2026 Theses Doctoral

An Examination of Philanthropy’s Expansive Role in Federal Policymaking on Early Childhood Education and Care

Powers, William F.

For this dissertation, I sought to understand the scope and dimension of the role of philanthropy in the early childhood policymaking context. It specifically centered the perspectives of policy elites situated within organizations that have a presence in early childhood policy at the federal level or with national influence. My conceptual framework leveraged a bifocal prism to examine philanthropy’s engagement with early childhood policy using Kingdon’s (1984) Multiple Streams Framework and Critical Policy Analysis (CPA), where appropriate. This bifocal lens enabled me simultaneously to harness the time-tested power of a framework known for its illustrative power during the pre-decision phases of policymaking while also critically examining any power dynamics that may underlie the system I am studying. I employed a qualitative research design and used Deterding and Waters’ (2021) Flexible Coding approach to analyze interview data and policy documents. I then generated a set of themes that emerged from the data, via a combination of inductive and deductive coding.

My findings painted a multifaceted portrait of philanthropy’s role in early childhood policy. Among the themes I observed were philanthropy’s direct involvement in policy organizations, philanthropy’s direct involvement in policy, philanthropy’s role as a vital source of resources and a valued partner to policy organizations, and the many ways in which philanthropy “shapes the contours” of early childhood policy organizations and, by extension, early childhood policy. I end the study reflecting on the implications of such power dynamics, recognizing the complexity of the role that philanthropy plays. This dissertation contributes to the growing body of literature examining philanthropy’s engagement in education policy as well as to the nascent field of early childhood policy studies.