Philanthropy and Education: Strategies for Impact

The reform of public schools is high on the public agenda in Europe as well as North America. Philanthropic foundations play an increasingly important role in attempts to enhance the performance of the system. However, the degree to which their ambitious aspirations are actually realized is often very low. This book addresses the question of how philanthropic actors can make a more effective, beneficial and responsible contribution to the field of public education. It develops an innovative model of effective education philanthropy and uncovers strategies to successfully tackle problems in this complex domain. Presenting the findings of the international research project 'Strategies for Impact in Education', the results are based on six case studies from Germany, Switzerland and the United States, informed by institutional theory and drawing on state-of-the-art research in sociology, psychology and pedagogy.