In the current historical season, marked by rapid change, uncertainty and deep entanglements between public and private actors, the challenge of philanthropy is evolving: from an episodic gesture of generosity to a strategic lever for development and social cohesion.
With today’s writing, we want to introduce the new Executive Master’s in Strategic Philanthropy, sponsored byCa’ Foscari University of Venice in collaboration with the Center for Philanthropy at the University of Geneva and the Foundation itself, designed precisely to prepare a new generation of professionals capable of leading this change. This is a key tool for revitalizing local communities, recreating valuable supply chains and offering new job and social prospects for young people. This approach goes far beyond simply attracting outside investment.
We live in a context where simple solutions no longer work: it is necessary to educate in critical, systemic and multidimensional thinking, opening education to contaminations and new alliances. Strategic philanthropy is based on rigorous planning, a systemic vision and the ability to work in networks-a true paradigm shift that transforms philanthropy from an emotional response to social emergencies into an engine of structural and lasting transformation [1].
With this in mind, professionals capable of integrating innovative and hybrid logics are needed. The master’s program fits fully into this trajectory: it not only offers technical tools, but cultivates the ability to interpret and act in complexity, involving businesses, foundations, public administration, research and local communities.
To better understand its potential, we interviewed Foundation President Orietta Miotto Botter, Prof. Giancarlo Coro’, Director of the Master’s Program in Strategic Philanthropy at Ca’ Foscari Business School, Dr. Roberta Lesini, Executive Director of Ca’ Foscari Challenge School and Prof. Giuseppe Ugazio, of the Center for Philanthropy at the University of Geneva.
How did the idea of the need to start such a course come about within the Clarice Foundation?
Clarice – The desire to initiate an academic initiative in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari Challenge School matured as a result of careful scouting in the educational landscape in Italy and Europe, from which it became clear that there was a lack of university educational offerings on the topic of philanthropy. Thus, we sought to design with Ca’ Foscari a Master’s degree that would not simply treat philanthropy as a technical object of study, but would recognize it in its entirety: not only as an economic, social and legal phenomenon, but also in its psychological and deeply affective dimension, rooted in values, relationships and responsibility to the community.
In what terms is this strategic approach no longer just about banking foundations or charitable organizations, but also aims to involve family businesses?
Clarice – Family businesses, by their very nature, carry deep and historical values that can act as a bridge to local communities, but they often struggle to translate this legacy into actions with systemic impact. In this sense, philanthropic foundations aim to go beyond the traditional culture of charity to affect the sustainable development of territories.
What are the main challenges that the master’s program aims to address in the relationship between family businesses and their communities, and how are the lessons of social innovation and strategic philanthropy integrated?
Challenge School – The main challenge is to overcome the false juxtaposition between economic goals and corporate social value. Among the goals of the Master’s program is to rediscover the ethical dimension of business, understood as an entity capable of contributing to social justice and collective prosperity. From this perspective, governance, profit distribution, worker participation and transparent decision-making become essential components of an economy geared toward the common good. The Master’s program aims to respond to this challenge through the interpretation of philanthropy as a strategic lever of cohesion, territorial development and sustainability.
How does the collaboration between the Clarice Foundation, academia, and public and private enterprises concretely enrich the training?
Clarice/Challenge School – The collaboration between these different entities is definitely one of the distinctive elements of the course and an added value for the trainees. This ongoing dialogue allows us to integrate into teaching a valuable pool of expertise in which we find the rigor and depth of academic research combined with the tools, methodologies and experience of high-profile professionals. Online and in-presence teaching combines face-to-face lectures with laboratories, which allow students to experiment, create, and transform ideas into concrete actions under faculty supervision.
What practical and theoretical skills will participants develop to truly be “change practitioners”?
Geneva Center for Philanthropy – Participants will be mentored by faculty in developing both soft skills, such as training critical thinking, and specific skills, such as analyzing and interpreting different types of data that enable sound evidence-driven decision making.
How do we measure the impact of philanthropic interventions today? What innovative tools and organizational models are presented to students?
Geneva Center for Philanthropy – Philanthropic projects are typically carried out in complex situations, making it difficult to measure their impact. In this program, cutting-edge models oftheory of change (theory of change) are described to establish precise KPIs of projects and the tools used to measure their achievement. Among the tools, particular attention will be paid to those that exploit different forms of artificial intelligence, e.g., the natural language processing.
What opportunities does the master’s degree offer young people and how does it help to make them protagonists in the rebirth of the territories?
Challenge School – We are targeting young people who want to build their careers in the field of social innovation or philanthropic institutions, but also professionals who want to sharpen their preparation and find advanced methodologies, new knowledge, as well as generative relationships for developing new projects in the Master’s program. Thanks to the Clarice Foundation’s network, internships and workshop activities will enable the development of concrete professional and job opportunities. With this Master’s program we set a more ambitious goal than traditional upskilling, instead designing the best framework to train professionals capable of generating transformative impact in the social and economic fabric.
How does strategic thinking enter into the teaching and design choices of the master’s program to meet the challenges of an increasingly interconnected and changing age?
Challenge School – Strategic thinking is the common thread that guides every teaching and design choice in the Master’s program. In an era characterized by rapid transformations and increasingly interconnected systems, it is not enough to know the tools of philanthropy: it is necessary to know how to frame them within a broad vision, capable of reading global trends, anticipating emerging needs and building sustainable responses over time. Therefore, we have designed a course that alternates between theory and practice, analysis and experimentation, real cases and application activities. We invite participants to think in terms of systems, alliances and measurable impact, developing the ability to make informed, long-term oriented decisions. Strategic thinking, for us, means helping professionals to connect what is happening in the territories with what is happening in the world, and to transform this complexity into concrete planning. Only in this way can we train figures who can contribute to innovative and generative solutions, capable of evolving together with the challenges of the present.
How does the collaboration between Ca’ Foscari and the Center for Philanthropy at the University of Geneva develop and what original solutions emerge from this synergy?
Challenge School – For Ca’ Foscari Challenge School this is an ambitious project, linked to the mandate on Third Mission: the strategic objective we pursue through our activities is therefore to act and promote actions with direct impact on social, economic and cultural growth. Despite having several valuable experiences, our area has not yet developed an adequate and widespread awareness of strategic philanthropy as a key component of sustainable growth. Thanks to a partnership with the Center for Philanthropy at the University of Geneva, we now have the opportunity to leverage a body of knowledge gained through years of research and experimentation. At the same time, the comparison with the entrepreneurial fabric of our area allows us to decline the project specifically, tying it in particular to the characteristics of family businesses and local financial institutions.
[1] Cf. Marzi, B., Philetropia, 12.03.2023; Center of Permanent Gravity, 28.05.2023; Art for art’s sake, 15.10.2023; For a few more dollars, 19.11.2023; Just an illusion, 18.02.2024; Times like these, 09.02.2025, in brightside-capital.com.
Excerpt from the article “Level Up!” edited by Brightside Capital.
