The Bocconi Community Invests in the Future

Thanks to more than 6,700 Donors, €90 million was raised between 2021 and 2025, in addition to the more than €20 million in new philanthropic commitments pledged since the beginning of 2026. Together, these contributions bring the total for the Bocconi: A Place for the Future fundraising campaign to more than €110 million. Through the campaign, the University aims to raise €200 million by 2030, to expand opportunities for students, support research and strengthen Bocconi’s capacity to generate impact in society.

The progress of the campaign, presented at the Opening Ceremony of the 2026–2027 Academic Year, reflects the participation of an international community of Alumni, individuals, companies, foundations and organizations. By investing in Bocconi’s development projects, they help generate new knowledge, expand opportunities and create a tangible impact in society.

Founded by Ferdinando Bocconi in 1902, Bocconi is a nonprofit university acting for the exclusive purpose of social benefit. This gives philanthropy a clear meaning: funds raised do not generate profit to be distributed but are allocated to the University’s mission, creating opportunities for students and advancing research, knowledge and development. Any gains or operating surpluses are reinvested exclusively in the University’s institutional activities.

“A Place for the Future is rooted in a clear belief: the future is not something to wait for, but something that is built through concrete choices. Bocconi is where this vision takes shape,” says Antonella Carù, Bocconi Dean for Development and Alumni Relations. “Every gift can become support for students, a new research project, a Chair, a Laboratory or a space where people and ideas can grow. Philanthropy does more than support projects. It creates opportunities that last and multiplies the University’s impact over time.”

Almost Half of Funds Support Students

Student support is one of the campaign’s main priorities. Between 2021 and 2025, 47% of the funds raised was allocated to tuition waivers, scholarships and other forms of support for anyone who wants to build their future at Bocconi. Of the gifts reserved for students, 80% focused on initiatives directly linked to social mobility and designed to make Bocconi increasingly accessible to everyone with the merit and ability to succeed, regardless of their circumstances.

During the 2025–2026 academic year, more than 380 students received support thanks to Donors. Among first-year students, 136 were able to begin their Bocconi journey with philanthropic support, within a broader financial aid system in which one in three students receives financial assistance. 

“Talent is everywhere, but opportunities are still not widespread enough,” Carù continues. “For this reason, Donor support is not peripheral to the University’s mission. It is one of the ways Bocconi gives students from underprivileged backgrounds the sense of security they need to successfully navigate their university journey. A scholarship does more than change the life of the person who receives it: it can reshape a family’s expectations, open up possibilities within a community and have an impact that continues long after graduation.” 

Alongside the tuition waivers and scholarships funded each year, forms of support designed to last farther into the future are also expanding. These include permanent endowment funds, in which gifted funds are permanently allocated to the University and generate resources over time. They may establish, for example, scholarships, tuition waivers, Chairs or research activities. There are also named student support funds and bequests. These different forms of giving can all transform a gift into a commitment spanning generations.

Initiatives made possible over the past year include the permanent tuition waivers established through Carlo Beccalli’s bequest, as well as contributions made by Carlo Bronzini Vender and by Filippo Gori and Silvia Pezzini to the endowment fund for scholarships and tuition waivers. Fondazione Leonardo Del Vecchio is supporting the Leonardo Del Vecchio Students Award and student participation in the Summer School, while the WE Dream fund, created by Emilia Fazzalari and Wyc Grousbeck, supports young women from Calabria facing particularly challenging circumstances.

These initiatives are complemented by support from Fondazione Bocconi, Fondazione Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi and Vittorio Bertazzoni, as well as scholarships established through the UK Fund with gifts from Mattia Caprioli, Erdit Hoxha, Gilberto Pozzi and Michele Titi Cappelli, and Simona Garelli Zampa and Claudio Zampa.

From Scholarships to Research

A Place for the Future supports more than access to education. Fundraising also contributes to the development of faculty, research and infrastructure through which the University produces and disseminates knowledge. 

Today, Bocconi’s philanthropic ecosystem includes 24 named Chairs and Professorships, nine Research Centers and Laboratories established through gifts, and 56 philanthropically named spaces on campus.

Over the past year, support has strengthened research areas that are critical to the future of the economy and society, focusing on topics including collaborative artificial intelligence, social policy, the energy transition and innovation, as well as entrepreneurship and the development of early-career researchers.

Fondazione Bocconi, Fondazione Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi and the Tech Europe Foundation have made a specific contribution to developing academic talent by supporting early-career researchers who are working to produce new knowledge and transform it into impact for society.

The Francesco Merloni Chair in Entrepreneurship will be inaugurated in 2026. Established by Fondazione Aristide Merloni, it will be held by Andrea Fosfuri, PhD School Dean and Dean for Innovation. It joins other named Chairs and programs supported by companies and foundations, including AIdAF, Algebris, Antin Infrastructure Partners, AXA Research Fund, BNP Paribas Group, Campari Group, De Agostini, Deutsche Bank, Enel Foundation, Eni, EY, Fondazione Achille e Giulia Boroli, Fondazione Agnelli, Fondazione Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi, Generali, Intesa Sanpaolo, KPMG and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. 

“Supporting a Chair, a Laboratory or an early-career researcher means investing in society’s ability to understand complex phenomena and make better decisions,” Carù emphasizes. “University research requires independence, continuity and time. Philanthropy makes it possible to create these conditions and address questions that may not yield immediate results but are crucial to the future.”

A Community that Gives Back 

The campaign is based on a global community of Alumni, Donors and partners. In 2025, more than 80% of individual Donors were Bocconi Alumni. This figure reflects a bond with the University that endures beyond graduation, translating into a commitment to pass opportunities on to future generations.

Participation in the campaign can take many forms, including individual gifts, permanent funds, bequests, partnerships with companies and foundations, student support and research funding. In every case, the principle is the same. What a person or organization has received is transformed into opportunities for others and impact for society.

The campaign’s international reach has grown through both Friends of Bocconi University in the US and the UK Fund in the United Kingdom. In November 2025, London hosted the inaugural Bocconi Gala, in honor of Davide Serra and made possible by the support of Algebris. On 24 September 2026, the second edition of the Friends of Bocconi Benefit Gala will be held in New York, which will celebrate Carlo Bronzini Vender’s exemplary commitment, as well as that of Filippo Gori and Silvia Pezzini.

“The strength of the campaign lies not only in the amount raised, but also in the quality and extent of engagement,” Carù concludes. “Alumni, companies, foundations, families and friends of the University share a responsibility: to ensure that Bocconi continues to be a place where talent finds opportunity, knowledge becomes impact and what one generation has received can be given back to the next.”

The Goal for 2030

A Place for the Future is built around three main priorities: expanding access and supporting talent; strengthening research, faculty and the production of relevant knowledge; and investing in the spaces and infrastructure that enable the University community to grow and collaborate.

The goal is to raise €200 million by 2030, increasing Bocconi’s capacity, as a nonprofit university, to reinvest over the long term in students, research and infrastructure in support of its mission. Talent needs opportunity and the future needs a place where it can take shape.