This book offers a nuanced analysis of a US-led foundation initiative of uncommon ambition, featuring seven foundations with a shared commitment to strengthen capacity in higher education in Sub-Saharan African universities. The book examines the conditions under which philanthropy can be effective, the impasses that foundations often face, and the novel context in which philanthropy operates today. This study therefore assesses the shifting grounds on which higher education globally is positioned and the role of global philanthropy within these changing contexts. This is especially important in a moment where higher education is once again recognized as a driver of development and income growth, where knowledge economies requiring additional levels of education are displacing economies predicated on manufacturing, and in a context where higher education itself appears increasingly precarious and under dramatic pressures to adapt to new conditions.

PART ONE: THE ECOLOGY OF U.S. FOUNDATIONS IN AFRICA.- Chapter 1: Century-Old Philanthropic Interests in Africa's Higher Education.- Chapter 2 - Educational Philanthropists and Higher Education Developers.- PART TWO: THE COMMONALITIES OF PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS.- Chapter 3 - Foundations Come with Institutional Cultures.- Chapter 4 - When Foundations Work Together.- Chapter 5 - The Authority of Foundation Presidents.- PART THREE: FOUNDATIONS & THE QUESTION OF LEGITIMACY.- Chapter 6 - The Legitimacy of American Foundations.- Chapter 7 - The Discourse on Priorities among Donors.- Chapter 8 - Legitimacy in an Unequal Partnership.- Conclusion: Equal Participation and the Challenges of Higher Education Philanthropy.