Italian foundations invest primarily in Research, Education and Training (83%) but maintain their traditional commitment to Social and Health Care (64%) and Art and Culture (63%). These are the figures released at the opening of Philanthropy Experience, the first Italian event exclusively dedicated to the themes of philanthropy that involved 100 Italian foundations from all over Italy on 26 and 27 September in Catania. The research, which provided an assist for comparison, is taken from the second edition of the Observatory on Philanthropy by Granter and Italia non profit and confirms, on the one hand, the innovative role of philanthropy and, on the other, its traditional propensity to take care of the community.
This unprecedented event in Sicily captured the profound change that the world of philanthropy is going through, with a growth in terms of awareness and mission, but also with the development of an ‘Italian model’ that sees foundations increasingly engaged in partnership actions with the organisations they support and increasingly inclined to accompany the disbursement of money with that of capacity-building services. In fact, 53% of foundations accompany financial funding with greater involvement in projects and in working alongside the non-profit organisation.
Two plenary sessions, 7 technical focuses and the choice of involving foundations without any distinction linked to their form (family, corporate, community) are at the heart of the proposal that Fondazione Allianz Umana Mente, Fondazione Ébbene, Fondazione Italia per il Dono, Fondazione Mazzola, Fondazione Milan, Fondazione Time2, promoters of the initiative, have addressed to Italian philanthropy and which has yielded interesting results in terms of participation, involvement and future developments.
“Philanthropy Experience is a collective work,” explained the promoters, “that stems from the need to have a space for synthesis between training and comparison, where networking is functional to the construction of a common project and the foundations’ approach is one of sharing.
Two days characterised by working by themes. From evaluation (strategic and impact) to inclusive sport through welfare and philanthropic intermediation. Evident from several voices was a transformation of the idea of gift and the need for instruments dedicated to supporting social causes and public benefit. Just as increasingly evident is the cohesive function that philanthropy can play in bringing together the productive, social and institutional energies of the territory.
Networked foundations and foundations engaged in coordinated actions on issues. This seems to be the scenario we should probably be looking at, the result of a strategic choice of philanthropy that goes hand in hand with an awareness of its political and public role. Among the novelties launched by Philanthropy Experience was also the imminent establishment of the first network of foundations dedicated to inclusive sport, the Sport for Inclusion Network.
Closing the event was the awarding of the first Philanthropy Experience Award, a national prize dedicated to effective philanthropy and effective communication in philanthropy conceived by Italia non profit and the promoters of Philanthropy Experience themselves. Vodafone Italia Foundation and Cogeme Foundation were awarded the prize for the best social communication campaign; Fondazione Italiana Accenture ETS and The Human Safety Net were awarded the innovative and systemic capacity building prize.For the next edition, the organisers have opened a call for other foundations to host the 2023 edition.
Philanthropy Experience is realised with the support of STMicroelectronics and Spazio47, with the patronage of Acri – Associazione di Fondazioni e di Casse di Risparmio Spa (Acri.it), Assifero (Assifero.it) and Sport for Inclusion Network (sportforinclusion. org) and with the support of Allianz 901 Srl Emme Group (ageallianz.it/palermo5443/), Terra Costantino (terracostantino.it), Cantine Russo (cantinerusso.eu), Cottanera (cottanera.it), Cantine Nicosia (cantinenicosia.it)
Technical partners of the initiative: ASVAPP – Association for the Development of Evaluation and Analysis of Public Policies (asvapp.org), EVPA – European Venture Philanthropy Association (evpa.eu.com), Philanthropy 2. 0 (filantropiaduepuntozero.it), Fondazione Social Venture – Giordano dell’Amore, (fondazionesocialventuregda.it), Idib Group (idibgroup.com), Italia Non Profit (italianonprofit.it), Pubblicità Progresso (pubblicitaprogresso.org).
Cultural Partners: Fondazione OELLE Mediterraneo Antico (fondazioneoelle.com) and Fondazione Italiana Sommelier (bibenda.it)
Media Partner: Avvenire, Corriere Buone Notizie, VITA – Società Editoriale.
