About us
Fondazione Etica is a national, independent and non-profit foundation, established in Milan in 2008 and registered under no. 397 of the Register of Legal Entities. It is a research center combining study, planning and practical activities.
We mainly focus on:
- innovation and improvement of public administrations (in particular, administrative capacity, strengthening of public governance, efficiency, quality of public spending, smart cities, e-government);
- transparency and prevention of corruption
- participatory paths (civic engagement),
- social impact innovation (particularly in social policies: promotion, coordination and evaluation of social impact innovation projects, innovative finance with a social impact; civic engagement; social inclusion, etc.)
Fondazione Etica boasts over ten years of experience in these activities.
With regard to the evaluation and support of PA, the Foundation has obtained important recognitions in Italy, among which Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Confindustria, KPMG, Fondazione Cariplo.
We carried out a pilot project for the European Commission – DG Regio, and we collaborate with DG Reform of the European Commission. We are partner of the World Bank – Global Partnership for Social Accountability, and are also part of the Open Government Partnership, as well as of the Multistakeholder Forum created within the Department of Public Administration.
We cooperate, among others, with: Ministry of Regional Affairs, Ministry of Public Administration, Agency for Territorial Cohesion of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, ANAC; with Anci Lombardia and Lega Autonomie; with Regions such as Tuscany and the Lombardy Region, and with Municipalities such as Milan, Cuneo and Grosseto.
It collaborates with LUISS University, while Corriere della Sera is media partner.
Our Foundation was a member of the European Foundation Center, and takes part to the working groups of the Astrid Foundation.
He has carried out evaluations of local authorities for an institutional investment fund.
It is registered in the National Research Registry of the Ministry of University and Research.
The activity of social impact innovation and investing received an important recognition from Fondazione Italia Sociale, of which she became a participating member. For the same reason, it was the only case study presented at the 3rd International Conference on Social Impact Investment, promoted by Italian and foreign universities.
The Foundation carried out a pilot project of social impact investment (“Luci nel Parco”), in Tuscany, with the purpose of territory development, through the activation of private savings and the creation of an innovative financial instrument. The design and innovative model has been replicated in Naples with the project "Casa Comune", currently under realization.
Many projects have been implemented, including the reform of the law on political parties, for which FE received the approval of the Group of States against Corruption of the Council of Europe.
The project for monitoring the PNRR (National Recovery Plan) is currently underway, together with Università Cattolica, Libera and CNEL: "LIBenter".
We organized a lot of conferences at a national level and we also attended many at an international level.
In the end, we published several papers and books, both in Italian and in English.
The Foundation was born on the initiative of Gregorio Gitti and Paola Caporossi, who involved as promoters scholars, entrepreneurs, professionals, linked by the desire to put their efforts into the improvement of public institutions.
The Foundation is supported by three types of financial resources: donations from founders, members and supporters; participation in research calls; realization of projects and researches.
Among the first supporters who believed in the Foundation since its inception: Giovanni Bazoli, Massimo Bettoni, Umberta Gnutti Beretta, Piero Gandini, Francesco Guarneri, Fondazione Cariplo.
No supporter is financially in a prominent position over the others, as the Foundation intends to maintain its independence also from this point of view, and therefore the private contributions are always limited.
Why Ethic?
The main characteristic of the Foundation is combining research activity with the concrete implementation of the activities resulting from the results of the research itself. “Ideas for action”, then.
Our area of activity concerns the public administrative machine, on one hand, and social policies, on another one.
In front of the easy and widespread tendency to list only problems, the Foundation prefers to act as a proactive tool, to study and build medium-long term solutions, which do not satisfy one-sided interests, but responding to an overall design of the institutions and of their authority.
The Foundation believes that the contrast between public and private is not only wrong, but unproductive and damaging. We want to ensure once again to the word "public" the positive connotations that the Constitution attributes to it: without falling into private world's characteristics but becoming a partner in the pursuit of the general interest.
Ethics is simply the premise, meaning a tool for the common good, as a rule for public behavior. Nothing to do with moralism, but rather with the concept of responsibility and regulation of correct coexistence within a community.
