{"id":102439,"date":"2024-11-08T15:46:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T14:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/?p=102439"},"modified":"2024-11-08T15:49:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T14:49:38","slug":"in-praise-of-company-volunteering-it-increases-sustainability-and-enhances-the-quality-of-businesses-and-non-profit-associations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/in-praise-of-company-volunteering-it-increases-sustainability-and-enhances-the-quality-of-businesses-and-non-profit-associations\/","title":{"rendered":"In praise of company volunteering: it increases sustainability and enhances the quality of businesses and non-profit associations"},"content":{"rendered":"

A company\u2019s goal is to produce goods and services, at economically advantageous conditions, attractive to the market\u00a0\u2013 doing, in short, and doing good work. In the ongoing transition to an economy in which the stakeholders have primacy<\/strong> (employees, suppliers, consumers, the public in the company\u2019s reference communities), there is a third dimension to insist on: doing good<\/strong>. That is, producing economic value (profits, stock market trends, shareholder remuneration) respecting and pursuing a series of moral and social values. Adriano Olivetti<\/strong>\u2019s teaching about the company that cannot be reduced merely to the index of profits and Leopoldo Pirelli<\/strong>\u2019s teaching about the social responsibilities of the good entrepreneur echo once more.<\/p>\n

It is a capitalism that is renewed, ultimately, in the name of the circular or even \u201cjust\u201d economy<\/strong> (taking into account the insistent teaching of Pope Francis) and environmental and social sustainability. It moves beyond the damage caused by the rapacious primacy of assault finance (in all the speculative manifestations of \u201cgreed is good\u201d, of greed and avarice celebrated as positive behaviour by Gordon Gekko, the character who exemplified the principle in Wall Street<\/em>, effectively portrayed by Michael Douglas). It also insists on a real \u201cparadigm shift\u201d<\/strong> according to which the growth of the market economy can only occur in the context of special attention to \u201ccommon goods\u201d, to the interests of the community, to respect for people, to a sound economic democracy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not about a mere benevolent impulse on the part of companies. It\u2019s a real ethical and cultural turning point<\/strong>, also with the awareness that \u201cbeing good is advantageous\u201d<\/strong>, to use a brilliant summary by Ermete Realacci<\/strong>, president of Symbola<\/strong>. Because, as documented by the association’s research on the economy that\u2019s green and rich in social engagement and consequence, \u201ccohesive companies, i.e. those that are supportive and attentive to the balance of the communities in their territory, are more competitive and innovative, but also more capable of exporting\u201d (https:\/\/symbola.net\/approfondimento\/imprese-coesive\/<\/a> ).<\/p>\n

Within this framework, company volunteering is also playing an increasingly important role, as is well explained in a book entitled Il volontariato aziendale – Profit e non profit insieme per il bene di comunit\u00e0 e territori<\/em> <\/strong>(Company volunteering: profit and non-profit together for the good of communities and territories) written by<\/strong> Patrizia Giorgio, Laura Guardini and Renata Villa<\/strong> and just published by Egea<\/strong>, with a preface by Ferruccio de Bortoli and a contribution by Rossella Sobrero.<\/p>\n

The three authors have put their experiences in very different but complementary contexts to good use, between companies, \u201cthird sector\u201d<\/strong> activities and a \u201claboratory\u201d that fosters dialogue between the two worlds. The primary objective is \u201cmaking it clear that a company volunteering project is effective only if it is conceived, planned and promoted through a partnership in which business and non-profit organisation are on the same level<\/strong>, in an equal, symmetrical and reciprocal relationship\u201d. It\u2019s a picture of the situation, a genuine compass able to guide companies towards engagement, with concrete examples of activities and criteria for evaluating results.<\/p>\n

It all began in 2015, with a meeting between two enterprising women, Lina Sotis<\/strong>, journalist with the Corriere della Sera and founder of the Quartieri Tranquilli (peaceful neighbourhoods) association and Patrizia Grieco<\/strong>, a manager with solid experience, then chairman of Enel. The common goal is to encourage company employees to take part, during working hours, in implementing support projects, collaborating with a non-profit organisation. Over time, the Sodalitas Foundation<\/strong> (founded in 1995 on the initiative of Assolombarda and a group of Milanese companies and now chaired by Alberto Pirelli) has been involved in the initiative, making its volunteer experience available. And today there is movement towards broadening the scope of activities, in a condition of growing interest in social engagement, from both companies and their employees.
\nThe latest report by CECP<\/strong> (Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose) based on an international sample of companies reveals that the average percentage of employees who did at least one hour of corporate volunteering in 2022 was 19.8%, up about 3% compared to 2021. This is still a limited increase in the phenomenon, compared to the rate in the period before the Covid pandemic, which was 29% in 2019. And only in some sectors, like energy, finance and utilities is the growth of participation more substantial. But, despite everything, growth continues.
\nAnd what about Italy? Company volunteering, the book explains, \u201cis still a practice in development, and the most active companies are mainly the Italian offices of foreign multinationals.\u201d Research developed by the Terzjus Foundation<\/strong> in 2023, with the collaboration of the Unioncamere<\/strong> research office, \u201cfound that nationally only 5% of companies with at least 50 employees develop company volunteering initiatives and, of these, 39.4% are oriented towards skill-based volunteering\u201d, providing people whose business skills mean they can collaborate to make \u201cthird sector\u201d initiatives more functional and effective. More generally, however, the research shows that \u201cvolunteering does not seem to be a marginal phenomenon in the economic fabric of the country, since it directly involves about a third of medium-large companies (31%), which already allow workers and managers to get involved in social issues (or plan to do so soon)\u201d.<\/p>\n

As Ferruccio de Bortoli<\/strong> tells us: \u201cVolunteering organisations suffer more from the lack of figures with the required skills than from a lack of resources. It is not uncommon for companies, as retirement approaches, to release valuable energy that can be lent to part-time activities in social enterprises to the complete satisfaction of individuals.\u201d And the company? \u201cSupport activity offers a mutual good. It can do the same for a company, to make it more sustainable and acceptable; for its employees, who will feel like active and socially conscious citizens; and above all for the ultimate beneficiaries, the people who need it, who are never the object or even the instrument, even in the most noble of initiatives. This is the difference between the narcissism of charity and the singular beauty of good done well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enrico Giovannini<\/strong>, scientific director of Asvis<\/strong>, the alliance for sustainable development, is also convinced of this: \u201cThere are many ways to build sustainable development, and company volunteering too can contribute to increasing the well-being of society.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is summarised by Patrizia Grieco, now chairman of Anima Holding: \u201cPromoting volunteering in companies contributes to building a lively and active civil society and answers to that search for meaning and purpose that more and more people are asking for at work.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>

(Photo Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A company\u2019s goal is to produce goods and services, at economically advantageous conditions, attractive to the market\u00a0\u2013 doing, in short, and doing good work. 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