Private philanthropy is a growing source of funding for key development areas such as global public health, education, research, rights movements and clean energy. Yet reliable, comparable and publicly available information on philanthropic funding remains scarce or inaccessible, which limits its potential to collaborate and co-fund important work. The Centre aims to mend this gap, and contribute to a better understanding, by philanthropic foundations and their partners, of what the sector can contribute to development worldwide.
Centre on philanthropy
The OECD Centre on Philanthropy contributes to the global demand for more and better data and analysis on global philanthropy for development. It brings together relevant efforts from existing research centres and projects, expands the OECD database, and provides research and analysis on global trends and impact of philanthropy for development in the context of the 2030 Agenda.
About the Centre on philanthropy
How we work
Through data collection and dissemination, as well as dedicated global, geographically-focused and thematic research, the OECD Centre on Philanthropy helps all development actors grasp the major quantitative and qualitative trends in philanthropy for development.
Philanthropy for development is rising in emerging markets, but its its scope, scale and effectiveness are not yet fully understood. That is why the OECD Centre on Philanthropy has been carrying aout primary research on the contributions of philanthropic foundations in China, Colombia, India, Nigeria and South Africa.
Philanthropy is at the forefront of financing innovative approaches to meeting social challenges. The OECD Centre on Philanthropy reviews the initiatives financed by philanthropy in various areas, in order to identify best practices and lessons that other donors, governments and the private sector can emulate.
Data dashboard
The Private Philanthropy for Development: Data for Action dashboard helps you explore the data underlining the Centre’s reports, and better understand how philanthropy contributes to development. You can easily access the data by geography, source of financing, sectors and organisations, or download the full dataset for further analysis.
Latest insights
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Increasingly, philanthropic donors are moving from supporting specific projects to providing untied general support to their grantees. In response to the shift, this report sheds light on flexible financing – the practice of providing grantees unearmarked funding. It examines “trust-based philanthropy” to better understand both advocacy for, and scepticism towards, this approach. In so doing, it highlights the need for an empirical understanding of financing practices in philanthropy. The report focuses on one form of flexible financing: core budget support. It assesses the advantages and disadvantages of this approach for both philanthropic funders and grantees. To that end, it explores both the dynamics of grant-making as a contract and the implications of flexible funding on different types of grantees. Research is based on evidence from the OECD database on Private Philanthropy for Development. It looks at flexible funding from more than 180 private philanthropic donors from 32 countries, and historical yearly giving from 20 large foundations. Based on these data, it analyses the factors that influence philanthropic financing, using Bayesian statistics.Learn more
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Social and emotional skills are capabilities, behaviours and competencies that allow individuals to adapt to their social environments. Extensive research shows that these skills are correlated with educational achievement and life outcomes, such as job satisfaction and income. What role does social and emotional learning (SEL) have in education, and how are foundations investing in understanding and improving these skills? This report describes the results of a global survey, carried out by the OECD Centre on Philanthropy, on philanthropy-funded initiatives that aim to develop or measure social and emotional skills and to improve educational outcomes.Learn more
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This study evaluates the scope and dimension of large-scale philanthropy in the People’s Republic of China (hereafter “China”) over 2016-19. More specifically, it compares the financing provided by large cross-border philanthropic organisations with contributions from large philanthropic organisations operating domestically. The domestic philanthropic sector has experienced a significant expansion in recent years: rapid economic growth in China and the increasing concentration of private wealth allowed the Chinese private sector and high net-worth individuals to expand their support to social organisations.Learn more
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Nigeria is one of the largest recipients of international philanthropic funding, but little is known about its domestic philanthropy, receiving approximately USD 192 million per year from large international foundations between 2013-18. However, these estimates do not consider funding from domestic foundations, as information on local philanthropy is limited. The report offers a first insight into a selection of domestic foundations in Nigeria. It contrasts these findings with other sources of development finance, including international philanthropy and official development assistance (ODA) targeting the country. However, only 12 of 56 foundations invited to participate responded to the survey. The low response rate and resulting small sample do not allow for generalisations about the domestic philanthropic sector in the country. Funding from 12 domestic philanthropic organisations in Nigeria amounted to USD 89 million over 2013-18. Three foundations provided the bulk of these funds (70%): MTN Nigeria Foundation, Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) and TY Danjuma Foundation. Most domestic giving was allocated to health and reproductive health (USD 28 million), government and civil society (USD 25 million) and education (USD 22 million). Within the health sector, the most supported areas were basic health care, reproductive care, and prevention of noncommunicable diseases. Funding towards government and civil society prioritised conflict resolution, human rights and support to women’s rights organisations.Learn more
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Philanthropy, both domestic and international, and corporate social responsibility (CSR), are supporting gender equality in India. This study estimates funding towards gender equality from a sample of 183 philanthropic organisations, based on two observations. First, the introduction of the Companies Act of 2013, which mandated and regulated CSR, substantially increased resources for development projects in the country, including for gender equality. Second, India faces significant challenges on gender equality, and harmful practices curtailing women’s rights persist. These are highlighted by the SDG India Index (NITI Aayog, 2020) and the OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI).Learn more
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This second edition of Private Philanthropy for Development aims to meet the growing demand for open, reliable and comparable data on philanthropic giving. Compared to the first edition, it collected more data from large foundations and other organisations based in developing countries to have a more comprehensive understanding of cross-border financing and domestic giving.Learn more
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The objective of this note is to provide information needed to explore points of synergies and facilitate collaboration amongst Swiss foundations and official development agencies supporting education. The note captures previously non-existent quantitative and qualitative data from Swiss foundations active in education in developing countries and developed countries. It provides insight into the educational purposes and geographies supported by Swiss philanthropy and digs deeper into Swiss foundations’ collaboration with other private or bi- and multi-lateral funders, foundations’ engagement in advocacy, and their approaches to learning. In order to complement these findings, the note sets out data on Swiss official development assistance (ODA) for education to identify common geographical and thematic priorities.Learn more
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The COVID-19 pandemic is by far the largest disruption witnessed by education systems in the 21st century. At the peak of the first wave, school closures affected over 90% of all learners worldwide. This placed educators in a challenging teaching environment, and put millions of households under economic stress. The learning loss and the heightened risk of student disengagement, particularly for the most vulnerable, can have long-lasting effects on their life outcomes and future economic growth and well-being. Yet, beyond the recovery phase, the COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the need to explore new approaches in education delivery from pre-primary to higher education. These include a wider range of cognitive, social and emotional skills in the curricula; the active involvement of parents in their children’s education; and the adoption of technologies that allow for flexible and personalised learning. However, with a rapidly evolving situation, many philanthropic donors are making quick disbursements of funds, redirecting committed resources to new issues, and in some cases, redefining their mid- and long-term strategies. However, the lack of reliable information has limited foundations’ potential to engage, collaborate and co-fund education initiatives to address the COVID-19 pandemic.Learn more
Partners
The OECD Centre on Philanthropy works closely with other academic and research institutions who carry out applied research on philanthropy.
These are our partners:
- Geneva Centre for Philanthropy, Switzerland
- Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, United States
- Centre for Strategic Philanthropy, University of Cambridge Judge Business School, United Kingdom
- Asociación de Fundaciones Familiares y Empresariales de Colombia (AFE), Colombia
- Independent Philanthropy Association of South Africa, South Africa
Related policy issues
Contact us
For more information about the Centre on Philanthropy, please contact us at philanthropy@oecd.org