Grant chaser and revenue raiser: public school principals and the limitations of philanthropic funding

Abstract

This paper draws on survey and interview data with public school principals, in order to examine the impact of philanthropy in public schools in Australia. As a result of systemic government funding deficits, school principals are applying for competitive grants from a diverse range of sources. This includes non-government organisations such as charities and businesses, as well as competitive government grants to pay for important resourcing in the school. We focus on what we refer to as ‘philanthropic grant chasing’ in public schools as reported by school principals, paying attention to their involvement with the registered charity Australian Schools Plus, one of the first government-subsidised charities that enables businesses and corporations to donate to public schools for a tax deduction. Public school principals expressed dilemmas and ambivalences regarding philanthropy, regarding it as a ‘double-edged sword’. The vast majority rejected the idea of philanthropy as a long-term solution or remedy for systemic issues of under-funding. We found that philanthropic grants were conditional, and imposed excessive accountability and performative measures on principals, with interviewees describing the process as onerous, with ‘too many strings attached’. Competitive philanthropic grants were also found to intensify principal workload. This paper points to how competitive philanthropic grants, and the necessity to generate additional funding, has a detrimental impact on leaders’ workload, time, and long-term school resourcing. It is remodelling the expertise of the principal to grant chaser and revenue raiser. Whilst philanthropic organisations frequently claim otherwise, we argue that philanthropy exacerbates rather than redresses educational equity.