Convenors: Alexandra Kaasch (Bielefeld), Marc Mölders (Bielefeld), Evelyn Moser (Bonn), Oliver Razum (Bielefeld), Holger Straßheim (Bielefeld)

In the past two decades, the philanthropy sector has been subject to broad transformations. Financially powerful organizations, established by economic and technological elites scale up their philanthropic activities by applying business tools and management techniques outside their original fields of expertise worldwide. This global movement was coined “philanthrocapitalism”. Proponents hold that the usual way of tackling grand societal challenges could and should be rationalized by evidence-based and data-driven approaches. We witness such projects in almost every policy area from public health and welfare to climate change. Some speak of an overdue reform of democratic decision-making. Others see this change as a threat to democracy. Our workshop investigates the implications of the recent transformations in philanthropic organization for global public policies. What do we know about the impact evidence-based and data-driven practices have on current modes of decision-making? What has been overrated/overlooked? To see where we stand with regard to “evidence-based benevolence” and what the consequences are in the near future, we assemble an interdisciplinary group of experts who analyse from their specific scientific perspective the role of philanthropic organizations in global public policies.