Fondazione Cariplo presents philanthropy for 2016

At its meeting held on November 3, 2015, Fondazione Cariplo’s Steering Board approved the Foundation’s  Framework Plan which contains the budget and guidelines for its activities in 2016. Resources for philanthropic activities won’t dwindle, quite the opposite: over €152 million are earmarked to support projects of nonprofit organizations in arts and culture, the environment, the social sphere and  scientific research.

Specifically:

€11.2 million for projects in the environmental area
€30 million for projects in the arts and culture area
€45.4 million for social and human services and volunteer work
€22.6 million for scientific research projects
€43 million for other areas and activities

'We continue in our work, consistently and without cutting resources for philanthropic activities. Quite the opposite, in fact there is a marginal increase from the target of €150 million/year that we had set ourselves. We are well-aware, however, that it is not just the amount of resources that counts but also how they are used to support projects” said Giuseppe Guzzetti, President, Fondazione Cariplo.

And here is a major novelty: Fondazione Cariplo has undertaken to carry out four big cross-cutting programs leveraging the Foundation’s multi-area competences and resources for initiatives targeted to  building innovation and generating a strong social impact. For 2016, the total budget for the four initiatives will be €7.5 million, while in the following years it will be about €10 million for each of them.

 The 4 cross-cutting programs are:

Social peripheries: a big action aimed at improving living conditions in city suburbs by strengthening social cohesion in disadvantaged areas, developing culture and social entrepreneurship, sharpening focus on  common goods and environmental consciousness, as well as through urban-planning, architecture and landscape renewal;

(De) centralizing: revitalizing rural areas, especially those in mountainous districts characterized by depopulation and abandonment. This program aims at introducing innovation and strengthening development of economic activities (crop and animal farming, tourism) in rural areas to help create new jobs, especially for young people, including by recomposing the local identity, preventing hydrogeological risk, improving quality of life;

Cariplofactory: the creation of a hub, starting from a physical space, that leveraging Fondazione Cariplo’s partners network helps increase youth employment, bringing together large companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), social enterprises, players in the culture sphere, schools, universities, vocational training establishments, fablab, incubators/accelerators and their respective skills;
Social innovation, Third Sector Capacity building and Impact investing: if effectively supported, Third Sector and emerging players in the social entrepreneurship landscape can promote innovation and modernization. Social finance/impact investing can support a social entrepreneurship eco-system strongly oriented to innovation in welfare, culture and the environment.

'In addition to our traditional philanthropic activities, we are going to kick start four big programs that strongly reflect the Foundation’s identity we have built to this day, bringing together and focusing our operational structure’s financial resources and skills on major multi-year initiatives that will innovate and test and that we want to have impact' explained Sergio Urbani, Secretary General of the Foundation.

A fresh approach adding a new challenge to the thousands projects funded by Fondazione Cariplo and conducted by the nonprofit organizations supported by our Foundation every year. The challenge of opening up new frontiers, imagining new models 'to find solutions to problems that are under everybody’s eyes but require special, extraordinary efforts and focus'.

'In the past we already had programs of this kind, e.g. social housing, cultural districts, community-based welfare – incidentally, to the latter we’ll provide another €10 million in 2016 – but never before we created a task force with staff from different areas to work on the same issue to tackle needs. This is a new multi-discipline approach that I’m sure will bear excellent fruits” - said Guzzetti. Again special attention will be given to youth and employment: “Every year thousands of young people already get a job opportunity through the projects Fondazione Cariplo conducts in collaboration with companies, institutions and non-profit organizations. Philanthropy proves to deliver tangible results. We want to continue on this path” – concluded Guzzetti.

Philanthropy as implemented by Fondazione Cariplo with its projects has already demonstrated to be able to generate thousands of job opportunities for young people. A few examples: Sportello Green Jobs a service providing advice, help and education schemes for people willing to start a green business as well as internship programs for young students pursuing a target of 150 extra-curricular internships. The new NEETwork project to help less educated youngsters aged 18 to 24 into employment through 1,000 paid internships. Startup Revolutionary Road, the program conducted in collaboration with Microsoft and Filarete Foundation, that so far has involved over 60,000 youths and trained  over 8,000 youngsters in Startup Schools, led to the formation of more than 300 startups and to the creation of more than 3,500 employment opportunities. The 6 cultural districts formed in Lombardy have involved 3,000 businesses and professionals.