Trust is the secret ingredient in Italy’s educational renewal
When Michela Calvelli, Chief Executive Officer of the Gĕnĕras Foundation, starts to describe her foundation’s work, her voice breaks with emotion. It’s not stage fright, it’s not done for effect. It’s something authentic, something intimate. It represents that point where one’s vision and one’s personal life meet and where there are no filters. “Education is everything. It’s there that everything starts: individual problems, social unrest, collective conflicts. When deep education, the kind that trains the mind for inner freedom and nurturing relationships, is missing, then everything can fall apart.” She pauses. She smiles, her eyes brightening. Hers is a full smile, filled with that a generosity that can’t easily be explained in words, but is clearly heartfelt. You can feel it affect you simply by being in her presence.
Ten years ago, the charity known as the Gĕnĕras Foundation was born. A family foundation built on trust which set itself the ambitious goal of renewing education, starting in what might be called the ‘invisible peripheries’ of the school system.
The choice not to remain a spectator
Michela comes from the nonprofit world. She has supported projects, met with professionals, and observed the contradictions of a sector that often pursues short-term projects, with a focus on obsessive feedback and efficiency at all costs. “At a certain point I realized that many of the difficulties we came across in various social settings had a common cause: what you might call a profound, systemic educational deficit. So, if you don’t put your efforts into those areas, everything else is always going to fall short,” says Michela.
The family foundation has thus become not merely an expression of philanthropy but a keenly felt responsibility. It’s not a question of one-off donations, or impersonal grants, but a chance to plan together with recipients, over time. “We wanted to do something different: to accompany people in their educational work, not simply choose who was best at writing a bid!”
An educational crisis that precedes all others
Today’s educational crisis is all around us. We see it in the growing inequalities in society, in the emotional fragility of children and adults, in the loneliness of families, in the daily grind of unmotivated teachers who often feel abandoned by the system. “Education has become the real strategic issue in which to invest,” explains Michela. “A country can have perfect business plans, but if it doesn’t have free, conscientious people capable of managing their own lives and relationships, it remains an empty vessel.” While major national policies focus on numbers and structural reforms, in Italy there is a less visible network of schools and educational projects experimenting with new approaches. These are cutting-edge schools which are reinventing classroom practices, and associations helping teachers and families face complex challenges.
“There is extraordinary educational wealth out there, but it often goes untapped. It lacks visibility, it lacks the wherewithal to make itself known. We want to bring these good practices to people’s attention and create the right conditions for them to grow and influence the wider system.”
The Model: Trust-Based Philanthropy
To support this transformation, Gĕnĕras has embraced a model that is still something of an underexplored frontier in Italy: trust-based philanthropy.
The concept began across the ocean, in San Francisco, where in 2013 the Whitman Institute gave life to a principle that reversed decades of philanthropic practice based on checks, rigid tendering processes, and suffocating administrative constraints. “We realized that, even after simplifying our processes, we needed another way to support them. A streamlined, transparent approach, capable of building trust and not just control. We wanted to create the conditions for educational institutions to tell us what they actually needed, so they didn’t always have to adapt to external criteria,” explains Michela.
The principle that emerged is almost disruptive in its simplicity: if we want those working in the social sector to truly generate transformation, we must give them the freedom to work autonomously and provide a guarantee of continuity. Trust-based philanthropy overturns the paradigm of control. No longer are funds allocated based on bureaucratic tenders. Instead, multi-year flexible funding, not tied to specific projects, is provided in a context of mutual trust and ongoing dialogue.
Organizations are no longer evaluated solely on final numbers, but on their vision, their transformative impact, and their actual ability to respond to the needs of people in the contexts in which they operate. “We asked ourselves: how can we support those who educate, without just selecting those who respond best to a call for proposals? How can we support initiatives, not just projects with a limited timeframe?” Michela explains.
In the United States, the approach gained momentum as the Covid pandemic exposed the rigid limits of many traditional philanthropic models. The crisis showed that, without the ability to adapt quickly, many project-based grants become useless when conditions change. Trust-based funding, on the other hand, relies on the adaptability of beneficiaries: those who know the local area are often able to find effective solutions if they are given the power to decide.
Trust-based results
Over recent years the model has garnered significant data: an analysis of over 800 organizations supported with unrestricted funds showed that 90% of nonprofit leaders saw their financial stability increase. Operating expenses increased by an average of 50% in two years (compared to 25% for traditionally funded organizations), allowing for structural investments in staff, new services, and organizational development.
Many organizations were able to expand programs and activities that they would not even have been able to launch under the traditional project-based approach. 85% of donated funds were allocated to projects with strong social inclusion goals, and support was targeted towards the most vulnerable sectors of society with the greatest possibility of increasing the impact in a local area. For many nonprofit leaders, these grants have become a kind of organizational oxygen which allows them to plan for the future without constant anxiety about the next deadline for grants applications.
The debate over the trust-based philanthropy model
Of course, the model is not without its critics. Some observers warn that broad expressions of trust can, in some cases, degenerate into a lack of strategy: without shared objectives, there is a risk of dispersion.
The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project—the international center which brings together those who apply these principles—responds to this objection clearly … trust cannot be a shortcut to avoiding rigor. “Trusting does not mean lack of interest in a project,” emphasizes Michela, highlighting how 70% of those supported by her foundation with this philanthropic model fully embrace it, while 30% are still sensitive to a logic of control. Continuous dialogue, strong consistency of values, and a constant process of mutual listening are needed. It’s not about giving and forgetting, but, rather, about accompanying.
There is also a fear, especially among traditional donors, of so-called cliff funding – what happens when the funds run out? Will the organizations supported be able to withstand the impact? So far, evidence suggests that most of the organizations involved are gradually managing to diversify their revenue streams and consolidate their foundations over time. “In Italy, this model is still not very common. There was no instruction manual. So we wrote our own,” adds Michela, emphasizing how Gĕnĕras has become a small, practical laboratory for this approach. It’s all about trust, yes, but trust is achieved by building processes, tools, and alliances capable of supporting those who educate, not just funding them.
Edunauta: the educational journey
Gĕnĕras’ intervention takes shape in the so-called Edunauta project, which is much more than a simple digital platform.
“The name comes from the fusion of the words ‘education’ and ‘astronaut’. Every child, every educator, every parent is a traveler with all sorts of possibilities. We want to help them follow their own paths, discover new constellations of knowledge, and never feel alone on this journey” – the emotion is evident on Michela’s face as she describes the project, which was founded in 2020.
Through Edunauta, the foundation has supported 87 initiatives in five years, reached 60,000 people, engaging with over 2,500 schools and educational services throughout Italy. The institutions involved come from different educational networks: Steiner and Montessori schools, and experimental institutes of the Avanguardie Educative movement. Of these, 50-60% are based in the North of Italy, 30-40% in Central Italy, and 20% in the South. “There is a huge educational geography, made up of many small islands of innovation. Our task is to make them visible and provide connections.”
Edumappa: the digital compass for families, schools, and educational communities
The Edunauta project has produced the large digital map Edumappa, which lists schools and innovative educational services in Italy. It provides families, teachers, and educational professionals with a kind of digital compass to help them navigate the educational landscape. “We wanted a tool that would give visibility to schools and organizations experimenting with transformative approaches, truly putting people and relationships at the center,” says Michela.
Edumappa shows innovative public and private schools that are renewing teaching and educational methods and relationships; nonprofit organizations which are active in the educational sector; hybrid educational spaces and communities working for a more human and generative model of schooling. Each institution is selected using clear, transparent criteria. For Michela and her team, education is impacted not only by technological innovation, but through new perspectives based on listening, trust, and openness to change. “With Edumappa, we want to support this change, one educational relationship at a time.”
Assessment: Measuring What Really Matters
Registering for Edumappa is just the first step. It is followed by the opportunity to participate in an assessment, a free qualitative self-evaluation tool designed specifically for Italian educational organizations. More than a simple checklist, it’s a blueprint for reflection which helps organizations analyze their capacity to transform lives and experiences.
“We’re not just interested in how many activities they carry out or how many members they have. We want to understand if they’re changing the contexts in which they operate. If they’re working on awareness, participation, and building healthy relationships,” emphasizes Michela Calvelli. The assessment allows the foundation to measure organizational strength, leverage accumulated experience, focus on the educational impact generated, and simultaneously initiate a genuine process of dialogue and shared growth.
This methodology stems from the experience gained in the foundation’s first two engagements, with Rotte Educative (2021-22) and Alleanza Educativa (2023-24), through which a total of 87 educational institutions across the country were supported. To date, approximately 20 educational institutions are selected and supported each year, with an annual budget ranging between 150,000 and 200,000 euros.
Through periodic assessment, organizations enter a personalized support program that can include, in addition to financial support, networking opportunities, training, strategic growth strategies, and access to future grants. “The assessment is not just an evaluation, but the beginning of a trust-building process. It’s a way to walk alongside people – to accompany organizations, to help them grow sustainably, without being slaves to the logic of bureaucracy or spot funding.”
Podcasts and Blogs: Pedagogical Culture as a Story
Alongside its direct work, Edunauta has also built a narrative space to fuel ongoing educational reflection. Podcasts collect stories and share new visions, experiences, methodologies, and insights that go to the very heart of education and offer new perspectives on what it means to educate. “For us, podcasts are a space for lively reflection. Words become bridges that connect experiences, visions, and dreams. This happens in the podcast ‘Educational Horizons’ dedicated to parents, and in ‘Ideas for Teaching’ aimed at teachers and educators,” continues Michela. The pedagogy blog features thoughtful articles, innovative teaching experiences, relational practices, and grassroots narratives of schooling. Topics include:
- Educating with trust: how to build an educational relationship based on listening
- The classroom as a community: cooperative teaching practices
- School and community: shared paths between the educational community, school, and family
The goal is not to make pedagogy just an academic theory, but to transform it into a genuine, lived experience that begins with the question of how education occurs, then offers solutions and perspectives geared toward change.
Stories which activate change
The projects supported by Gĕnĕras are never just simple school initiatives. They are in many ways laboratories for the future, often grassroots laboratories, based in communities where educational innovation doesn’t make many headlines but does change lives.
The theater which transforms relationships
In one school in Rome, a group of students is working on a theatrical production that is more than just a show. Through drama, the Eleusis association works with them on areas such as empathetic communication, listening, and conflict management. “Theater becomes a powerful emotional training ground,” Michela explains with a certain emotion in ger voice. “Boys and girls learn to recognize their emotions, to communicate with each other with respect, and to negotiate when things get tense. And this also changes the classroom atmosphere, improves motivation to study, and builds community.” Similar projects are underway in Venice with Agita, in Ancona with Teatro Giovani Teatro Pirata, in Ascoli Piceno with Caleidoscopio, in Vercelli with La Bottega Teatrale APS, and in Milan with Mirmica and Proxxima.
These are places where school stops being just a place for the transmission of facts and becomes a place of true human learning.
Parents growing alongside the children
“There’s no such thing as the perfect school. Instead there is a right school for every child or young person, at a particular point in their journey…” Michela often repeats this phrase during our interview. And it’s very much at the root of the work done to support parents. In Milan, the Mitades association works with families on nonviolent communication, active listening, and relational negotiation. In Naples, AllenaMenti Non Violente helps parents overcome the logic of control and works hard to build educational relationships based on trust and mutual respect. “Parents often feel alone and disoriented when faced with their adolescent children. These programs help them not to feel inadequate and rediscover the ability to support them without overwhelming them.” EduCare in Turin, the Esserci Center in Reggio Emilia, and the Passo dopo Passo Foundation in Sesto San Giovanni … these are places where adults too learn to question themselves, and to grow alongside their children.
Girls and STEM: Bridging the Cultural Divide
In a classroom in Lucca, a group of girls is working on an applied robotics project. It’s one of the programs offered by Woman to Be, an association that works to introduce young women to STEM subjects, overcoming deeply rooted gender stereotypes. “It’s not enough to tell girls they can do anything. We need to offer real lived experiences where they can discover that they really can do anything,” Calvelli emphasizes. Similar projects are taking place in Palermo, with ARCI Le Giuggiole, and in Pomezia, with We Make Lad. These programs aren’t just about technical competence, but also about building confidence and autonomy.
The Limits of Cultural Change
Gĕnĕras’ work, however, is not without its obstacles. “Projects often face initial mistrust from principals, teachers, and parents,” Michela explains. “Sometimes they need to be adapted and supported step by step. Educational change is slow and requires patience. Teachers, who are often trained theoretically, struggle to sustain ongoing transformational processes. Schools today are full of culture but lacking in motivation. Many teachers are exhausted, crushed by the bureaucratic burden they have to endure, and have difficulty coping with change. And many small organizations struggle to communicate their values and secure funding because of a lack of organizational and communication skills.
Trust as a profound investment
Michela knows well that building trust requires time, patience, and a willingness to participate in the process. “Ours is not a model that can be replicated everywhere. But here and now, if we truly want to build a resilient and humane education system, we must get back to training people in mutual trust.” For a model like Gĕnĕras to be more widely adopted, certain specific conditions must be met.
First and foremost, a profound shift in philanthropic culture is needed – abandoning the logic of competitive tenders and control and adopting an approach of shared responsibility based on continuous dialogue and mutual listening. We also need to strengthen organizational skills in educational institutions, supporting them in building managerial and strategic bases that ensure autonomy and continuity over time. Likewise, funders have to change their role: no longer can they simply be fund providers, they have to become real supporting partners, able to help organizations throughout their growth journey. Qualitative assessment tools are needed to measure relational and transformative change, going beyond purely quantitative indicators. And finally, it takes time: educational transformation requires patience, stability, and the willingness to invest over a multi-year period.
In an Italy which is, in many ways, still trapped in a control culture, trust-based philanthropy is perhaps the only truly invisible model capable of bringing about authentic educational transformation. “We accompany travelers. We don’t decide their route for them. But we walk with them, so that they can continue to explore, to search, to build…
“Ultimately,” Michela concludes, “this is what education is all about: helping each person to find their own path.”
Assunta Corbo
Journalist and author. Since 2012, she has been studying and promoting constructive journalism in Italy. She is a LEDE Fellow and certified trainer of the Solutions Journalism Network. She woks with Italian and international newspapers. She is the founder of the Constructive Network in Italy and the author of “Empatia Digitale,” a study on communication. She is the editor-in-chief of NEWS48.
Translation by Ronnie Convery
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