The study Venture Philanthropy in Development: Dynamics, Challenges and Lessons in the Search for Greater Impact, undertaken by the newly created Global Network of Foundations Working for Development (netFWD), is a first step towards offering an in-depth insight on how foundations working for development are evolving in their search for greater impact. It looks at the journeys, enabling environment, incentives and drivers that led a number of philanthropic organisations willing to seek novel ways to address global development issues to (re)define their operating model. While they were once “grant-makers only”, considering allocated money gone for good, an increasing share of foundations are becoming real investors, i.e. expecting a financial return alongside social impact or at least seeking to recover their initial capital.