Venture Philanthropy Research Articles

Educational capitalisation: a co-formational feminist framework for conceptualising investment in for-profit education within the racialised and gendered political economy

ABSTRACT This paper examines the processes through which education becomes valued as capital within the racialised and gendered political economy. Using the empirical case of venture capital (VC) investment in for-profit education companies, principally education technology companies and for-profit school chains, it puts forward the concept of educational capitalisation. We conceptualise it as the set of uneven processes, practices, and socio-spatial relationships through which value is extracted from educational processes and practices, and, thus, education is valued in terms of expected monetary return on investment. While our conceptualisation focuses on VC investment, this framework could be used to outline other processes of extraction and valuation in education, including private equity, investment banking, venture philanthropy, and public-private partnerships. We conclude with a co-formational feminist framework for guiding future research, policymaking, and educational decision making that considers the financial, socio-technological, learning & teaching, and political-legal aspects of educational capitalisation, with ethical considerations embedded within each of these domains.

The evolution of the Wellcome Trust and market-based philanthropy in the UK

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century the industrial wealth of super-rich entrepreneurs in the United States produced a systematised philanthropy, seeking to address the fundamental causes of societal problems. These entrepreneurs created a new institution, the philanthropic foundation, to achieve their objectives, and influence and change social structures. Building on explanations of these philanthropic ventures as manifestations of entrepreneurial philanthropy, this paper examines the emergence and evolution of the Wellcome Trust. Created in 1936, the Wellcome Trust was funded from the profits of a pharmaceutical multinational, in which the Trustees held the entire share capital. Based on archival research, we examine the development of a market-based philanthropy, whereby successive generations of trustees managed the competing priorities of a multinational enterprise and a philanthropic organisation. In so doing this research offers a new understanding of entrepreneurial philanthropy’s scope: focused on the activities of trustees, rather than the founding entrepreneur.

A Global Phenomenon and Chinas Emerging Role

This article offers a comprehensive examination of the present and future states of impact investing in China, an emerging domain where financial capital is strategically utilized to address societal and environmental challenges. The study commences with a historical review, outlining the global rise of impact investing and its transition within the Chinese economic framework. It meticulously differentiates between impact investing, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing, and venture philanthropy, thereby elucidating their distinct roles and objectives. The paper then delves into the unique characteristics of the Chinese context, focusing on the early stages of the impact investing market, the cultural and legal challenges encountered, and the distinctive roles of family offices and high-net-worth individuals. It emphasizes the increasingly significant role of family offices in the Chinese impact investing arena. Additionally, the article critically assesses the current frameworks and methodologies for evaluating impact investments, discussing their limitations and the complexities involved in quantifying social and environmental impacts. Through policy recommendations, the study advocates for the strengthening of regulatory frameworks, the enhancement of standardization, and the promotion of educational initiatives to cultivate a more robust impact investing ecosystem in China. The paper concludes by recognizing the untapped potential of impact investing in China, suggesting that advancements in legal frameworks, market transparency, and public awareness could significantly propel the sector forward. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of impact investing in China, offering insights and guidelines for policymakers, investors, and scholars interested in the intersection of finance and social good.

Venture Philanthropy, Local News, and the Murky Promise of Innovation

As local news has grown as a research and policy concern, venture philanthropy organizations, like the Google News Initiative, Meta Journalism Project, and American Journalism Project, have forwarded a capacious vision of innovation as offering a broad set of revenue-based solutions to local news’ crises. This article analyzes materials produced by these organizations as a form of metajournalistic discourse to understand how venture philanthropists’ focus on local news and innovation buttresses their authority to intervene in journalistic cultures and articulate visions for the future. Venture philanthropy organizations have claimed a broad and granular authority to define the directions of local journalism’s future, recursively justifying their role as stewards of tech industry largesse by declaring which problems, practices, and innovations are worthy of investment and attention.

Aiding philanthropic venture capitalists investing in social enterprises: A multi‐criteria decision‐making approach

AbstractSocial enterprises have emerged as promising solutions for addressing environmental and societal challenges. To enhance their access to financial capital and align their business proposals with the preferences of impact investors, it is crucial to understand how Philanthropic venture capitalists (PhVCs) evaluate potential portfolio companies. This study introduces a framework to assist PhVCs in making more informed investment decisions, fostering successful, long‐term partnerships between investors and investees. The proposed approach begins by determining the significance of investment criteria using the Best‐Worst Method (BWM). Subsequently, the performance of portfolio companies is evaluated, ultimately identifying the most favorable investment opportunities. We apply this framework to a Dutch philanthropic venture capitalist, and our analysis reveals that ‘Potential’ and the ‘Management team’ rank highest in terms of investment criteria importance, while ‘Assessment of the deal’ and ‘External environment’ carry lower significance. Furthermore, our approach, incorporating the BWM outcomes, considers investors' personal preferences and offers a method for ranking portfolio companies based on their value and performance.

The New Venture Philanthropy

The New Venture Philanthropy

Quantifying the Impact of Impact Investing

We propose a quantitative framework for assessing the financial impact of any form of impact investing, including socially responsible investing; environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives; and other nonfinancial investment criteria. We derive conditions under which impact investing detracts from, improves on, or is neutral to the performance of traditional mean-variance optimal portfolios, which depends on whether the correlations between the impact factor and unobserved excess returns are negative, positive, or zero, respectively. Using Treynor–Black portfolios to maximize the risk-adjusted returns of impact portfolios, we derive an explicit and easily computable measure of the financial reward or cost of impact investing as compared with passive index benchmarks. We illustrate our approach with applications to biotech venture philanthropy, a semiconductor research and development consortium, divesting from “sin” stocks, ESG investments, and “meme” stock rallies such as GameStop in 2021. This paper was accepted by Agostino Capponi, finance. Funding: Research funding from the National Key Research and Development Program of China [Grant 2022YFA1007900], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 12271013], Peking University’s Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory for Financial Engineering is acknowledged. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.01168 .

Privatising public schools via product pipelines: Teach For Australia, policy networks and profit

ABSTRACT Drawing upon a long-term study of venture philanthropy and public schools in Australia, this paper focuses on Teach For Australia (TFA) as a major component of a venture philanthropic network, one that builds critical infrastructures and connections between non-government organisations and the state, creating a product pipeline into public schools. Utilising interviews with staff from Teach For Australia and venture philanthropic organisations, comprehensive and rigorous financial data, reviews, reports and website data, the analysis aims to identify the major philanthropic funders, individual actors and private foundations that leverage Teach For Australia, illustrating how this network develops for-profit pathways into public schools. In pushing a deficit framing of public schools, these networks incur privatisation effects, including flows of money, resources and key decision-making. They compromise the democratic principles upon which public schools are ideally based, in that the most disadvantaged public schools are opened up to ‘entrepreneurial’ and risk-taking corporate behaviour to test out teachers, products and services. By examining streams of revenue, partnerships and networks, we show how the purportedly non-profit Teach For Australia develops for-profit opportunities and business partnerships nested in corporate philanthropy, resulting in a privatisation effect on public schools.

Scripting the nation: Crisis celebrity, national treasures and welfare imaginaries in the pandemic

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, celebrities occupied a highly contested space within the popular and political imaginary. Whilst the mass suffering unleashed by the pandemic led some to herald the death of celebrity culture, many celebrities also took part in fundraising initiatives, public health campaigns and philanthropic ventures, with some taking on the status of ‘national treasure’. This article examines two such figures who gained particular luminosity as ‘Covid Heroes’ for their charitable and campaigning work during the pandemic: war veteran Sir Captain Tom Moore and footballer Marcus Rashford. Through a discourse analysis of UK national newspaper articles and television documentaries, we consider what ideological work these celebrities perform within times of heightened crisis. The article expands upon Chris Greer and Eugene McLaughlin’s theorisation of the ‘national treasure’ in a number of ways, considering how, in ushering forth particular ideas about the nation, these figures secure or contest contemporary welfare imaginaries. Identifying how Rashford and Moore play a crucial role in what Stuart Hall called ‘scripting a national story’ within the pandemic, the article highlights the significance of ‘crisis celebrity’ as a site of hegemonic struggle over national identity, welfare, deservingness and belonging.

Global health in transition: The coming of neoliberalism

Global health as a transnational, intergovernmental, value-based initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO), working toward improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide, has for years yielded to a growing reliance on corporate-led solutions. Private organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGO), religious and other philanthropic and charitable organizations, increasingly serve a dominant role in setting the global health agenda. Short-term success in combating epidemics and in the provision of funding for project-based initiatives appeals to supporters of marketization of health services. For 30 years, a neoliberal paradigm has dominated the international political economy and hence the governance of global health. A utilitarian logic or the ethics of consequentialism have attained prominence under such banners as effective altruism or venture philanthropy. This contrasts with the merits and relevance of deontological ethics in which rules and moral duty are central. This paper seeks to explain how neo-liberalism became a governing precept and paradigm for global health governance. A priority is to unmask terms and precepts serving as ethos or moral character for corporate actions that benefit vested stakeholders.

The corporatization of global health: The impact of neoliberalism

Concomitant with the emergence of a neoliberal precept for global health is the decline in support for publicly funded programs working to alleviate health disparities in poor countries. An unequivocal faith in the privatization and marketization of public health services is evident in current day national policy reforms. Commodification of health services is perceived as a cure-all. Privatization of global health initiatives contrasts with the past institutional paradigm. Corporate and philanthropic power trumps intergovernmental governance. The epistemological precept is clear: Global health is best served with mandated private initiatives. Powerful foundations cause critical shifts in the balance of power among stakeholders and become preeminent players in global health policy agenda formation. The ethics of consequentialism have attained current day prominence. This contrasts with the merits and relevancy of de-ontological ethics in which rules and moral duty are central. In this paper, authors make a case for contesting the ethos of effective altruism or venture philanthropy, suggesting that this approach keeps nations and people from recognizing the oppressive nature of neoliberalism as a governing precept for global health.

Policy networks and venture philanthropy: a network ethnography of ‘Teach for Australia’

ABSTRACT Teach for Australia was announced by the Australian Government in 2008, at a corporate dinner sponsored by Swiss multinational investment bank UBS, hosting New York Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. Conceptualising Teach for Australia as a polycentric policy network anchored in venture philanthropy, this paper examines how networks mobilise major government reform, drawing upon both market and state. As an organisation founded, staffed and registered by a major global consultancy firm (Boston Consultancy Group), the paper critiques and questions representation, divisibility and immutability. By drawing upon network ethnography, following people and policy, the paper traces the beginnings of Teach for Australia through inaugural founders, focusing upon co-affiliations. Mapping a heterarchical and polycentric network of non-state and state actors, it highlights indivisible flows of people, money and policy. Thus, this paper seeks to indicate how policy networks embedded in venture philanthropy mobilise policy, whilst being reliant upon formal bureaucracies. This is governance with government. Teach for Australia highlights the nexus between private and public, and fuses together critical connections between market and state, bolstering a major venture philanthropic network that chiefly impacts public schools.

Transatlantic Women Travelers, 1688–1843, ed. Misty Krueger

<i>Transatlantic Women Travelers, 1688–1843</i>, ed. Misty Krueger

Philanthrocapitalism and the State: Mapping the Rise of Venture Philanthropy in Public Education in Australia

Purpose This article maps the rise of venture philanthropy in public education in Australia, exploring how policy networks mobilize high-level systemic reform and governance technologies. This is philanthrocapitalism, a fundamental shift for policy mobility and modes of redistribution. Design/Approach/Methods Drawing upon network ethnography, I focus on a node called Social Ventures Australia (SVA), an organization committed to revolutionizing venture philanthropy in Australian education reform. SVA, the brainchild of McKinsey &amp; Company and multinational corporations, is a useful example to map how venture philanthropy leverages resources and, in the process, fundamentally changes the shape, functionality, and form of traditional government. Findings SVA has successfully advocated for several intermediaries, such as an evidence broker (Evidence for Learning), a national charity (Schools Plus), and a national education research institute (Australian Education Research Organisation). Overlapping philanthropy and state, the intermediaries stand as a critical assemblage and technology of governance. Originality/Value Venture philanthropy and the way in which these networks achieve high-level systemic reform is under-researched in Australia. It stands as a critical lever of policy reform in public education. This article will scrutinize and map the way these networks mobilize reform and function as an identifiable form of economic exchange.

A systematic literature review to identify ethical, legal, and social responsibilities of nonprofit organizations when funding clinical trials in pediatric cancer.

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) play critical roles as funding sources, research partners, and disseminators of drug developments in pediatric cancer. Yet the literature provides limited guidance about ethical best practices when NPOs make trial funding decisions in this space. We conducted a systematic review of the literature indexed in PubMed and Web of Science to identify the ethical, legal, and social responsibilities of NPOs to four key stakeholder groups in funding pediatric cancer trials: (i) patients/families, (ii) researchers, (iii) industry sponsors, and (iv) donors. We applied the lifecycle framework for patient engagement in drug research and development proposed by Geissler and colleagues to analyze themes related to NPOs' responsibilities across 54 articles that met our inclusion criteria. Emergent themes included transparency surrounding conflicts of interest, the rigor of scientific review, and communication with patients/communities about trial progress. Our research identified critical gaps in best practices for negotiating research partnerships, managing competing research priorities, and pursuing alternative financing models including venture philanthropy. Results from our review informed a set of best practices to guide NPOs in making trial funding decisions that align with stakeholder values and interests.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: the woman behind the success of Biocon

Study level/applicability This case is meant for MBA/MS/executive MBA students. Subject area Entrepreneurship development, leadership. Case overview This case is about the successful entrepreneurial journey of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of India-based biotechnology company Biocon Limited. Mazumdar-Shaw established Biocon in 1978 as a joint venture company. As a woman entrepreneur, Mazumdar-Shaw faced many challenges and setbacks during her initial days. She overcame these and took Biocon to new heights. Later, Mazumdar-Shaw decided to make a strategic shift in Biocon’s business model – going from manufacturing enzymes to biopharmaceuticals with the vision of making an impact on global health care by providing access to affordable, life-saving drugs. Expected learning outcomes The learning outcomes are as follows: understand the ecosystem of women entrepreneurs in developing countries; examine the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in their entrepreneurial journey and how successful entrepreneurs convert challenges into opportunities; and analyze what entrepreneurial leadership is and understand how these leadership qualities play an important role in the success of entrepreneurial ventures. Social implications Mazumdar-Shaw was able to break through the gender barrier that was highly prevalent in Indian society then and successfully established her entrepreneurial venture in biotechnology, a discipline that was still nascent in the1970s. Though she has scaled great heights in the biotechnology area and developed her business, she has remained sensitive to the problems of those who are unable to get affordable medicines. Firmly believing that she should share the prosperity of the company with the poor and the marginalized, Mazumdar-Shaw, through her philanthropic venture, Biocon Foundation, started providing essential drugs at affordable prices to them. Subject code CCS 3: Entrepreneurship.

New philanthropy, social impact and social work: insights from the Italian case

ABSTRACT The article aims to suggest two different scenarios for the transformation of social policy and social work in Italy in relation with the emergence of new trends in the philanthropic sector. Over the past two decades, a growing body of literature has pointed to the shift that philanthropy is undergoing at the global level under the influence of Venture Philanthropy and Impact Investing. Distinctive features of this ‘new philanthropy’ are the blending of the principles and tools of giving with those deriving from the market and the financial sector, as well as the role played by scientific expertise and assessment in legitimising actors and activities. Relying on document analysis, interviews and participant observation, we show how these features are taking shape in the field of social policy and social work in Italy. The promotion of social impact investing and the connected debate on social impact measurement are the most significant elements through which new philanthropic actors and principles are gaining relevance. Nevertheless, their actual capacity to transform social policy and social work is still unclear and we therefore suggest that hybridisation and desocialisation are two possible scenarios for the transformation of the social domain.

GRIN ON UNDERPRIVILEGED: A CASE STUDY OF ‘SMILE’

Providing free and compulsory education to all children is a goal that is enshrined in the Indian Constitution as a Fundamental Right. Sustainable development cannot be considered as the responsibility of government only. There are many NGOs and corporates who make incessant efforts in providing smile on the faces of disadvantaged people. The paper focuses on the case study of SMILE foundation- a group of young corporate professionals who work with grassroots initiatives for achieving positive changes in the lives of underprivileged children, their families and communities. Education is both the means as well as the end to a better life: it empowers an individual to earn his/her livelihood and it increases one's awareness on a range of issues - from healthcare to appropriate social behaviour to understanding one's rights - and in the process help him/her evolve as a better citizen. Adoption of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009 has given further impetus to the national efforts for ensuring quality education for all in a time- bound manner. SMILE works as a catalyst in bringing sustainable change in the lives of needy children. They empower underprivileged children, youth and women through relevant education, innovative healthcare and market-focused livelihood programs. SMILE adopts highest standards of governance to achieve social return on investment. SMILE Foundation has evolved two working models namely, Social Venture Philanthropy (SVP) and Outreach. Through SMILE more than 400,000 underprivileged children and families are benefitted every year, 200 projects have been implemented so far covering 950 villages in various states of India. They have been acclaimed with many awards. The paper attempts to examine various strategies, projects and models implemented by SMILE to attain the concept of connectedness for the deprived people.

The economics of moonshots: Value in rare disease drug development.

The economics of moonshots: Value in rare disease drug development.

The assemblage of inanimate objects in educational research: mapping venture philanthropy, policy networks and evidence brokers

This paper draws on Ball et al.’s (2017) network ethnography, to investigate policy mobility and the assemblage of inanimate objects in educational research, in the form of an ‘evidence broker’. It focuses on a national education research institute funded by the Australian Government, named the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO). Positioned as essentially bipartisan and apolitical, AERO was incorporated in 2021 to accelerate the use of research evidence and set a ‘national agenda’. As modelled on the UK's Education Endowment Foundation and the What Works Centre, it establishes important legislative precedents to collaborate with venture philanthropy. The policy network fundamentally reshapes the ecosystem including functionality of capital and power, translating things and ideas into policies that retain material affects.