The 25th Anniversary of Community Foundations by Fondazione Cariplo
Celebrating twenty-five years of community foundations by Fondazione Cariplo, born with the Community Foundations project imported in 1999 from the United States. Sixteen small foundations, very active in the Lombardy and Piedmont regions, autonomous and independent, have become true antennas for emerging needs. With a total allocation of 539 million euros (160 million in endowments, 377 million for territorial transfers and various co-financing, two million for Cariplo-supported services), the community foundations project is the largest project carried out by Fondazione Cariplo.
The 16 community foundations have reached a total endowment of around 294.5 million euros in 2023, contributing each year to support projects in the territory with a total commitment of around 36 million euros destined for non-profit organizations in the reference area.
“Community foundations have reached a mature phase, just like a person, at 25 years old. They have significant endowments and are now recognized interlocutors”, stated Giovanni Azzone, president of Fondazione Cariplo. “The people, institutions, and companies in the area know them and put their trust in them, which is the key factor for working together. They have serious professionals among the members of the bodies and among the operators and collaborators who add a soulful touch to what they do. A winning mix of managerial skills and sensitivity,” he added. This is why “Fondazione Cariplo relies on them, aware that it can count on a unique network that reaches even the most remote places, in a logic of listening and responding to needs, including those of those living in small villages where there often seems to be little or nothing, and which actually hold treasures of great value: the power of relationships that move the world and make things happen,” Azzone concluded.
One of the goals of these philanthropic institutions is to aggregate entities and resources to carry out initiatives of general interest for the community and address the needs of local communities by promoting a culture of giving and citizen participation, non-profit organizations, public entities, and private companies. They also serve as “philanthropic mediators” to raise resources (donations, grants, bequests), stimulate projects of general interest, distribute through tenders, projects outside calls, philanthropic funds), and assess the effect of supported activities.
Community Foundations represent the Italian version of Community Foundations born in North America in the early 1900s, but they are rooted in the long history of social attention typical of the Italian history. Fondazione Cariplo has adapted the model imported from the United States by activating independent and autonomous entities in its area of competence, capable of making Fondazione Cariplo’s support to smaller and less structured non-profit organizations more widespread, which often struggle to respond to philanthropic initiatives proposed by Fondazione Cariplo. In total, there are 16 community foundations active in the Lombardy region and in the provinces of Novara and Verbano Cusio Ossola (one community foundation for each province, except for the Milan Metropolitan Area where three Community Foundations operate). This year marks the 25th anniversary of the first two Community Foundations established in Italy, namely the Fondazione Comunitaria del Lecchese and the Fondazione Provinciale della Comunità Comasca.
