Introduction
Foundations and Ethics of Philanthropy
A Brief History of Foundations
The Ethics of Philanthropy in Foundations
Foundations and Corporate Giving in Emerging Economies
Spiritual Philanthropy in Emerging Markets
Philanthropic ethics | |||
---|---|---|---|
Customary | Entrepreneurial | Spiritual | |
Definition | Care through benevolence, satisfying obligations of beneficence by showing adequate concern for others. It prizes social cohesion while tolerating the continued existence of inequalities | Well-conceived, sustainable social projects that create opportunities for upward social mobility | Multi-generational initiatives aimed at relieving institutional voids in education and health and addressing the interest of multiple stakeholders. Philanthropy inspired by cultural values and religious principles |
Objectives | Ameliorative | Transformational | Developmental |
Strategy | Opportunity Driven | Theory of Change Driven | Local Needs and Result Driven |
Project selection | Responsive | Proactive | Supportive |
Investment decision | Subjective | Objective | Mandatory; Discretionary |
Project management | Limited Engagement | Extensive Engagement | Holistic Engagement |
Partnerships | Low Commitment | High Commitment | Value-based commitment |
Project evaluation | Qualitative | Quantitative | Longitudinal and Trail-and-Error |
Keywords | Community cohesion; beneficence; charity initiatives | Equal access to opportunities; scientific approach; result driven initiatives; individualism; | Traditional religious and cultural values; legacy; family reputation, developmental goals; responsible capitalism |
Methodology and Dataset
Historical Methodology and Oral History
The Creating Emerging Markets Project at Harvard Business School
Profile categories | Public information |
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Name | Tahir, Dato' Sri Prof. Dr |
Country | Indonesia |
Company | Mayapada group (Diversified) |
Gender | Male |
Role | Family business |
Foundation | Tahir foundation (1986) |
Mission statement | As an expression of the Founder and his family’s gratitude and Christian faith, Tahir Foundation aims to improve the lives of Indonesians by providing access to adequate healthcare and education, especially for those facing the greatest barriers to the advancement of their quality of life |
Programs | Jr. NBA Tahir Foundation Scholarship; Free Cancer Treatment For Children Program; Free Heart Surgery Program |
Other info | Partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on HIV research; Donations for Refugee Camps in Syria |
Sources | https://tahirfoundation.or.id/en; “Bill Gates Foundation Comes to Indonesia to Join Fight against Diseases”. Indonesia-Investments.com. Indonesia Investments. 10 January 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014 |
Quote from interview | So when I set out to make a contribution to society, I ask myself, what is the best point of entry? How do I want to act? Do I use the old style and link with a few elite people, few powerful people, few power government officials? I don’t. I choose two points of entry. One is healthcare. One is education. I like to show my sympathy to this nation, that I want to be a proper businessman. So I decided to contribute to education. I also contributed to healthcare. That’s why people now call me a philanthropist, a title I do not deserve. This vision that I have can make us survive another 100 years. But if we go back to the old style, for example people still showing you how influential they are, how powerful they are, saying I have this many people backing me up… This will not work. It will never work again. The time is past. (…) The fourth [pillar] one is philanthropy. I think in my book I mention that. Indonesia is not a rich country. Poverty is surrounding…us; when from my home I go to the office, I pass through a street. Along the street, there are so many poor people. As an Indonesian Chinese, who are born in this country, our Chinese have an old saying that you are born, you grow, and you die in one place. So, a lot of reporters ask me the same question. Why do you have to do philanthropy for Indonesia? There’s no free lunch, Tahir. How you explain that? I say, “I perfectly 100 percent support there’s no free lunch. Where you are wrong is the sequence. The sequence is I have already eaten the lunch. I enjoy all the facilities from this country. No Indonesia, no Tahir. Not China—even though I’m Chinese. Not Singapore—even though I love Singapore. But this land, Indonesia, made Tahir like this. So, the logical consequence is that I will give back. That’s one reason. Second reason, my religion. I’m Christian. The Bible clearly stated that Almighty God never gave a right to own anything in this world. …Only give a right to manage, to steward, not to own. (…) So, I try to take another way around. Why don’t I use my position to get more money for me? That’s when you mess up. To be the hero will never be an objective of life. This is a means. This is a channel to reach the genuine meaning of your life. Be a blessing. That’s why I serve the refugees |
Keywords | Healthcare; Education; Nationalism; Poverty; Religion; Long-term approach |
Themes at unique mention | 1a. Responsible Capitalism; 1b. Values; 2a. Institutional Voids; 3a. Type of Investment |
SP? | YES |
Total score (average of scores for second-order theme mentioned) | (3 + 3 + 2 + 1)/4 = 2.25 |
Biases in Foundation Dataset
Data | Total | Africa | Latin America | Middle East | South and Southeast Asia |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Interviewees | 70 | 7 | 29 | 7 | 27 |
Countries | 18 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 6 |
Gender | |||||
Female | 10 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
Male | 60 | 6 | 26 | 6 | 22 |
Position | |||||
Family member | 55 | 3 | 25 | 6 | 21 |
Executive | 15 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
Data Analysis: Measuring Spiritual Philanthropy
Categories | Open coding | Definition | Total mentions | Explanatory strengths | Score (first mention) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Responsible capitalism | Stakeholder value; Responsible business; Long-term approach; Refusal of Friedman principles | Responsible capitalism acknowledges that companies have a clear purpose to serve society, their customers, and their employees as well as their investors. This way, they create the most sustainable long-term value for their shareholders. It also includes a refusal for orthodox and libertarian economic theories considering profitability the main goal of corporate activity | 24 | Strong | 3 |
Values | Local (country’s) tradition; Religion; Ethics; Nationalism; Local Culture | Set of moral principles, standards of behaviors and conduct that drive people's way of life. They also encompass people's judgment of what is important in their lives | 19 | Strong | 3 |
Family legacy | Family legacy; Family name; Generations; Reputation; Family Tradition; Need to give back | The sum of past and present family's accomplishments, beliefs, actions that build the family history and identity. These carry forward to future generations in a fashion which allow those family members to adopt and adapt them to make their lives meaningful and fruitful | 11 | Strong | 3 |
Institutional voids | Poverty; Deprivation; Income gap; Inequality; Social and economic issues; Lack of infrastructure | Chronic failures in the provision of public services such as education and health, social infrastructure and overall institutional frailty. This results lack of welfare needed to address the widespread poverty, deprivation, and high income inequality | 28 | Mild | 2 |
Hands-on approach | Need for change; Community building; Impact; Relief; Solution-driven approach; Trial and Error | Execution of philanthropy that prioritizes unconventional and ad-hoc metrics, trial-and-error, and pursuit of immediate solutions over carefully planned approach. This is typical of local and limited scale projects as opposed to large transformational goals | 29 | Mild | 2 |
Type of investment | Education; Healthcare; Arts; Disaster relief; Environment; Other recipients (micro-entrepreneurship, training) | Type of investment includes the sectors/industries that benefit from philanthropy | 37 | Weak | 1 |
Content of investment | Details about projects and initiatives (Schools; Scholarship; Hospital; Sanitation; Dormitory; Workshop; Museum; Crafts; Female Empowerment; Micro-entrepreneurship; etc.) | Details on the type of initiatives and projects. For example, within education, the content could be the establishment of schools, scholarships, creation of research centers among others | 32 | Weak | 1 |
SP | Total | Africa | Latin America | Middle East | South and Southeast Asia |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of foundations | 70 | 7 | 29 | 7 | 27 |
Number of SP interviews | 55 | 6 | 23 | 5 | 21 |
Average score | 1.90 | 1.88 | 1.66 | 1.83 | 2.18 |
Average score weighted by theme mentioned | 3.27 | 4.17 | 2.74 | 4.40 | 3.33 |
Findings: Foundations in Emerging Markets
Notes on Foundation Type
Type | Total | Africa | Latin America | Middle East | South and Southeast Asia |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Industrial foundations | 46 | 3 | 20 | 5 | 18 |
Pure philanthropic foundations | 24 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 9 |
Spiritual Philanthropy in Emerging Markets Foundations
Dimension | Themes | Total | Africa | Latin America | Middle East | South and Southeast Asia |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# SP interviews | 55 | 6 | 23 | 5 | 21 | |
Vision | Responsible capitalism | 24 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 12 |
Values | 19 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 11 | |
Family legacy | 11 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
Strategy | Institutional voids | 28 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 14 |
Hands-on Approach | 29 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 11 | |
Execution | Type of Investment | 37 | 4 | 21 | 5 | 7 |
Content of Investment | 32 | 5 | 14 | 4 | 9 |
Vision of Spiritual Philanthropy in Foundations
This provided several synergies by transferring business skills to solving societal challenges. James Mwangi, Kenyan financier and founder of Equity (Bank’s) Foundation, one of the largest in Africa, observed:[As a business leader] you have to take care of the society in which you operate, which enables you to earn that money. You have to repay the society, not at the cost of your company. It’s not this or that. It has to be all that and this. In fact, the stronger you are, the better philanthropic activities you can do.
For the most part, members of family businesses discussed this theme in South and Southeast Asia (12 out of 24) and in the Middle East, although some cases were evident also in Africa and Latin America.Fortunately, now, we use the infrastructure of the corporate to scale that thinking [of positively impacting society]. (…) It didn’t matter how philanthropic I would have loved to be. I’ve realized you can never match corporates that can lay out the capabilities at their disposal for the benefit of the society. (…) The 9000 staff of Equity Bank are the agents of the Foundation. (…) The human capital, in terms of leadership, provides technical expertise to the Foundation.
As a second theme, 19 out of 55 SP business leaders mentioned the value system behind their foundations’ initiatives. Again, the majority (11 out of 19) were leaders of family business groups in South and Southeast Asia. They explained their engagement as resulting from their patriotism, their willingness to support local culture, and their religious beliefs. For example, Sri Lankan tea producer Fernando Merrill and Indonesian entrepreneur Dato Sri Tahir expressed a strong commitment to their Christian faith. Other active Christians included James Mwangi in Kenya and multiple Latin American leaders. Five Indian leaders, as well as Manu Chandaria, an ethnic South Asian Jain in Kenya, mentioned the strong influence of Gandhian principles in their philanthropy.Friedman, for example, says that companies’ social efforts must not be made directly but through their shareholders, with their dividends and returns. I don’t think that way. I believe that companies play a key role in this regard and have a number of obligations with all communities across the nation.
Overall, the Asian countries accounted for most of the mentions for the “vision” themes (29 out of 54 in Table 7). Philanthropic work was described as a natural consequence of leaders’ family traditions, life philosophy, and value systems, intended as an evolving and ever-improving approach to business and life.Giving has been in the genes, as I said...from 90 years the family has been following this tradition of giving 10 percent... I have seen it when I was 8–10 years old, I used to sometimes total up the books sitting and while learning with [my] grandfather in the shop and they had a ledger account of philanthropy.
Strategies of Spiritual Philanthropy in Foundations
In environments where public resources are scant, and government institutions are frail, interviewees thus used their foundations to supplement or complement the government to provide services such as education, health, sanitation, and infrastructure upgrading. Indeed 29 among the 55 SP interviewees described their foundation approach as problem-oriented, tailored to the local environment, and close to the immediate needs of the local communities.I think in a country like India, or in the developing world, (…) you can’t just have ivory towers with depressed conditions all around them and feel satisfied. One has to say that you need to upgrade the lower elements to a level of prosperity. (…) You have to look at what it takes to lessen the discrepancy between the haves and the have-nots. (...) By bringing everybody up. There may be some sacrifice for the very wealthy, but not to bring them down. To bring the others up to a level where there’s sustainability there.
A local focus does not mean that such foundations are small-scale or lack ambition. For instance, the Pakistani fashion entrepreneur Seema Aziz exercised a major positive impact on the primary school system in Lahore through her CARE Foundation, counting almost 900 schools and 300,000 enrolled students in 2020.I was approached a few weeks ago by the Global Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help them [fighting malaria] in maybe one or two other countries in Africa. My view is that we can’t really extend beyond Mozambique, because we want to eliminate malaria in Mozambique by 2030. We’ve got to be focused. We’ve got to be completely head-down. And we’re not going to be the experts.
Execution of Spiritual Philanthropy
Type | Total | Africa | Latin America | Middle East | South and Southeast Asia |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Education | 55 | 5 | 25 | 5 | 20 |
Healthcare | 25 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 14 |
Environment | 16 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
Arts and culture | 15 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
Other | 26 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 11 |