Elisa Ricciuti
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A journey through the global trends and developments in institutional and individual philanthropy, the world of impact investing and methods of social impact evaluation. The programme offers a view of impact that generates knowledge and can be integrated in an organization’s business strategy, focused on meanings and management of impact, with a focus on impact evaluation methods. Philanthropy and impact investing as two powerful instruments for individuals and organizations that aim at social change.
Course Structure
Day 1: Philanthropy & Impact: a love story of success?
Day 2: How donors see impact
Day 3: Impact investing
Day 4: Approaching Social Impact Evaluation Methods
For those who want to delve deeper into the concepts and developments of individual and institutional philanthropy, to explore the world of impact investing and distinguish the different meanings of social impact, the frameworks and methods conducive to and supporting impact evaluation. For those working in traditional or venture philanthropy, for investors and donors – foundations, third sector organizations, social investors, banks, philanthropy advisors, public and private sector managers, consultants.
The aim of the course is to strengthen the mutual knowedge between venture philanthropy and impact investing, exploring the different meanings of social impact, the frameworks and methods used to manage and evaluate impact. The teaching methods are manifold: lectures, national and international case studies, groupworks, exercises.
Watch the Impact Masterclass| Live! here:
A survey of the philosophical concepts to better understand the cultural framework in which to build social innovation projects, the values and meanings generated. Useful not only to understand and interpret the existing context, but also to anchor one’s actions to the most advanced philosophical theory and practice. From the ontology of things to the phenomenology of outcomes.
For those who work in the planning of social innovation, or product and service innovation – public sector, third sector, business sector, consultants, planners and early career profiles interested in reinforcing their competences in design philosophy for social innovation. For whoever wants to reinforce the ability to abstract and imagine.
The aim of the course is to offer participants a set of tools to understand and apply philosophical research as a source for planning new reference models and experiment new forms of impact. The teaching methods are manifold: lectures, groupworks, national and international case studies, group exercises.
The course explores the mindset and the most effective tools needed to be a manager (and leader) in an increasingly complex and digital context, with the aim of understanding the potential of the web without falling into its traps and using the soft skills needed effectively.
Thus, the course deepens and develops the Impact Leadership topic, which is characterized by a future-friendly and digitally-aware mindset, and naturally sensitivity to the full impact of the company.
Starting from a 360° perspective of leadership – rephrased with the lens of the current affairs and challenges (not least, the Covid-19) – 5 critical aspects will be addressed – one for each day – to master the context and lead companies, institutions (and also teams) in a complex, dynamic and hyper-technological market and environment:
Digital technology is already, and will be more and more, an increasingly powerful tool to develop leadership skills, if conceived as an opportunity instead of a threat. For all managers and entrepreneurs who want to manage organizations working in a hyper-digitalized and continuously changing context; for those who manage complex roles in a digital context; for those aiming at acquiring the necessary skills (not only technical) to drive the Web and not be driven by it.
The aim of the course is to provide participants with impact leadership skills. The teaching methods are manifold: lectures, case studies, group works.
Within the next ten years, it is expected that technology will have a significant impact in every economic sector and in society through automation and services customization. In the core of this transformation there are data and the construction of data-centered solutions.
Data Arts and Science for Impact (DASI) is a School of learning aimed at filling the gap within the job market in Data Science and educate a generation of complete and aware practitioners able to master the change.
The program is designed together with the major Italian experts and it is thought to be able to give a complete and unique education.
The course is composed by four streams:
Online: 15 weeks in Distance Learning (approx. 12 hours/week)
Lessons every Tuesday and Thursday from 18:00 to 21:00 and on Saturday from 09:00 to 13:00. Friday evening is dedicated to tutorships and meetings with the world of work.
Graduates of all disciplines with a good logical-mathematical predisposition interested in working in the world of Data Science and in the construction of concrete solutions starting from data, in any context. The course is open both to STEM and non-STEM students through two different paths: the first is oriented to programming and coding, the second students will be able to use a non-coding Data Science platform. There will be a selection for accessing the course.
The demand within the job market for people able to comprehend, manage and develop data-centric solutions in order to solve real problems is constantly growing. Organizations request professional figures for positions that require non only a good academic knowledge, but also the ability to apply to real cases.
The course aims to give a complete and unique education by ensuring, 16-week full-time blended, the development of structural hard skills, professional oriented towards the construction of data-centered solutions, and the development of necessary hard and soft skills for personal and professional successes in this area. By the end of the course the participant will be able to follow and develop a Data Science project and find work as Data Scientist/Data Analyst/Data Engineer. The course mixes lectures from faculty, e-learning and peer learning self-study with constant tutoring, problem-based learning and challenge-based learning workshops starting from real cases.
See the Impact Cherry:
DASI: Data Arts and Science for Impact
Watch the Impact Masterclass| Live! here:
The Academy wants to develop and introduce system thinking (and its specific methodology) with the general aim of guiding participants in the development of an individual social impact project.
During the Academy, the focus will be on three specific domains of cases: leadership and mitigation of social issues, ecology and sustainability, and organizational learning.
These typologies of cases will be described and interpreted through the lenses of System Thinking in order to offer ideas and inspiration, cases and strong tools to participants.
All of this will be functional to the development to the individual projects brought within the learning community that will be constituted by the class itself.
This Academy is for private and public managers that deal with systemic issues and problems, but also to Third sector operators that challenge social and cultural complexities in order to generate social impact.
The Academy aims to give to participants the main tools derived from system thinking. The teaching methods are manifold: lectures, case-studies, testimonials, workshop on individual projects.
Social impact is an important driver of organizational innovation.
The increasing “biodiversity” of business organizations – from cooperatives to B-corps, from social startups to cohesive businesses – is the result of a tension towards a positive and durable change that enable hybrid mechanisms at different levels: service and business models, governance structures and deeper organizational cultures. The course is a journey of exploration of this new generation of businesses, which is is less and less an ‘exception to the rule’ and more and more the basis of a new institutional sector, made by the convergence between a market-oriented non-profit sector on one side and “responsible capitalism” on the other.
This avangarde of a new paradigm is a result of an open approach to innovation that accept the risk to cooperate also (and above all) in troubling time like this.
For those who want to apply an open innovation approach in the current scenario and to act on the key milestones of the lifecycle of hybrid organizations focused on social impact, fulli understanding the main mechanisms that govern their functioning – for managers in the public and private sectors, social entrepreneurs, foundations and business people, and for those active in welfare and social innovation.
Starting from the italian way of social entreprise as a learning practice, the aim of the course is to cover the main topics of social business – mission, planning and production, governance, markets, funding, networks and evaluation – in the “new age” of open innovation. The training will be an intensive three days of lectures, groupworks, national and international case studies.
A survey of experimental methods used in design for social change – design performances, situated actions, participatory design methods, speculative design, design fiction – with the objective of finding new modes of engagement in the participation and co-creation of possible future scenarios for social innovation.
For those who wish to experience co-creation processes with a social value. For those who work in the design of social innovation, of product or service – public sector, third sector, private companies, consultants, planners, early career profiles looking to reinforce their competences in design for social innovation.
The aim of the course is to offer the fundamentals of the tools of storytelling for social change. To acquire skills in the methodology of design for social innovation through the co-creative and co-generative dimension of possible future implications and scenarios. The teaching methods are manifold: lectures, workshops, micro-projects, excercises, national and international case studies.
The day synthetizes ten years of design culture for social innovation, retracing key stops and outlining the state of art and the topics discussed today. The course proposes three fundamental questions: why in these years the necessity of an design-oriented way of acting spread (that is, to operate with a project modality)? What do we mean exactly by this expression and, in particular, what is the relation between design conceived as a technical ability to solve problems (problem-solving) and the cultural one of sense making? How the spread of networks and the growing social and environmental crysis affect what today should be intended as design?
The day is split into 4 parts. An introduction and three modules which present and discuss the three above stated questions. Every section starts with a communication of the teacher, and goes on with a group discussion.
In a phase of quick and turbulent transformation the project modality is the one that – in an aware or unaware way – has to be often adopted. So, it is useful to clear the head on how to improve our own capacity to do that and understand if and when is the case of turning to experts.
All of the decision-makers, in any sector and of any level, who challenge social change. And in order to do that they have to act in a group or individual design way.
Societies have always been guided by what philosophers have called “grand narratives” – a set of shared interpretations of the world that guide what we belief, what we value and how we act. Homo sapiens is hardwired for storytelling. While today, society seems to be rather characterized by an ongoing fragmentation of our narratives and growing disorientation and confusion, the desire to believe in something remains deeply rooted in human nature. How can we find stories and narratives for the future that tough people’s hearts and reenchant the world? How can organization leverage this need for narrative cohesion in order to promote their purpose? How did societies in previous historic phases use storytelling effectively? This course goes deep into human nature and history to figure out what we can learn for a powerful vision for a better future.
For change-makers.
The aim of this day is to unlock the misteries of powerful storytelling. Because the need to find orientation and the lack of such orientation in the current world blocks change and keeps us from moving more forcefully towards the ecological transition. The teaching methods are manifold: lectures, case studies, group discussions.
Boeing, Volkswagen, Wells Fargo, Fresenius, Oxfam: the recent wave of scandals shows that corporations and also nonprofit organizations systematically underestimate the human risk. In all those cases, organizatoins had to pay a huge price and in all those cases, problems do not relate to the decisions of a few criminals but result from systematic cultural problems and leadership failure. One of the key insights of those scandals is a recurring pattern of normal people behaving illegally in high pressure contexts. You can see it coming! Contexts can be stronger than reason and good people can do bad things without even realizing that what they do is illegal or immoral. I call this ethical blindness – the inability of decision makers to see that what they do is wrong.
For leaders in organizations who want to understand how to create a culture of integrity for their teams.
Based on the state of the art in research on the psychology of unethical decision making and interpreting these recent scandals, the aim of this day is to show how leaders push their organizations to “the dark side of the force” and how they can reduce such costly risks. The teaching methods are manifold: lectures, case studies, group discussions.
