Building resilient communities and educated ecosystems through local partnerships
MSI Venture Philanthropy aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life long learning opportunities for all.” (SDG 4); and improving the quality of life, building resilient, inclusive, and prosperous communities through our skill development programs for ‘decent work and sustainable growth’ (SDG 8 target 8.6).
Our Mission is to strengthen the capabilities of local organisations that deliver effective, scalable solutions to education sector.
EDUCATION EXCELLENCE EVERYWHERE is our Mission.
Our approach
To maximize impact, we partner locally
Our strength as a funder lies in our tailored, hands-on approach that goes beyond funding: We seek to enable our partners’ success through the right mix of grant funding, business expertise and access to relevant networks. We offer our portfolio organizations flexible, multi-year core funding and commit to active value creation, informed by deep due diligence and delivered through local teams and Impact Fellows.
The key strength of our approach lies in providing customised hands-on support along with funding. Our goal is to enable our partners' success through the right mix of funding, business expertise, and access to relevant networks. Investing in our portfolio organizations, we provide them with flexible, multi-year funding and commit to active value creation based on our due diligence and delivered by local team, My School ITALY and MSI Impact Trust: KSKR Charitable Trust
- Local Teams, Locally Based Organizations: Together with our regional teams, our Impact Trust supports individuals who set up and run our preschool models designed to scale up in the local context and delivered by organizations that are embedded in the communities they serve.
- Flexible Core Funding: Our Impact Trust provides multi-year, tailored philanthropic capital to strengthen organizational capacity, while maintaining flexibility to respond quickly to changing needs.
- Strategic Business Expertise: MSI Venture Philanthropy commits to active value creation informed by deep due diligence and provides hands-on strategic support through our team, My School ITALY and Partners.
- Portfolio of Complementary Solutions: We develop thesis-driven strategies and build Smart classroom – with 3D assets and Digital content; Virtual Classroom – With Live teaching facility embedded in the system; and Learning Management System – with the features of assigning homework and tests and track the progress of each student.
- Long-term, Trusted Partnerships: We cultivate collaborative relationships with our portfolio organizations and actively build networks of partners around our engagements to catalyse collective impact.
Our strategy
Thesis-driven strategies across three themes
MSI Venture Philanthropy develops thesis-driven strategies across our three themes of pedagogy, technology and training. Our strategies and approach are based on a strong track record and geared toward building thematic portfolios of solutions that create synergies to enable enduring systemic change in the educational ecosystem.
Themes
Achieving lasting systemic change with curated thematic portfolios
Within each of our themes – pedagogy, technology and training, we have identified what we believe are the areas with the strongest potential for impact and most urgent need for philanthropic funding. We focus on ensuring communities gain access to early childhood and primary education, to reach the arena of international sports as well as equipping young people with skills to find gainful employment.
Investment process
MSI Impact Trust: KSKR Charitable Trust commits institutional investment and intentional value creation across the lifecycle of our engagements:
Pipeline and due diligence:
- Sourced through established global networks and local teams
- Aligned with strategy and thematic portfolios
- Deep due diligence
- Assessing business and management quality, risk and capabilities
- Assessing impact evidence, potential and risks through MSI Venture Philanthropy proprietary framework aligned with international standards
Execution and value creation:
- Multi-year, long-term grant agreement
- Focus on value-drivers such as impact, management quality and partnerships
- Strategic collaboration by joining advisory boards or strategic brain trusts
- Leveraging portfolio synergies
- Verifying impact
- Sharing learnings and networks
End of engagement:
- Average duration of engagements: five to ten years
- Transparent end-of-engagement modalities
- Modalities agreed mutually before engagement
- Coordinated wind-down of engagement
Partnerships
Central to our investment approach
MSI Venture Philanthropy cultivates collaborative, trusted and long-term partnerships with our portfolio organizations that are mutually beneficial, catalyze impact and allow for deep engagement and shared learning. Network partners include experts and peer funders, as well as strategic alliances for knowledge.
We welcome you to join our:
- Portfolio partnership
- Strategic alliances
- Partnering in our network
Impact
Measurable social and environmental impact
Our goal is simple: to ensure our portfolio organizations have the greatest possible impact. We consistently assess and measure their social and educational performance with proprietary tools and best-practice standards to provide accountability to the communities we serve as well as to our stakeholders. We join our portfolio organizations on their learning journey to tap into the full impact potential of our solutions, while also reducing risks.
Impact process
MSI Venture Philanthropy considers the impact of its actions every step of the way. We identify the benefit that proposed solutions will have on children and the youth. We apply a framework of tools, standards and templates to due diligence for detailed analysis. We take independent research into consideration.
Together with the grantees, we identify impact KPIs and targets in the grant agreement. These are subject to transparent quarterly reporting, which designates effective methods and highlights room for improvement. In working with organizations, MSI Venture Philanthropy learns to jointly evaluate impact.
Smart stats
Since launching in 2017, MSI Venture Philanthropy through its Impact Trust: KSKR Charitable Trust, has disbursed funds to 77 organizations.
- 7000 children benefited from easier access to education
- 1000 young people became more employable
- 10000 benefitting from improved education-employment ecosystem services