Philanthropy in Italy is growing: the era of selfishness is ending.

The gap between rich and poor is growing, but so are donations from philanthropists. It's true, as the Non Sprecare manifesto claims, that the future lies in sharing and that selfishness is over.

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philanthropy Italy

PHILANTHROPY DATA –

In the face of an increasingly divided between rich and poor, European magnates they are increasing their donationsAccording to the latest analysis of the Lang Italia Foundation Study Center – drawn up on the basis of data from the OECD, Oxfam, Sole 24 Ore, BNP Paribas, and the Fondation de France – in Italy, one in three philanthropists believes in “causes of national importance,” but above all, allocates a fifth of their annual earnings to charitable donations.

This confirms an important point of the MANIFESTO of Do Not Waste: the future it's really in the share and what the study reports is a sign that theSelfishness it's over.

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GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR –

Over the past three years, the gap between rich and poor has widened. This trend has also affected Italy: in 2015, only 20% of Italians owned 61,6% of the wealth, and another 20% just under 20,9%. This means that 40% of the wealthiest Italians control over 80% of the national wealth.

Wealth is, therefore, in the hands of very few people who, fortunately, are more generous than you might think.

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PHILANTHROPIC DONATIONS –

I Italian donors correspond to the 30% of the total population. Far behind countries like Switzerland where the percentage rises to 70% or the Netherlands (85%).

However, despite the small number of people willing to donate their money, our country ranks third in terms of individual donations, which total €2.600 billion annually. Only Germany (€4.160) and the United Kingdom (€11.532) surpass us.

This fact has a reason: local tycoons have in fact positively changed their donations by increasing the amount and allocating them primarily to projects related to our region.

STRATEGIC PHILANTHROPY –

“In this period the terms philanthropy, venture philanthropy, outcome based, capacity building philanthropy are used and we see the implementation of social finance initiatives – explains Lucia Martina, Secretary General of the Lang Italia Foundation –. But it's impossible to navigate this increasingly complex landscape without starting from the individual and their intention to take proactive action: that is, from those—be they individuals, families, foundations, or businesses—who hold assets with which they wish to bring about real social change. This is where the perspective of strategic philanthropy comes into play, which defines a medium- to long-term path aimed at pursuing a clearly defined goal, the concrete realization of a vision, a result that stems from the very will of the philanthropist or social investor: the original driving force.

These topics will also be addressed during the third edition of Lang Philanthropy Day, which will be held on November 19th in Milan (Palazzo Clerici). This event will explore the effectiveness of philanthropic action and social impact assessment with key figures in the sector.

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