The analysis reveals a marked strengthening of the participating organisations’ capacities, including notable improvements in human capital, governance and financial solidity. Summary reports presenting the qualitative and quantitative evaluation findings are now available in the Evaluation Library section of the Foundation’s website.
In recent years, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo has strengthened its strategic focus on capacity building and organisational development, recognising the structural resilience of organisations as a key driver of sustainable social impact.
Within this framework, the Next Generation You (NGYou) programme has served as an experimental platform for rethinking philanthropic intervention, shifting the focus from supporting individual projects to enabling broader processes of organisational transformation.
The qualitative and quantitative evaluations conducted on the programme’s first call for proposals provide an integrated view of the changes generated both within participating organisations and in their relationship with the Foundation.
The qualitative evaluation shows that Next Generation You has acted as a catalyst for redefining the relationship between funders and beneficiary organisations. By moving beyond the traditional hierarchical and grant-based model, the programme has encouraged the development of a more collaborative and “evolutionary partnership” approach.
Within this renewed framework, the relationship with the Foundation and with strategic consultants — regarded as facilitators of organisational learning and self-awareness — evolved beyond the purely financial dynamic, creating a dedicated space for reflection and growth. This approach enabled organisations to engage in a process of critical self-assessment, leading to a deeper understanding of both their vulnerabilities and their untapped potential.
The programme’s impact extended well beyond the adoption of technical tools. It legitimised and accelerated structural changes that had often been deferred, while confirming that relationships grounded in trust and listening are key drivers of institutional strengthening, consolidating the Foundation’s role as a strategic ally.
The quantitative evaluation also paints a highly positive picture of organisational strengthening, highlighting measurable improvements across multiple dimensions of organisational capacity. The analysis combined an assessment of the gross impact (measuring the progress achieved by organisations before and after the call for proposals) with a counterfactual approach, designed to isolate the programme’s net impact, namely the changes directly attributable to the initiative rather than to broader external trends.
The analysis shows that the organisations placed a strong emphasis on investing in human capital, reflected in a 10% increase in permanent staff and a 25% rise in participation in training activities.
In terms of internal management, the finding point to a stronger culture of accountability, increased use of internal evaluation tools, and improved financial planning. Particularly significant are the results related to the financial resilience of social cooperatives. Despite a broader decline in profitability, the organisations involved demonstrated greater operational efficiency and a stronger capital structure.
This enhanced organisational robustness ultimately translated into a greater capacity for external impact, as evidenced by a 96% increase in the number of young people aged 14–29 reached through the organisations’ activities.
Although some external contextual factors negatively affected profitability, participating organisations were nevertheless able to mitigate these pressures by strengthening their internal structures and strategic planning capabilities.
A combined reading of the two evaluations confirms that strengthening the Third Sector depends not only on the acquisition of technical skills, but also on the development of adaptive and resilient organisational capacities.
The published findings therefore represent more than a reporting exercise: they constitute a valuable knowledge base for informing future philanthropic policies and fostering the debate about sustainability and innovation within the Third Sector.
Further insights into the journey made by Next Generation You can be found in the “Sviluppo organizzativo del Terzo Settore” [Organisational Development of the Third Sector] publication, available in the Evaluation Library – Philanthropy Lab section.