COMMUNITY
Contribution
In 2006 our direct contribution to the community totalled more than € 38 million, equivalent to 2.9% of gross profit.
THE LINK WITH A TERRITORY AND ITS COMMUNITIES IS A QUESTION OF TRADITION
DONATIONS
We made donations totalling some € 8 million for numerous social and cultural projects and activities.
In the social field, the main beneficiaries included:
- The new Meyer Children's Hospital of Florence for the furnishing of facilities and purchase of medical equipment
- The non-profit association "Il Fuoco del Futuro" ("The fire of the future") for its humanitarian activities in the Congo and other developing countries
- Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro i Tumori (an Italian association working on cancer prevention and research and cancer-related medical assistance).
In the cultural field, we confirmed our now historical links with the Sienese Museums system, with the "Maggio Musicale Fiorentino" Foundation, with the San Carlo theatre of Naples, and with the International Art and Culture Centre of Palazzo Tè in Mantua
"DEVOLVEMENT" FINANCE
We are involved in various cause-related marketing projects, meaning that, via the sale of financial products, we raise funds for devolvement to good causes:
In 2006 the main initiatives in this respect included:
Dialogos - voci di solidarietà ("voices of solidarity")
Part of the management fees of the ethical funds "Fix" and "Geo" is allocated to socially useful projects, via a public tender process.
In 2006 a total of € 225,000 was assigned to:
- Associazione Viale K of Ferrara for its "Giano" project, which aims to combat the difficulties faced by and social exclusion of the poor
- Movimento di Cooperazione Educativa ("Educational Co-operation Movement") for its "Berimbau co-operation network" project, which aims to give employment/income opportunities to 25 young people in Brazilian shanty towns.
- Associazione Italiana Donne per lo Sviluppo - AIDOS ("Italian Women for Development Association"), to create two "reproductive health" advisory bureaus for Palestinian women in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip area.
Sostegno - the "Support" insurance policy
Part of proceeds from the sale of a simple life insurance product goes to the Community of St. Egidio. Thus far the initiative has collected € 50,000 (with about 1,000 policies sold), used to help build "protected accommodation" to assist elderly people who are no longer self-sufficient, to a greater or lesser extent, as an alternative to going to a geriatric institution.
"Operation Smile" prepaid card
The card supports the humanitarian mission of Operation Smile, a non-profit foundation of voluntary medical practitioners, which is active in the world's poorest countries to perform reconstructive plastic surgery to correct serious facial malformations. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena has issued a special prepaid, reloadable card at the cost of € 6.00/3 years, of which € 4.00 are devolved to Operation Smile. Thus far bank employees and customers have purchased 6,420 cards, making it possible to collect € 25,680 thousand.
M'Honey Card
This is the consumer credit card that, for some years now, we have been marketing in the Christmas season, linking it to humanitarian projects. In 2006, with allocation of € 0.50 for each transaction completed using M'Honey Card, we raised € 100,000 to contribute to the work of a number of organisations involved in medical and scientific research and in the solidarity field.
Sport- Gazzetta Running Card
This is a prepaid reloadable card targeting sports enthusiasts and is a tangible way of helping disabled people who would like to be closer to the world of sport. A percentage of what is spent using the card is given to non-profit associations who help disabled people to take up a sport.
Another two initiatives have recently been launched by Banca Toscana. These link prepaid card operations to the humanitarian work of "Tutti I Cuori di Rossana" (= All Rossana's Hearts), a non-profit organisation working on the care of children with congenital heart disorders, and to the Associazione Tumori Toscana, the Tuscan cancer association, which provides home care, free of charge, to cancer sufferers. The two organisations will receive € 8.00 of the € 10.00 activation cost and € 0.50 for each card reload.
WE HAVE GIVEN OVER € 38 MILLION TO COMMUNITIES TO SUPPORT THEIR SOCIAL AND HUMANITARIAN AIMS
SPONSORSHIPS
We support sport, music, art, and charity initiatives to promote our products - but above all to link our image to purposes that are positive in social terms.
In 2006, we sponsored, as usual, numerous initiatives, for a total amount of over € 26 million. A further € 4 million was given to local authorities for whom we perform treasury and collection services as a contribution to their promotional efforts in the cultural, musical, artistic, social, and environmental fields.
Sport and culture were the largest beneficiaries, receiving respectively 70% and 20% of the total.
Information on the main events is available on our www.mps.it website in the "Events and competitions" section.
Among the most important initiatives, we highlight "Olimpiadi del Cuore" - "Olympics of the Heart". We have for many years been the lead sponsor of this event, invented by the well-known Italian TV journalist and presenter Paolo Brosio. Its aim is to raise funds for the Fondazione Ospedale Pediatrico Meyer (the foundation managing the Meyer Children's Hospital in Florence) and for other non-profit organisations involved in the care of children in difficulty, to which the initiative's proceeds and participants' direct donations will go.
During 2007 there will also be the "I Prodotti del Cuore" - "Products of the Heart" - campaign. Under this banner we will be promoting some of our products with a high ethical/social profile (ethical funds and the young people's current account Conto Giovani Più, etc.) allocating € 1.00 for each sale to the Olimpiadi del Cuore committee for related social purposes.
