Vittoria Burton

Fondazione di Comunità del Canavese (Italy)

"Fondazione di Comunità del Canavese is a fairly new community foundation based in the Canavese region, in the north west of Italy. It was initiated and supported by a mixed group of stakeholders composed of bank foundations, local councils, local business, non-profit organisations and individual citizens. A year after its official constitution it relies on 150 members, a small endowment of 80'000 euros and a grant making capacity of around 75'000 euros a year, based entirely on its members yearly donations.

Since I have been involved in community foundations what has struck me the most is the diversity between them and how there is no set recipe for success. It has been challenging work and a very steep learning curve for me, but also very rewarding. The aspect of working within a community foundation that has inspired me the most has been how organisations that have always been competitors in the grant economy have started to involve the Foundation in the project development phase as a leader among equals and are actively cooperating with the Foundation and among themselves. The presence of the Fondazione di Comunità del Canavese in the field has generated very productive relationships among the stakeholders in the community and these relationships have carried over into other areas of their work in social welfare.

We are a very young foundation and have a long way to go yet to achieve our objectives but the road definitely goes through Johannesburg which we see as a unique opportunity to enrich our outlook and work method."