What is happening in Europe on social impact investments
Several actions have followed one another in Europe over the last twenty years, with the establishment by the European Commission of theEuropean Social Investment and Entrepreneurship Fund (ESIEF), of theEuropean Social Entrepreneurship Funds (EuSEF) and of theEuropean Venture Capital Funds (EuVECA) to create and regulate funds focused on European social enterprises, making it easier for them to attract investment.
The topic is also within the scope of interest of theEuropean Social Fund to achieve their goals.
What is happening in Italy on social impact investments
Italy has also begun to deal with Social Impact Investing, joining the Task Force promoted by the British Government with its own Advisory Board (i.e. Social Impact Agenda for Italy).
In accordance with the provisions of the Third Sector Code (Legislative Decree 117/2017), banks have also taken some steps, especially in the sector loan-based: the bank that has dared the most in social is UBI Banca, which has issued around 70 Community Social Bonds, for a value of around 800 million euros, which have allowed for the disbursement of over 3 million euros as donations and the allocation of financing ceilings equal to around 19.5 million euros.
With regards to the sector ofequity based, the case of Oltre Venture Capital is worth mentioning, which with the venture philanthropy has managed to raise over 7 million euros from private individuals, fully invested in 17 new Italian companies (health sector, microfinance, social housing).
Leaving aside the market of social impact investments by institutional investors and, although something has moved in Italy too, there is no discontinuity to date in the planning of social policies in our country, still based on the traditional scheme according to which it is the State that fully provides for the coverage of social spending, while private investors and entrepreneurs think about doing business, compensating, then, with donations and other forms of philanthropy.
Fondazione Etica has instead made it its mission since 2008, even before the Human Foundation, founded in 2013, pioneering the making, in accordance with the international guidelines of the social impact investing, two projects financed through the creation of dedicated banking products by two national banking institutions.
