This article discusses the ethics and drivers of philanthropic foundations in emerging markets. A foundation organizes assets to invest in philanthropic initiatives. Previous scholarship has largely focused on developed countries, especially the United States, and has questioned the ethics behind the activities of foundations, particularly for strategic motives that served wider corporate purposes. We argue that philanthropic foundations in emerging markets have distinctive characteristics that merit separate examination. We scrutinize the ethics behind the longitudinal activity of such foundations using 70 oral history interviews with business leaders in 18 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. We find that 55 out of 70 foundations associated with these leaders have been used as vehicles for a specific type of philanthropic ethics defined as “spiritual philanthropy”. These foundations often embodied personal or family traditions, culture, and religious values, which emphasized charitable giving and social responsibility. As in the case of many of the industrial foundations in Europe, these foundations also carried founding family names and provided a structure to maintain family control and enhance corporate reputation. We argue that, as business leaders in emerging markets are more directly exposed to dire social, educational and health deprivation than their counterparts in developed countries, they are less inclined toward grandiose world-making, and their foundations are more focused on delivering immediate benefits to communities in their home countries, motivated by implicit or explicit spirituality.

本文讨论了新兴市场慈善基金会的道德规范和驱动因素。基金会组织资产投资于慈善计划。以前的学术研究主要集中在发达国家，尤其是美国，并质疑基金会活动背后的道德规范，特别是为服务于更广泛的企业目的的战略动机。我们认为，新兴市场的慈善基金会具有值得单独审查的独特特征。我们通过对非洲、亚洲、拉丁美洲和中东 18 个国家/地区的商界领袖的 70 次口述历史访谈来审查此类基金会纵向活动背后的道德规范。我们发现，与这些领导者相关的 70 个基金会中有 55 个被用作特定类型的慈善伦理的载体，定义为“精神慈善”。这些基金会通常体现个人或家庭传统、文化和宗教价值观，强调慈善捐赠​​和社会责任。与欧洲许多工业基金会的情况一样，这些基金会也带有创始姓氏，并提供了一种结构来维持家族控制和提高企业声誉。我们认为，与发达国家的同行相比，新兴市场的商界领袖更直接地面临着可怕的社会、教育和健康剥夺，因此他们不太倾向于宏大的世界创造，