Foundation, 2023 budget unanimously approved: net worth rises, profit of 10.8 million. Over 8 million euros to the provincial territory of Piacenza and the city of Vigevano. Welfare confirms itself as the protagonist, resources for art and culture are also increasing. Co-planning, networks and partnerships, formidable teamwork has made it possible to obtain an extraordinary result: the allocations are over 8 million euros, approximately one million more than in 2022: the snapshot of the institutional activity carried out by Foundation of Piacenza and Vigevano in the year just ended it returns the outlines of the commitment – in the fields of welfare, education and culture – in favor of the territory. Commitment supported by the results, which the General Council sanctioned on Monday 22 April with unanimous approval of the document Budget 2023.
HEALTHY BUDGET. «It was a very positive year for our Foundation – comments the president Roberto Reggi -. The financial strategy made it possible to safeguard the net worth, resulting in a significant increase and bringing it to a total of 382.8 million. The operating surplus is one of the best in recent years, exceeding 10.8 million euros.” A result that is not at all obvious, considering the fluctuating trends of the financial markets, which required continuous and timely actions to guarantee adequate returns. «The socio-economic situation is not improving – continues Reggi -, and this makes it even more urgent to provide a response to the growing social needs. For this reason, the governance and General Council of the Foundation have determined to reallocate 60 million euros in 2023, transferring them from unproductive actions to new investments capable of providing resources in line with present and future needs. Furthermore, in addition to its own resources, the collaboration with institutional partners has significantly increased the economic-financial availability available to the territory: once again the choral and joint action has proven to be the best strategy for bringing together forces on common objectives, allowing important results”. Choral action which is also “internal” to the Foundation: presidency, Board of Directors, General Council and working groups work as a cohesive whole, following the same objectives and strategies and it is only thanks to this formidable teamwork that it has been possible to obtain results extraordinary.
INVESTMENTS IN THE TERRITORY. Various elements contribute to making up the over 8 million resources, which determine the amount of what has been made available for Piacenza and Vigevano. The largest part is represented by the 4.5 million euros that the Foundation had foreseen in its 2023 DPP for institutional activity; another 1.4 million were obtained from the stabilization fund for future disbursements (which however increased by over 1 million euros compared to 2022). The Foundation also allocated an additional 480 thousand euros to the disbursements, using funds from the FUN tax credits (National Single Fund for the Third Sector, which provides resources to the entire system of Volunteer Service Centers) and community welfare (national projects for social inclusion and the fight against poverty). To the over 6.4 million of its own resources allocated by the Foundation, another 1.6 million must then be added to the final count, the result of co-financing with institutional partners, in particular Crédit Agricole Italia, Banca di Piacenza, Chamber of Commerce of Piacenza (now Emilia) and Banco dell’Energia. All things considered, projects for the support and development of the territory have been allocated through the Foundation 8,084,311 euros.
INTERVENTIONS: NOTICES AND PROJECTS. The institutional activity confirmed the strategic lines introduced by the current governance, which also relied on tenders to better intercept the needs of the community since it is an operational method that allows strategies to be focused on specific objectives and favors the creation of ” networks”. Four tenders were activated in 2023. Two had a positive impact in the welfare field: Bando Autonomie, in collaboration with Crédit Agricole, a complex intervention intended to promote social and work inclusion, self-awareness and the development of autonomy personnel of fragile subjects; Social Fund for Sport, in collaboration with Banca di Piacenza, to guarantee the right to practice sports even for children from less well-off families. Innovative teaching has instead been invested with the Foundation’s specific calls for tenders: Biblòh!, which supports the network of innovative school libraries and Dalla class all’orchestra, dedicated to music as a tool for inclusion and culminating last year in the debut of the Cinquequarti orchestra .
Attention to welfare, as a priority area of intervention, has confirmed itself by supporting numerous projects, including Energy in common: promoted with many entities, with Fondazione Banco dell’Energia Ente Filantropico at the forefront, it is helping around 1000 families in difficulty in the Piacenza area to pay electricity and gas utilities. Also worth mentioning is the support for actions to combat marginalization and in particular for the creation of the Fiorenzuola solidarity emporium which has joined its “twin” in Piacenza. And again, support for the Caritas of Piacenza and Vigevano, and the Piacenza protocol for the elderly, which strengthens the intervention that offers the possibility of inclusion in retirement homes at controlled costs. In Vigevano, with Pool Vigevano Sport, Sport Camp Tuttinsieme was created – an inclusive Educamp to promote in the summer, through sports practice, a support program and a recovery opportunity for fragile children and young people. At a national level, the collaboration with other foundations of banking origin, with the coordination of Acri, has also allowed the creation of system partnerships in this financial year. They are the expression of interventions against poverty and social hardship, and therefore mainly attributable to the welfare area, which implement cooperation between entities to create coordinated interventions projected over a multi-year horizon. Examples of this are the Fund for the Digital Republic, the Foundation with the South, the Fund to Combat Child Educational Poverty and the Acri “Migrant” projects and for the support of young researchers.
The resolution related to Education is particularly important. First of all for the support of higher education in the area, Polytechnic, Catholic University and Nicolini Conservatory, as well as for the Piacenza location of the degree course in English Medicine and surgery at the University of Parma. Also worth mentioning as a great result of 2023 is the establishment of the first YouthBank of Piacenza, the “bank” made up of under 25s who have economic resources from the Foundation at their disposal to support social projects designed and managed by their peers (the youthplanners). Great attention also to innovation, with the confirmation of support for technopoles and experimentation laboratories in the area, but also for in-depth spaces, as happens for the Festival of Transformations in Vigevano. In the research sector, support for innovation is noteworthy, both for latest generation equipment (a new device for the diagnosis of pancreatic tumors for the Piacenza Local Health Authority) and in terms of telemedicine.
Finally, Art, an area for which an overall increase in resources – in absolute value – is confirmed compared to the past. Alongside the consolidated projects (theatrical seasons, festivals and activities of the Auditoriums of Piacenza and Vigevano), the major project that characterized the 2023 financial year in this area was the Festival of contemporary thinking, a structured program of events with great guests, which ended with 19 thousand attendees and for which the second edition is being prepared this year. There was also a huge crowd for Piacenza Summer Cult in the former convent of Santa Chiara, which offered a very rich book of events and an exhibition dedicated to the images of Tino Petrelli and in Vigevano the Literary Review and the Christmas events under the tower. Finally, the consolidation of the XNL project should be remembered in Piacenza. The Art and Theater and Cinema sections are now a consolidated presence in the city’s cultural plan. In 2023 the Foundation has allocated the resources necessary to complete its center with the last piece: XNL Musica. The investment was necessary to adapt the basement spaces to accommodate the activities of the Nicolini Conservatory.
Tags: million Foundation territories heritage rises Unanimous approval budget
