UN-Habitat for three projects--Model Street (Dandora Phase 2, in Nairobi,…