The Arc of the Moral Universe Bends Towards Justice? A discourse analysis of the justice framings of philanthropic foundations in global sustainability governance

Philanthropic foundations are increasingly influential actors in global sustainability governance. These foundations often argue that they are advancing justice, but it is unclear how they understand justice. To understand how foundations decide to direct their resources, we need to understand how they conceptualise themselves as agents of justice. In this paper, we employ critical discourse studies and a novel analytical justice framework to analyse the justice framings of 41 influential philanthropic foundations involved in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. We find that foundations tend to favour justice framings that prioritise economic well-being over social participation. However, we also find that the role justice plays in these foundations is more complex. There appears to be a tendency across sustainable governance philanthropy to present their work as challenging systemic injustices. We conclude that this has major implications, enabling foundations to more readily identify and remedy inherent power imbalances in philanthropic giving.