Donations in Italy
In sponsorship with the Italian Institute of donation (IID)
- Introdution - Donations in Italy
- The Charter of Donations
- The Italian Institute of Donations
- Objectives and mission
- The process of membership and the brand "Donare con fiducia"
- The partners: candidates, members, founders and supporters
- The financial support to the initiative: Cariplo Foundation and Company of S. Paolo
- The network: Agency of Onlus, ICFO, CSV.net, National Association of NGO, Sodalitas
- The services offered to people and to the great donors: "The expert’s reply" and "Filo diretto con il donatore"
- The research: always at the front to follow the trends of the sector
- The National Conference of Donations: annual meeting on the themes of transparent donations and the fundraising ethics
- How to contact the Italian Institute of Donations (IID)
1. Introdution - Donations in Italy
In the past decade a lot of initiatives marked the development of Non-Profit in Italy (more than 50% of the non-profit institutions registered in 1999 by the Istat were born in that period). Important legislative actions recognized and regulated the sector. Representative bodies were born. Also professional figures and employment were created. Studies, researches and university departments, dedicated to the sector, developed. And finally the relationships with the business world were intensified. Although donations, offers and legacies cover a modest part of the income of non-profit organizations, whereas the income from state-financed projects and agreements or the sale of goods and services prevail, the income from private citizens, businesses and institutions seems to be growing. This is the most dynamic component towards which the institutions are moving in order to implement their programmes and initiatives. In this context, the Charter of Donations and the Institute that manages it offer to those who raise funds the opportunity to do it in transparency, and to those who give funds the guarantee that they will be used fairly, paying attention to the efficiency and equity, in compliance with the principles of ethics of their activities. Some single episodes have often discredited the reputation of the sector. Having also in Italy – as there have been for years in most of the developed countries – a common ethic reference, known and guaranteed, and an institution able to manage is a precious resource for those organizations that, in most cases, operate fairly.
2. The Charter of Donations
Officially introduced in 1998 and published the following year, the Charter of Donations is the first Italian code for the self-regulation of the fundraising in Non-Profit, and established the rules aimed at guaranteeing the fair, transparent and efficient management of the funds used by non-profit organizations to accomplish their solidarity objectives and social and cultural promotion.
The document, referred to other solid experiences in France, Germany and Britain, is sponsored by the European Commission and it represents a collaboration that, since 1996, has converged the efforts of non-profit professionals, university representatives, agencies, associations and Third Sector organizations.
Sodalitas, the Third Sector Permanent Forum and the Summit of Solidarity are the promoters, and the scientific support to the project has been guaranteed by the Centre for Ethics, Law and Economics (Cele) of Carlo Cattaneo from Castellanza University (VA).
The Charter is a further reinforcement to the legitimacy of a more and more crucial sector for the wellbeing of the community, while the direct intervention of the government is reducing but compensated by the development of organizations aimed at the public wellbeing.
The document, in 30 articles, deals with the main points of the relationship between donors and organizations: the financial transparency and the quality of the messages, the fundraising campaigns, the effectiveness assessment of the initiatives and the economic management.
In particular, the articles establish in details the rights of the donors and the addressees of the social activities by the non-profit organizations, and they also establish the responsibilities of the organizations and the rules for fundraising and their accounts. Appropriately managed and known, the Charter of Donations can contribute to:
- promote the growth of donations in trust and transparency by the non-profit organizations (context benefit);
- create a “certified” reputation aimed at emulation showing donors the excellent non-profit organizations (emulation of excellent attitudes);
- enhance the culture of transparency within Non-Profit and the informed and aware choice among donors.
After contributing to some Italian non-profit organizations, the Charter has been active since 1999 and, five years later, in 2004, the Italian Institute of Donations (IID) was created with the aim of manage and promote it.
3. The Italian Institute of Donations
The Italian Institute of Donations (IID) is a non-profit, apolitical and non-confessional organization founded in 2004 by the three Italian non-profit organizations: the Third Sector of the Permanent Forum, Sodalitas and Solidarity Summit.
The IID, as referred to the Charter of Donations, regulates and formalizes the fair and excellent attitudes by non-profit organizations, involves the subjects (donors, non-profit organizations, beneficiaries, institutions) in a multi-stakeholder logic, and commits itself to diffuse and enhance the label “Donare con fiducia” (Donate with trust) towards non-profit organizations and donors.
In order to do it, the Institute commits itself to reassure the donor about the application of fair rules on fundraising by non-profit organizations, to guarantee that the funds raised are managed in the name of competence, seriousness and transparency, and to assess periodically (yearly) the good practices, in order to assure they will be constantly undertaken.
After simple abut rigorous assessments, the Institute will assign the label “Donare con fiducia” (Donate with trust) to the non-profit organizations that will request it, as a sign of the good practices towards their beneficiaries.
At the end of the assessment process, the non-profit organizations that join the IID sign the Charter and commit themselves to respect the highest standards in their actions, adopting practices that guarantee a verified and objective credibility. The Institute then acts as an important and institutional infrastructure that regulates and supports the non-profit sector on a national level, playing a role never covered before in Italy.
4. Objectives and mission
Inspired by values of trust, transparency, fairness, equity, reliability, independence and impartiality, the IID aims at contributing to the diffusion of excellent ethical attitudes among non-profit organizations, helping them to qualify their activities through an assessment in compliance with the principles of the Charter of Donations.
Moreover, the Institute also aims at promoting guarantee and trust around the donations, enhancing the Third Sector and protecting donors’ rights to precise and transparent information, enabling them to assess the effectiveness of their projects and the economic managements of non-profit organizations.
5. The process of membership and the label "Donare con fiducia"
The non-profit organizations, that freely decide to submit themselves to the assessment of conformity to the ethical principles of the Charter of Donations, start a process at the end of which hey will obtain the label “Donare con fiducia” (Donate with trust), as a confirmation of their good practices towards their beneficiaries. The Institute, with the aid of non-profit professionals, has developed the “Guidelines to the assessment of the Charter of Donations”, a handbook that enables them to self-assess their activities.
The Institute assists the non-profit organizations that join the assessment process through consulting the former managers that volunteer for Sodalitas, the association for the social business development.
At the end of the preparation stage, during which the non-profit organization plays a role as Candidate Partner, an official assessment of the conformity to the principles of the Charter of Donations is made.
Such assessments are made by professionals of certification belonging to the most known national and international societies reunited in AIOICI/IAIACC, the Italian Association of Independent Authorities of Certification and Inspection.
The report, issued after the assessment, is then forwarded to the Technical Committee, made of professionals of several subjects (such as certification, quality, revenue and account, fundraising, personnel management, legislation), that analyzes further relevant aspects, giving a specialized opinion to the Board of the Institute.
The latter then, in the name of equity and having confirmed the transparency, the effectiveness and the efficiency of the actions performed by the non-profit organization, will certify the conformity to the principles of the Charter of Donations though the grant of use of the label.
Figure 1: the label "Donare con fiducia" that certify the conformity to the principles of the Charter of Donations
6. The partners: candidates, members, founders and supporters
Candidate Partners
The title of “Candidate Partner” is given to the non-profit organization that decides to start the assessment process, committing and preparing itself to the assessment. Complete privacy is guaranteed to the Candidate.
Generally its name is not publicized and this can only happen after its authorization.
The Candidate is therefore followed by voluntary consultants for the preparation to the assessment that, once taken and passed, will introduce it into the groups of members.
The Partners are all the non-profit organizations that, having taken and passed the assessment, have been allowed to use the label “Donare con fiducia” (Donate with trust).
The Partners are the basis on which the activity of the Institute is founded, and represent the core of the IID – without compromising its independence, being its governance regulated by the Statute of the Partner Founders – they also contribute to the diffusion of their core activities and the ethical principles of the Charter of Donations.
Passing the assessment, the non-profit organizations embody the good practices proposed by the Charter itself.
The communication activity of the Institute is addressed to them and focused on the realization of dissemination projects selected also on the basis of a previous audition of the non-profit organizations themselves.
Their involvement into the themes of donations, their delivery and the social communication is highly motivated: for this reason, every three months, the Committee of the Institute, the Partners, the Candidates and the Supporters is summoned.
Along with this formal meeting, during which themes of general cross-interests in the world of donations and fundraising are discussed, a workshop on communication has been created as a clear request by the non-profit organizations.
The updated list of the Partners of the IID is available on the web site of the Institute.
Partners
The Partner Founders of the Italian Institute of Donations have been operating for years within the Italian Non-Profit that enjoy a great reputation of reliability, seriousness and competence, universally recognized in our country: Permanent Forum of the Third Sector, Sodalitas and Solidarity Summit.
- Permanent Forum of the Third Sector
Second level association born in June 1997, joined by over 100 non-profit organizations among the main authorities in the world of Voluntary Service, Associationism, Social Cooperation, International Solidarity and Voluntary Integrated Mutuality of our country.
A precious and varied network of experiences and activities, for a unique official cooperation in the vast European scenario, that involves millions of citizens. Maria Guidotti, spokesman of the Forum together with Vilma Mazzocco, has been the Chairman of the Italian Institute of Donations since July 2006.
- Sodalitas
Social Business Development Association born in 1995 by initiative of a group of senior managers with the aid of Assolormbarda and 14 important associated businesses. The volunteers that operate within it offer the Third Sector competence, professionalism and quality, favouring the exchange of experience and the diffusion of solidarity culture.
Among the permanent initiatives of Sodalitas, in addition to the creation of the Charter of Donations, the Observatory on Human Resources in Non-Profit, the Observatory on Social Marketing and the Centre for the Social Responsibility Development are highlighted.
All the actions accomplished are free-of-charge.
- Solidarity Summit
Second level association born in 1995 joined by several national organizations that deal with assistance and scientific research in the social and health field.
The organization represents and protect the interests of the partners at local and national institutions; it promotes actions in favour of a better legislation aimed at non-profit activities and the culture of transparency as a fundamental factor for the Third Sector development.
Supporter Partners
In the its start-up, the project of the Italian Institute of Donations was submitted to important businesses and private foundations and some donor representatives.
Among these, two business foundations – Vodafone Foundation and Umanamente Foundation – have believed into the project from the beginning, economically supporting it in its initiatives and activities. Trust and approval have been given to the two foundations. In particular, in 2007 Vodafone Foundation introduced, among the fundamental criteria, those of obtaining the label IID and passing the assessment of conformity to the Charter of Donations.
This is a choice aimed at self-protection, guaranteeing the good use of the funds raised as well as the delivery.
7. The financial support to the initiative: Cariplo Foundation and the Company of S. Paolo
Cariplo Foundation and the Company of S. Paolo are among the principal organizations that have strongly promoted and financially supported the Italian Institute of Donations.
The two Foundations have always supported the birth and development of the accreditation system proposed by the IID, regarding the initiative as a relevant element for the Italian Third Sector and promoting transparency and organizational excellence in fundraising.
The accreditation system proposed by the Institute is somehow considered as a further guarantee of clear, efficient and effective management of the funds in aid of various projects. The commitment of the two authorities is also expressed through the financial aids for conferences and public events in sponsorship with the IID.
8. The network: Agency of Non-Profit, ICFO, CSV.net, National Association of NGO, Sodalitas
The Italian Institute of Donations constantly cooperates with several active subjects in the Non-Profit sector, implementing projects aimed at enhancing the Third Sector. Among these there are the Agency for Non-Profit Organizations, the ICFO (International Committee on Fundraising Organizations), CSV.net, the National Non-governmental Association and, obviously, Sodalitas.
- The Agency for Non-profit Organizations
As a celebration of a long-lasting collaboration, in 2007 the Agency for Non-profit Organizations and the Italian Institute of Donations (IID) signed a protocol that opened the path to further and shared initiatives.
Ratifying such protocol, the IID and the Agency, within the respective institutional and technical competences, have committed themselves to fulfil common initiatives and information exchange on the outcome of their mutual institutional activities. In particular, the collaboration between the two authorities is aimed at guaranteeing the participation of the Institute into institutional workshop that focuses on the monitoring process and the Third Sector issues.
From its side, the IID has committed itself to promote reference standards for book-keeping, budgeting and more generally the entire account that the Agency defines.
The Agency will participate and sponsor researches and initiatives promoted by the IID with a special attention to the researches on donors and businesses’ attitudes. Moreover, the two authorities will present and jointly promote studies and researches on the Third Sector through seminars and information campaigns.
- ICFO – International Committee on Fundraising Organizations
The IID also comes from the numerous international experiences that have been conducted in other countries to monitor, assess and control the donation system.
Among the studied cases, there are the German case – the oldest and most consolidated one that already in 1893 had created an Institute and today is a Private Law Foundation -, the British case – that in ‘70s saw the birth of the governmental authority Charity Commission -, the French case – in which the Comité de la Charte has successfully operated since 1989, managing the Charte de Déontologie and counting 54 members – and finally the American case – where a non-profit private and independent organization has been created named ASP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) from which the Donor Bill of Rights originates (a donation Decalogue recognized by the entire Third Sector) and where a number of qualified organizations operate, like Better Business Bureau, Wise Giving Alliance (association of consumer-donors), and Independent Sector, that gives advice also to the American Congress.
They all share the same objectives and belong to ICFO (International Committee on Fundraising Organizations) – the association of assessment joined in 2006 by the Italian Institute of Donations, that has introduced a standard of trust in all the major countries of the world.
- CSV.net – National Coordination of the Voluntary Service Centres
The collaboration with the CSV is based on the fact that the CSV network offers ethical standards of attitudes to the Voluntary Associations conformed to the ethical principles of the Charter of Donations; the coordination, like the IID, also promotes a progressive development of these associations, often of small size and operating locally.
Both the organizations have reached an agreement on the development of common and complementary initiatives, always aimed at implementing the Third Sector as a key element of the national welfare.
- National Association of Non-profit organizations
This association has started the collaboration based on the fact that the Non-governmental Organizations for the International Cooperation and Development are a historically significant reality in the Italian Non-Profit scenario, and the projects are mostly financed by Italian and European public funds, and by agencies of United Nations and other world organizations.
Moreover, it is often more and more necessary for these organizations to ask for co-financing obtained from profit businesses, private citizens or the decentred cooperation.
The non-governmental organizations represent the demands of the beneficiaries that are one of the stakeholders of the Charter of Donations.
- Sodalitas
Sodalitas brings forward the collaboration since all the volunteers that operate within the Institute come from this association, already partner founder of the IID. The activity of the volunteers is varied and ranges from consulting for the Partner Candidates during the preparation for the assessment, to the issue of project documents within the IID and the implementation of the relationships with profit businesses.
9. The services offered to people and to the great donors: "The expert’s reply" and "Filo diretto con il donatore"
There are several initiatives sponsored by the IID in order to lead the citizen and the big donors (businesses, foundations, etc..) in the selection of the non-profit organizations to which addressing their donations and the programmes of Corporate Social Responsibility.
- Filo diretto col donatore
The main commitment is the trust granted by the different subjects to an organization or a project developed by it: this is the objective that the IID has aimed to reach creating the “Filo diretto con donatore” (Direct line with the donor).
There are more and more citizens that, before starting a relationship with a Non-profit Organization, contact the Institute in order to be assured or informed about the credibility and professionalism of the Organization within the activity of fundraising and management.
After becoming aware of the existence of an national independent authority able to guarantee about the good employment of the funds, the citizens, as well as the profit businesses involved into CSR projects, the foundations, and the public authorities themselves, inquiry the association, thought the telephone line or the web site, in order to know the list of the non-profit organizations with the IID label. “Filo diretto col donatore” (Direct line with the donor) is also a means of denunciation. It denounces all the unclear methods of fundraising coming from non-conformed associations.
- The expert’s reply
There are more than 100 requests in a year as well as answers given by the IID expert in fiscal issues.
These are the significant numbers of the free-of-charge telephone-line “The expert’s reply”, offered by the Institute to those who have doubts and uncertainties about fiscal and tax issues regarding the associationism and the third sector.
The aspects treated so far are several: the difference between donations and liberal charity and the deducibility of the latter for the business, the law “the more you give, the less you pay”, the legal confirmation of a non-profit and so on.
10. The research: always at the front to follow the trends of the sector
The Institute periodically develops study and research activities on themes related to its field (analysis of the suggestions of improvement for the Candidates, researches on donation trends, etc.) or that represent further studies on its activity.
The annual survey named “Business and philanthropy”, aimed at exploring and knowing the management modes of delivering the money to the Third Sector by the Italian businesses mostly involved into CSR programmes.
From the analysis of the results of the first edition of the research, officially presented in September 2006, a worrying aspect rose: the objective elements of qualification of a non-profit organization - like the certified balance or a quality certification – used to be underestimated by the authorities managing the resources addressed to the non-profit organization. Almost all the businesses interviewed used to orientate the selection on the basis of the good reputation of the organization (84%) or the suggestion of the employees (61%); only two of the businesses included in the survey were more interested in a certified balance or a social balance.
The trend resulted from the second edition of the research (2007) leads to a growth of the sector: in fact, there are more and more businesses that now add also elements of rational analysis of the non-profit organizations and their projects – which is the accreditation method proposed by the Italian Institute of Donations – to the localization of the non-profit organization or the direct knowledge of its Board.
Among the vastest researches periodically realized or commissioned to important research organizations, there are: “The Italians and donations: between ethical generosity and need of assurance” realized in collaboration with Gfk – Eurisko in 2006 and aimed at the presentation of the Italian situation in the sector of donation, and “Analysis of the areas of improvement of the non-profit organization partners of the IID”, survey conducted by the Institute and aimed at analyzing the improvements risen during the final stage of the assessment process (the third part) conducted by the Institute and recommended by the non-profit organization partner candidates and members of the Institute.
11. The National Conference of Donations: annual meeting on the themes of transparent donations and the fundraising ethics
The IID is the authority that promotes the National Conference of Donation, the annual event, scheduled in autumn, aimed at diffusing the important values of the Institute in the entire civil society.
The first edition of the conference, in November 2006, was focused on the theme of “donating as an important action, rich of implications and based on trust”. The second edition was consequently centred on the concept of “transparency, meant as the basis of trust and ethical principle to communicate”.
The core of the conference was a reflection on this “way of being and doing”: who donates is entitled to know that their generosity is well secured and who receives it has to confirm this trust.
The Conference, organized by the Italian Institute of Donations, is a meeting of experts of the Third Sector, businesses, institutions and non-profit organizations that share the principles established by the Charter of Donations.
12. How to contact the Italian Institute of Donations (IID)
The offices of the Italian Institute of Donations are based in Milan in via Pantano 2, well-connected by public tran sport (Metro, yellow line – Missori).
For further information about the assessment activity conducted by the IID or about the Organization Partners, it is possible to:
- visit the web site (www.istitutoitalianodonazione.it);
- call or fax the offices on the numbers Tel. 0287390788 – Fax. 02/87390806
- e-mail istituto@istitutoitalianodonazione.it