Cariplo’s response to the Coronavirus health emergency

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Fondazione Cariplo has been deploying all-hands-on-deck efforts with stronger resolve than ever, helping the hardest hit communities and population groups through its support to nonprofit organizations.

€ 15 million committed by Fondazione Cariplo to respond to the covid-19 emergency, that included support to Community Foundations in Lombardy that helped raise over € 54 million so far. In addition to the initial € 2 million special fund, a call for proposals to support research on coronavirus, the Italy-China airbridge for medical supplies, numerous initiatives tackling emergent poverty and new needs, additional € 9.5 million released in April to support local communities.

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Main actions deployed by Fondazione Cariplo, in collaboration with local Community Foundations and Institutions, to respond to the coronavirus outbreak:

•       launch of a € 2 million special fund: a first contribution of around € 1 million has been promptly released in March to Community Foundations based in Lombardy and in the provinces of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Novara, to foster local fundraising campaigns. Resources raised so far amount to € 54 million, thanks to over 80,000 donations from citizens and companies, to tackle the health emergency with medical equipment and devices and support services to the most vulnerable (elderly and people with disabilities)

•       commitment of € 2 million to a call for proposals to support research on covid-19, together with the Lombardy Region and Fondazione Veronesi (overall budget amounts to € 7.5 million)

•       € 500,000 support to the humanitarian air bridge Beijing-Malpensa, in collaboration with the China-Italy Philanthropy Forum and the Italian Embassy in China, for the provision of substantial medical supplies (masks, vests, ventilators)

•       support to the activation of 8 HUBs for distribution of food to people in need, through Qu.Bì - a programme launched by Fondazione Cariplo in 2017 - and its network of 600 organisations already engaged in the alleviation of over 20,000 children poverty in the city of Milan  

•       partnership with Assolombarda to provide support to Lombard nonprofit organisations negotiating purchase of medical equipment (e.g. dealing with obstacles and risks related to pricing, payments, tax, logistics, customs clearance)  

•       participation to the € 5 million guarantee fund promoted by ACRI, Association of Italian Banking Foundations, to support nonprofit organisations affected by the coronavirus outbreak 

•       measures that ease execution of projects for which funding has already been granted and based on which grantees have already made plans and pledges, spanning from a leaner bureaucracy to the provision of greater liquidity (estimated € 10 million in 2020) than the amount they would usually get under ordinary procedures

•       re-allocation of € 9.5 million formerly approved for local support to emergent local needs arising from the coronavirus crisis. These resources will be managed in collaboration with the sixteen Community Foundations’ network, with lean procedures and prompt liquidity needs in mind

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