Philanthropic Foundations and the Exercise of Power: An Integrative Literature Review of the Many Faces of Power

Since their legal establishment, philanthropic foundations have raised concerns due to the power they exert through their distribution of resources, oftentimes in vast amounts. Many academic fields have researched these power relationships, but as of yet, no review of this research has been completed to identify how foundations exert or are controlled by power. This article fills that void through an integrative literature review (ILR) of 219 peer-reviewed academic articles on power and philanthropic foundations. Using Fleming & Spicer’s framework of the “faces of power,” we categorize this research into the types of power discussed: coercion, manipulation, domination, and subjectification. We also look at the sites of that power—within the organization, through, over, and against it. After providing examples of each type of power, future research avenues are presented, including identifying how foundations operate in interorganizational networks, “power-with” situations, and how foundations situate themselves socially and politically.