Mapping categories of philanthropy in Australian public schooling

ABSTRACT

Global narratives of educational philanthropy tend to emphasise the significant influence donors have in shaping public school policy and practice. In Australia, however, tax laws work to narrow the possibilities for philanthropy to exert influence over public schooling. Indeed, public schools (unlike private schools and Higher Education institutions) are unable to receive ‘direct’ philanthropic income, yet they can benefit from philanthropically supported programmes and services. Delving into this complex regulatory environment, this paper maps the types of philanthropic actors – including foundations, charities, intermediaries, not-for-profits, churches and Parent and Citizen associations – that are working with/in Australian public schools, and questions their potential to influence school policy and practice. We cautiously argue that edu-philanthropy in the Australian context is not a picture of policy distortion, but one that is responding to the current policy context of economic rationalism and the rollback of the welfare state, to support and enrich public schooling.

KEYWORDS:

• Privatisation
• philanthropy
• edu-philanthropy
• public schools
• tax deductible giving
• Australia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Organisations that are run by the government are not considered to be charitable, and public schools fall within the definition of ‘government entity’ as defined by the Charities Act (2013).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Australian Research Council [grant number DE210100994].