Alliance Online - December 2006

Celebrating the joy of giving

Lucy Bernholz

EVENT 15th Anniversary Conference
Date 19-20 October
Venue Milan, Italy
Organizer Cariplo Foundation

What is the purpose of philanthropy? This question, and the range of answers it inspired – both instrumental and philosophical – were at the heart of the 15th Anniversary celebration of the Cariplo Foundation. It is not every conference on foundations that turns on a discussion of Hegel and Kant, but the meeting hosted by the Cariplo Foundation in Milan was unique for many reasons.

The conference centred around two days of discussion and closed with a birthday party for a new community foundation. The first day consisted of a review of the development of philanthropy in Italy and her neighbours in Western Europe. Broad presentations on the history of foundations in Portugal, Germany and the United States were offered. The afternoon included thoughts on the challenges of staying true to one’s original mission while also adapting to the times. Bill White, President of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, spoke on the 80-year history of that organization, noting, however, its relative youth in comparison with the centuries-old traditions in Italy’s banking community.

Further thoughts on the relationship between philanthropy, the market and the public sector were offered by Luc Tayart de Borms of the King Baudouin Foundation and Gerry Salole of the European Foundation Centre. Cariplo Foundation’s Chairman, Giuseppe Guzzeti, spoke eloquently of the development of the Foundation, now one of the world’s largest, and its commitment to its local, regional and international interests.

On the second day of the conference, the 400 or so participants focused on community foundations, one area of deep commitment for Cariplo. Bernadino Casadei, who manages the Foundation’s programme for community foundations, spoke passionately of the joy of giving. He urged participants and community foundation leaders to think beyond instrumentalism and to conceive of organizations whose means are also their ends, to expand and enhance opportunities for everyone in a community to participate in giving, the most human act.

Giving, he suggested, should be a seen as a relationship, not as a social duty or a display of superiority, but donors often fight shy of emotional involvement with the projects they fund precisely in order to avoid such a relationship. In a rich and advanced society such as ours, he argued, our greatest need is to develop the capacity to subordinate efficiency, effectiveness and costs reduction to human dignity. The future of our civilization depends on this, and community foundations have a contribution to make in meeting this challenge.

Examples of networks of community foundations and individual organizations were offered by Nikolaus Turner of Initiative Bürgerstiftungen, Stephen Hammersley of the Community Foundation Network, Peter Hero of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Diana Seiger of Grand Rapids Community Foundation.

Broad discussions of fundraising and the many ways it is practised in various cultures were interwoven with the sessions, moderated by Cariplo Foundation’s Secretary General, Pier Mario Vello, and with presentations from Timothy Seiler of Indiana University and Daniel Rose of Rose Associates.

In the course of its work, Cariplo Foundation has helped to develop 15 community foundations in northern Italy. A highlight of the conference was the announcement of a new foundation to serve Southern Italy. Led by Cariplo, more than 80 of Italy’s 89 bank foundations have come together to create this new regional foundation, which will begin work in January 2007 (see the September issue of Alliance, p9).

Closer to home, Cariplo closed its own anniversary celebration with a grand opening party for the Foundation for North Milan, the newest of the region’s community foundations.

Lucy Bernholz is Founder and President of Blueprint Research & Design, Inc. Email lucy@blueprintrd.com

Click here to send this article to a friend

Back to top

Why should I subscribe to Alliance?

Subscribe now to Alliance magazine and receive: 4 issues of Alliance to your door 8 issues of Alliance Bulletin to your inbox Access to all back issues (since 1998) in PDF format Click here for more information or call +44 20 7239 1405.

Back to top