Painting the town in SDGs colors. A citywide dissemination catalyzed by the organizational evolution in a large European philanthropic foundation. A case study on the Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo of Turin

Abstract

The Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo of Turin is not only one of the largest philanthropic institutions in Europe (the first in Italy and in the top 10 of the continent) but also one of the longest-lived. In its more than 450 years of history the Foundation has distinguished itself for its ability to deal with several moments of radical change (the progressive secularization, the development of a financial dimension that eventually resulted in the largest Italian banking institution, the return to the separation between banking and philanthropic activity): none of which, however, is comparable—for a number of factors—with the transformation that took place in 2020, when the Foundation adopted the United Nations 2030 Agenda and, in particular, the Sustainable Development Goals as its primary key reference. A rare case regarding for a brand highly consolidated in its recognizability—at least in its main territory of reference—the change embraced by the Foundation and inspired by the SDGs involved the institution at every level, from the most immediate of visual and multimedia communication (the iconography of the Goals has even become part of the Foundation's own logo) to the most radical and decisive aspect of internal organization and finalization of the objectives. With a significant revision of the institutional organizational structures, in a short time the SDGs were in fact adopted as a main reference paradigm of the organization for the objectives of the Foundation, acting at the same time as a macro-level of alignment regarding the operational purposes of the institution and as a quantitative measure of evaluation of the results obtained by the various projects developed. In this contribution we will describe in a more detailed way the case study of the Compagnia di San Paolo and the complexity faced during this rapid and deep process of change, by observing the first results of the transition and by underlining the problems positively solved through the new identity. All this without deviating from but rather enhancing the effectiveness of the philanthropic action of the Compagnia di San Paolo.