Foundations — or proto-foundations — that had their roots in the western world in the Greek and Roman civilisations later found their way into ancient Spanish law. The early historical inheritance was transferred by Spain and Portugal to Latin America. Those first foundations were dedicated to a few activities in the areas of health, education and community services. In this article I briefly follow the transition from the traditional foundations to the contemporary one with their wider scope of activities. There is an attempt to follow the correspondence that may exist for the Argentine case between these foundations and extant theories that attempt to explain their role in a wider societal and economic context to conclude that the evidence is still limited for the various failure approaches discussed in the literature. Alternatively, we suggest that the retrenchment of the welfare state should be considered one of the factors that lead to the increase in the number of foundations and the diversification of their activities. The analysis incorporates the issue of discontinuities and crisis, and the strategies followed by different types of foundations under authoritarian rule and periods of high inflation. Surprisingly, during those periods the foundations continued to increase in numbers. I suggest that an adequate explanation for the dynamics of those foundations requires a socio-political approach complemented with the analysis of some economic factors.

This paper is an exploration of research funding by western, local and Islamic foundations in the Arab world. Arab and Islamic foundations supporting research present a very recent phenomenon, so their numbers are limited and basic institutional traditions are still being developed. At the same time, they do have their own ‘ideologies’ and their own experiences which are not the same as those of the West. The findings in this paper are largely drawn from three case studies of foundations in the Arab world. There are several differences among the cases, although all of them are acting as non-profit organisations funding research work and making grants to individuals and institutions. It is difficult to compare precisely the contribution of the three foundations in all aspects of grant-making, but we can build the comparison on the scope of activities and their final contributions in education and culture. This paper closes with a discussion of potential research agenda on the future role of foundations in this part of the world.