Theories of US hegemony commonly ignore the role of American philanthropy in the contemporary transformations of world society and the globalization of capitalism. In this essay, I suggest that the philanthropic foundation, and with it the institution of philanthropy, is being invigorated by the expansion of its domestic role to foreign activities and to globally framed activities within the USA. I propose that US philanthropy exports American understandings of democracy and simultaneously organizes global reflexivity through citizenship education for the US populace. I offer a preliminary theoretical interpretation of the empirical patterns of international grant-making activities by US foundations, considering John W. Meyer's concept of 'instrumental culture' and some arguments made by Foucauldian 'governmentality' scholars. I emphasize the need to conceptualize the cultural-symbolic and organizational dimensions of hegemony and suggest further sociological analysis of philanthropic activities as integral to current politically and economically led transformations of societies around the globe.

We examine the utilization of remittances for expenditures associated with development, specifically children’s education. We use household‐level data from the Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS II, 2003–04) to separate remittance effects from general household income effects to demonstrate the migration–development relationship reflected in child schooling investment. We find that family‐household remittances are spent on education of children, but the expenditures are disproportionately for boys’ schooling. Only when girls are members of higher‐income households do greater schooling expenditures go to them. This gender‐discriminating pattern at the household level contrasts with the call for universal and gender‐equal education.

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