The Scuole Grandi was confraternity or sodality institutions in Venice, Italy. The primary objective and the reason for founding them as in the early 13th century were being them to as the charitable and religious organizations in the Italy. They in their organization were entirely different from the trade guilds or the various scuola piccola, as even included the persons as ranging from different occupations and ethnicities, yet the citizenship was required. Unlike the rigidly aristocratic Venetian governmental Grand Council, which for centuries only admitted a restricted number of noble families, membership in the Scuole was open to all citizens, and did not even allowed even nobles to reach at the position and status of directors.  Citizens too were allowed to include person that have the third  generation of residency in the island republic, or persons who had paid taxes in Venice for about fifteen years.

The Scuole resulted into a few institution and non noble Venetian citizens were allowed to control the powerful institutions. Their activities further enhanced to the level of and surpassed to the level of keeping the organization of processions, sponsoring festivities, distribution of money, food, and clothing to poorer members, provision of dowries to daughters, burial of paupers, and the supervision of hospitals. The Scuole were under the control of the Procurators of Venice, who there maintained a complex balance of elected offices, mirroring the structures of the Republic. There paying members were allowed to vote in the larger Capitolo that used to elect the 16 members to a supervisory Banca: a chief officer, Vicario (first deputy), Guardian da Mattin (director of processions), a scribe and twelve officers known as the Degani (two for each sestieri). A second board, known as the Zonta was there to look into the accounts of the Banca. By 1552, there were six Scuole Grandi as, Scuola Grande della Carità (founded 1260) now part of the Accademia,  Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista (founded 1261), Scuola Grande della Misericordia (founded 1308), Scuola Grande di San Marco (founded 1260), Scuola Grande di San Rocco (founded late 15th century) and Scuola Grande di San Teodoro (founded 1530 or 1552).

At the organization basis at the premises it involved as an androne, or meeting hall for the provision of charity; the upper floor there kept the  salone as employed for the purppe of meeting the Capitolo and a smaller room, the albergo, as employed for meetings of the Banca and Zonta.