Executive summary
Open chapter ↗A portfolio can look perfectly green, a sustainability report can be beautifully designed, and an investor presentation can overflow with reassuring language…
Independent research dossierUpdated 16 October 2026
ALESSANDROSANNINI.NET / DOSSIERS
Venture Impact & Philanthropy
Capital promising to change the world should prove what it changed.
An independent dossier on investor contribution, catalytic grant-making, blended finance, private equity, impact governance and the Space Economy.
Independent reading for Impact Investing & Venture Philanthropy (UniFI B031711 · 2026/27)
What would have changed without this particular investor, for whom and against which realistic alternative?
Method and limitations. Research evidence, institutional reporting, surveys and the author’s own analysis are kept distinct. Illustrative scenarios are not actual investments or impact evaluations.
English editorial adaptation: the Italian original contains further examples and discussion. Sources, claims and methodological distinctions are retained.
One UniFI course: Impact Investing & Venture Philanthropy (B031711)
An independent research dossier by Alessandro Sannini, adjunct professor for the UniFI teaching unit Impact Investing & Venture Philanthropy (course B031711, academic year 2026/2027). It explores investor contribution, catalytic grants, blended finance and space-enabled services. A supplementary resource also for students of this specific course; it is not official University of Florence teaching material.
01 / 10
Chapters
01Foundations and additionality3
Investor impact and additionality
Open chapter ↗Imagine a profitable provider of flood-risk intelligence. A buyout fund buys a 60% stake from the previous shareholders, injects no new capital, changes no…
Capital, stewardship and private equity
Open chapter ↗A logo in the cap table is not an impact mechanism. Capital must make new resources available, change their cost, redirect expenditure, alter governance or…
02Capital and instruments3
Venture philanthropy and catalytic grants
Open chapter ↗Philanthropy can support activities with real public value even when no end-user could repay the capital. Venture philanthropy adds active assistance…
Blended finance and financial additionality
Open chapter ↗Blended finance is an economic negotiation over loss allocation, upside, veto rights and who pays when outcomes fail. The objective is not to maximise…
Governance and impact risk
Open chapter ↗Indicators are necessary; allowing them to become the mission is dangerous. A programme optimised for 'users reached' may choose the easiest cases. A…
03Space Economy and public value2
Space Economy: from technology to public value
Open chapter ↗Satellites can observe phenomena that would be prohibitively expensive to measure from the ground. They cannot issue a public procurement order, train a…
Europe and Italy: data and institutions
Open chapter ↗Europe possesses world-class space programmes, geospatial capabilities and technical expertise. But an operational service also needs a buyer, procurement…
04Measurement and conclusions2
Measurement, counterfactuals and verification
Open chapter ↗The most attractive impact figures are often the least informative: images processed, hectares covered, nominal users reached or funding 'mobilised'. They may…
Conclusions: evidence before promises
Open chapter ↗Finance measures returns with relative precision; its vocabulary of impact often runs faster than its instruments. That is not a reason to abandon impact…