The plum blossom, which flowers in the depth of winter.
Building redevelopment, land development and trading, income-producing space. Reuse first, new-build second.
Gĕnĕras · from the Latin generāre, “you generate”
Two souls, one universe.
To generate common good
Investing with patience
The Holding, a Benefit Corporation. Our own capital in companies, real estate and innovation, to generate lasting value.
60+active investments
86.1B Impact score
2021Benefit Corporation
At the heart
one project, one family
Educating with trust
The Group's Foundation, since 2015. It supports, with trust, the schools and non-profits that are changing education in Italy.
87educational organisations supported
60k+people reached
2015year founded
Each holds a seed of the other. Together, they are Gĕnĕras.
MB
Michele Battista
CEO of the holding · Creator and co-founder of Gĕnĕras Corporate and Gĕnĕras Foundation
MC
Michela Calvelli
Executive President of the Foundation · Creator and co-founder of Gĕnĕras Foundation, co-founder of Gĕnĕras Corporate
Gĕnĕras Corporate · Benefit Corporation
Patient capital for companies that improve the lives of people.
We invest directly, in club deals alongside other private investors, or through selected funds. We choose companies and projects able to create economic value and, at the same time, a positive impact on people and places.
9
Real estate
BaikaBuilding redevelopment, residential development, income-producing property and land.
24
Companies and club deals
BanyanStakes in SMEs and scale-ups, often in club deals with other private investors.
15
PE and VC funds
BanyanCommitments to selected private equity and venture capital funds in Italy, Europe and the United States.
12+
Startups and innovation
UdumbaraHigh-impact early-stage startups and energy-transition projects.
More than 60 active investments. Portfolio company names are shared with counterparties during due diligence, under a confidentiality agreement.
The tree that grows by sending down roots that become new trunks.
Stakes in SMEs and scale-ups, club deals with private investors, commitments to private equity and venture capital funds.
The flower that, in Buddhist tradition, blooms once every three thousand years.
Innovative early-stage startups with high social or environmental impact: capital, expertise and an international network.
Holding
The trunk that holds the branches together.
Gĕnĕras Corporate, a Benefit Corporation, sets strategy, governance and capital allocation for every company in the group, and supports the Foundation.
How we work
Our own capital
We invest private resources. Our decisions do not depend on third-party fundraising or on a fund's maturity.
Time to grow
We support experimentation and respect development timelines, with stable teams and long-term goals.
Clear agreements
Governance, reporting and roles agreed in writing before we invest.
Firm exclusions
No dealings with anyone who harms fundamental rights, health, the environment or civil liberties, or who exploits labour.
2026 strategic lines
Family-Centric Real Estate
Homes designed for families: energy efficiency, services, ties with the community.
Business Opportunity ESG
Companies and funds assessed with an ESG checklist in every memo, plus new channels with edtech incubators and universities.
Preventive Health & Wellness
Infrastructure for prevention and wellbeing, built with clinical operators.
Framework 3R
Every opportunity goes through a one-page screen with pass/fail criteria, exclusions and guiding questions, plus six recurring indicators on people, community and environment.
Common benefit
Measured every year, in public.
Our articles of association set seven common-benefit purposes. Every year we publish a report assessed with B Lab's B Impact Assessment, an external and independent standard, and we also share what did not go as we hoped.
B Impact Assessment score
By report year. Above 80 points, a company creates significant value for its community and territory.
GĕnĕrasNational average 67.8Sector average 80.9
62.8points in the Community area, the strongest in our profile
400+team hours donated to the Foundation in 2024, up from 120 in 2022
10/10“Mission lock” in the Governance area
67%of 2021 investments aligned with the environmental purpose
PURPOSE 1
Inclusive capitalism
Quality and consistency of investments over volume.
PURPOSE 2
Quality of life
Home, education, health, with the family at the centre.
PURPOSE 3
Patient capital
Screening, exclusions, ESG clauses, human rights and gender equality.
PURPOSE 4
Responsibility to everyone
Listening to the team, individual training, responsible suppliers.
PURPOSE 5
Social responsibility
Pro bono time and support for the Foundation; the Assessment developed with the Italian Evaluation Institute.
PURPOSE 6
Entrepreneurship and SDGs
Every new investment linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.
PURPOSE 7
Nature and ecosystems
Community-owned solar, environmental criteria, lower consumption and less waste.
Gĕnĕras Foundation · Non-profit (Onlus ETS) · since 2015
Education is the lever that generates all the others.
The Group's Foundation, established in Milan in 2015. We nurture the desire to educate, because we believe that educating means bringing out each person's unique potential. Our mission: to help transform the education system, breaking rigid patterns and moving beyond outdated models.
One seed for each of the 87 educational organisations supported since 2021.
87educational organisations supported
60k+people reached
2,670schools and services in the network
15–20organisations supported each year
Why education
Italy's education crisis is also a crisis of relationships.
Early school leaving is falling, but skills are getting worse and regional inequalities remain sharp. Many social fragilities have educational roots: that is why we chose to work there.
41.4%
of lower-secondary students lack sufficient skills in Italian (34.4% in 2017/18)
ISTAT, BES 202444.3%
do not reach adequate levels in maths (39.3% in 2017/18)
ISTAT, BES 20243.9%
of GDP invested in education, against an OECD average of 4.7%
OECD, Education at a Glance 202529%
of the targets of Goal 4 “Quality education” are considered achievable by 2030
ASviS Report 2025
Our impact thesis
Three convictions guide our strategy.
1Education is a generative lever
Working on the educational relationship means acting on the roots of social fragility, not only on its effects.
2Italy's educational heritage is rich, but barely visible
Many effective practices remain marginal and under-supported. They often start in small, peripheral, courageous organisations.
3Trust unlocks potential
Fairer, more accessible philanthropic models allow educational organisations to grow over time.
Our philanthropic model
Trust-based philanthropy, adapted to Italy.
We do not fund isolated projects: we support the educational mission of the organisations we walk alongside. Lean processes, little bureaucracy and structured listening as a tool for both assessment and relationship. Beyond funding, we offer coaching, dialogue, peer exchange and shared reading of data.
We got here by listening to the organisations from our first calls and studying international models, from Systemic Philanthropy to Trust-Based Philanthropy.
Before it is a grant, our support is a relationship. It begins when an organisation chooses to be known and we choose to listen.
Trust
It is the starting point. Educators hold deep, precious knowledge: we listen to it, reduce red tape and give proportionate support.
Accessibility
Clear processes and equal opportunities, even for the smallest, newest and least structured organisations.
Equity
Support follows real needs, not the technical ability to write an application. Southern Italy is a deliberate priority.
Accompaniment
An ongoing relationship of listening and mutual growth that does not end with a bank transfer.
Transparency
Criteria, processes and choices made public, for the organisations we support and for the wider philanthropic world.
Continuous learning
We listen, reflect and improve. Every year we share a learning report.
The relationship cycle
From first glance to shared learning.
1
Edumappa
The national map of educational organisations, free and open to all. It is a public good and our first glance.
2
Assessment
A self-assessment created with the Italian Evaluation Institute. It is not an application and has no thresholds: it is a snapshot that is useful above all to those who complete it.
3
Integrated reading
We cross three sources: the Assessment, the organisation's documents and history, and a direct conversation.
4
The grant
A spark, not a finish line: a contribution to the organisation's mission, built together around shared priorities.
5
Reporting back
Reporting is a conversation, not a form. Difficulties interest us as much as successes.
What we look for
We bet on the quality of the educational vision, regardless of size.
Schools of every level, early-childhood services and third-sector organisations, with at least 80% of their activities in education.
A recognisable educational vision
Authentic and consistent, visible in the method and in the words used to speak about children and young people.
The educational relationship as a lever
Direct experience before transmitting notions, curiosity before performance.
A view of the system
Alliances, networks, willingness to share what has been learned.
Care for method, even with few resources
Ongoing training, documented practice, reflection on mistakes.
What we have done
Ten years alongside educators.
2015–2019
Listening as our first method
Working with many different non-profits, we discover that many fragilities have educational roots.
2020
Edunauta is born
Edumappa, podcasts, blog and the Edunauta Manifesto: relationship, exploration, connection.
2021 and 2023
Rotte Educative and Alleanza Educativa
Two calls for ideas and 87 educational organisations supported, 15–20 each year.
2025
The Assessment
Launched in May: the first free self-assessment tool for schools and educational non-profits.
2025–26
The first trust-based grants
The new method put to the test, with field visits to the organisations we support.
Strategic Framework 2026–2028
Three goals, with public indicators. By 2030 we dream of Edunauta becoming the country's educational compass.
Goal 1
Strengthen the quality, continuity and sustainability of educational organisations
- 150 new Assessments every year
- 15–20 schools and organisations supported every year
- At least 80% very satisfied with the relationship
- At least 40% improve in 3 Assessment areas
Goal 2
Make Italy's educational heritage visible, accessible and connected
- +30% new Edumappa registrations every year
- At least 2 new local networks mapped every year
- +25% networking proposals from the community
- +30% visits to edunauta.it
Goal 3
A fairer, more connected and collaborative philanthropic ecosystem
- 2–3 partnerships with foundations, philanthropic bodies or philanthropists
- At least 3 philanthropic roundtables over three years
- An annual learning and transparency report
- Support criteria and model published every year
We contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals4 Quality education10 Reduced inequalities11 Sustainable communities17 Partnership
We do not wish to be big. We wish to be useful and present. A horizon is not a destination: it is a direction.
Our operating programme
Edunauta
It is where the Foundation meets educators: Edumappa, the Assessment, our support, more than 90 podcast episodes and a blog that “writes not to give instructions, but to bring things into focus”.
All our work with schools and non-profits lives on www.edunauta.it
What we believe
Sow with care, walk together, do good well. That is how we try to leave the world a little better than we found it.
We can choose what we sow, but we are bound to reap what we have planted.
Taoist proverbThat is why we choose carefully where to put our capital and time, and we stay close to what we have sown.Alone we go faster, together we go further.
African proverbClub deals, specialised partners, a network of educators: we do not try to do everything alone.It is not enough to do good; one must also do it well.
Denis DiderotWe measure our impact against external standards and publish the results, even when they are not what we hoped for.
To generate
sustainabilityhoperesponsibilitysocial redemptionforesightsolidaritycommon goodpossibilitydevelopmentsharing
These are the pillars of our two souls: in red those of Gĕnĕras Corporate, in blue those of Gĕnĕras Foundation. We have woven them together because each holds up the other: development without solidarity does not last, hope without responsibility does not build. To generate, for us, is to hold them together.
Our story
First the Foundation, then the company. Since then, they have grown together.
For us, resources are a current that flows through people: they must be put back into circulation so that they generate new possibilities.
2015
Foundation
Gĕnĕras Foundation is born
In Milan, Michela Calvelli and Michele Battista establish an independent, non-political and non-denominational foundation serving social causes.
2019
Corporate
Gĕnĕras Corporate is born
Michele Battista conceives the holding and founds it with Michela Calvelli. The Foundation designs Edumappa.
2020
Foundation
Edunauta begins
On 30 May the programme supporting parents, educators and schools is launched.
2021
Corporate
We become a Benefit Corporation
Seven common-benefit purposes enter our articles. First B Impact Assessment: 81.9. The Rotte Educative call is launched.
2023
Foundation and Corporate
Alleanza Educativa, B Impact 86.1
Second call for educational organisations. The holding's impact score rises above the sector average.
2025
Foundation
Philanthropy built on trust
The Assessment is created with the Italian Evaluation Institute. No more project-based calls: support grows out of the relationship.
Today
Gĕnĕras
60+ investments, 80+ non-profits supported, one universe
Three strategic lines for the Corporate, a framework to 2028 for the Foundation, the same people and the same values since the beginning.
Our people
We come from different paths. A shared way of working holds us together.
Business, psychology, communication, international cooperation, pedagogy. What we share is care, curiosity and attention to relationships.
MB
Michele Battista
CEO of the holding · Creator and co-founder of Gĕnĕras Corporate and Gĕnĕras Foundation
After a career in ICT and volunteering, he brought both souls of Gĕnĕras to life.
Superpower: PRAGMATISM
He grounds ideas that for others would stay in the clouds, and turns them into strategies, numbers and plans.
MC
Michela Calvelli
Executive President of the Foundation · Creator and co-founder of Gĕnĕras Foundation, co-founder of Gĕnĕras Corporate
She believes in every educator's innate ability to make a difference.
Superpower: LISTENING
She senses a project's potential before she even reads its KPIs. And she is usually right.
AD
Annalisa Donesana
Our guardian angel · Studio ACTA
Mentor and guardian: she watches over the choices, the numbers and the course of both souls.
Superpower: FORESIGHT
She can see light years ahead while everyone else is thinking only about next quarter... But in the end, she’s always lying in wait for you.
PF
Paola Farris
Secretary General
She teaches Project Cycle Management at Università Cattolica and leads strategy, philanthropy and evaluation.
Superpower: METHOD
She turns big ideas into concrete steps, and makes sure no one gets lost along the way.
CD
Claudia Di Natale
Head of Communications
Twenty years in communications, in the non-profit sector since 2019. Above all, she believes in people.
Superpower: STORYTELLING
She finds the right story even where others see only a list of activities.
FG
Fabio Giranzani
Community data & strategy
A philosopher with management experience. He works on impact evaluation and community research.
Superpower: SYNTHESIS
From a thousand data points he draws the three questions that really matter, and the answers that change decisions.
GM
Gaia Miglietti
Head of Edumappa
Educationalist and social project designer, trained in grant writing and storytelling.
Superpower: ORIENTATION
She knows Italy's educational practices like the back of her hand: ask her about a method and she will tell you where to see it in action.
Let's work together
There is a place for you in our universe.
Whether you have a company to grow, a school to strengthen or a talent to share, our door is open.
You have a company, a property, an idea
We look for entrepreneurs and partners to build with over time, with clear agreements and shared values.
- SMEs and scale-ups
- Properties to redevelop
- High-impact startups
- Club-deal co-investors
You educate, every day
Schools, non-profits, local networks, even small or newly founded. The first step is free.
- Register on Edumappa
- Free Assessment
- Feedback conversation
- Funding and accompaniment
You want to join us
Professionals, educators, philanthropists, volunteers. If you recognise yourself in these values, we want to meet you.
- Open application
- Pro bono collaboration
- Shared philanthropy
- Partnerships between foundations
Contact
Come and see us.
The Corporate and the Foundation share the same home, at the Bovisatech technology hub in Milan. We reply to everyone, and what you tell us stays confidential.
- Address
- Via Durando 39, 20158 Milano
Bovisa station (FNM) 500 m · M3 Dergano 1.5 km - info@generas.it
- Edunauta
- info@edunauta.it
- Phone
- +39 351 89 87 919
- Hours
- Mon–Fri, 10:00–12:00 and 14:30–16:00