Philanthropy and Partnerships for the Growth of Italian Culture

Foundations are nonprofit organizations, whose main business is to supply merit goods for the welfare of communities. Born as spin-offs of saving banks, foundations of banking origin have supported the Italian cultural and creative nonprofit organizations for more than three decades. These foundations are important in the Italian nonprofit economy, whose growth has been impressive for two decades. Since the beginning of 2000 their boards have become aware that networking with other foundations, local administrations, sponsors, donors, and any other public spending and private philanthropy, it can be much more efficient than being the only grant-maker for the sustainability of nonprofit causes. The aim of this paper is to estimate how much cultural grants have grown for two decades, thanks to them being investors in the financial market, being grant-makers for multiple causes next to and matching with culture, and being connected with partners, who can multiply resources for a common project and goal and who can alleviate their burden. The methodology includes a stepwise multiple regression of 2000–2020’s data of cultural grants, financial assets, returns from assets, total grants, and number of partnerships according to their reports. The welfare role of these partnerships can result as a benchmark for any other philanthropy and project management in Italian nonprofit economy.