PRESS RELEASE
INTESA SANPAOLO AND MASTERCARD ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP TO SUPPORT CARITAS SOLIDARITY PROJECTS ON FORFUNDING.IT
In the 8,000 ATMs of Intesa Sanpaolo, bank customers who withdraw by debit card and prepaid cards on Mastercard and Maestro circuits will be able to donate 1 euro in a quick, intuitive and secure manner to guarantee a Caritas dish
From 16 July 2020 campaigns will be activated to support the Caritas Italiana project "Emergenza Coronavirus: al fianco delle famiglie in difficoltà, un piatto alla volta (Coronavirus Emergency: alongside families in difficulty, one dish at a time)"
Milan, 16 July 2020 - Intesa Sanpaolo and Mastercard have entered into a three-year technological partnership aimed at promoting and supporting donations in favour of Caritas Italiana projects to combat the food emergency. The collaboration revolves around payment cards, to give those who withdraw the opportunity to contribute to solidarity projects through the Intesa Sanpaolo forfunding.it platform. The agreement therefore combines Intesa Sanpaolo's experience with large solidarity campaigns with Mastercard's technological expertise in connecting people to the causes they care most about and pursues the aim of making an increasing number of channels available to consumers to facilitate donations.
Thanks to the agreement, Intesa Sanpaolo customers with a debit and prepaid card on the Mastercard and Maestro circuit will be able to choose whether to make a donation at the Bank's 8000 ATMs at the end of the withdrawal transaction and before retrieving their card. Each customer of the Bank may see a screen pop-up proposing a donation of a predetermined amount to the project.
Each euro donated to Empori della Solidarietà (Solidarity Marketplaces) contributes to offering families a shop of essential food products as part of the Caritas Italiana project "Coronavirus Emergency: alongside families in difficulty, one dish at a time", already active on the forfunding.com platform. The Caritas Italiana Emporio della Solidarietà was created to make food shops accessible even to those in difficulty: it is a service similar to a supermarket where families supported by Caritas can choose and purchase basic necessities free of charge.
The social emergency resulting from Covid-19 has increased situations of need and food poverty in all Italian regions. During the emergency, Empori della Solidarietà have remained open, thus increasingly becoming a point of reference for families in difficulty, recording a spike in requests for help with peaks of 50%. In compliance with all the necessary safety requirements, the activities were adapted to the current conditions, guaranteeing continuity of relations with families through telephone contact, arranging food shops by appointment, but also collecting requests for home delivery by telephone or via app.
According to a recent Mastercard* survey, over 37% of Italians made donations to charities during the coronavirus emergency, an increase compared to the phase prior to the pandemic. 30% of consumers stated that the specific situation brought about by Covid-19 had a positive impact on their propensity towards solidarity, and 12% of consumers who had never made donations did so for the first time in the first three months of COVID-19. Young people were among the ones who donated the most (47% of donors between 18-24 years old donated) followed by consumers in the 25-34 age group, 41% of whom donated. The preferred methods to make donations in the last few months also seem to show a positive trend towards the use of digital payments for solidarity. Payment cards were used for solidarity by 29.4% of consumers during the central three months of Covid-19 and conquered the podium of the preferred methods for future donations, with 51.2% of consumers wishing to use them to make donations in the future.
Intesa Sanpaolo, Mastercard and Caritas Italiana have therefore created an innovative project which, thanks to the generosity of the people who withdraw at the bank's ATMs every day, is able to make a concrete contribution to reducing inequalities across the country.
Andrea Lecce, Head of the Individual and Retail Business Sales & Marketing Department of Intesa Sanpaolo, commented: “In three years of business, forfunding.it has hosted over 192 non-profit projects of 165 third sector organisations, confirming the Bank's vocation to unite donors and non-profit organizations to support important social solidarity projects. On the occasion of the health emergency, forfunding.it played a key role with fifteen funding campaigns relating to Covid-19 which added to our great direct commitment towards the Italian health system and social issues. Today we decided to go one step further. Together with Mastercard, consolidated partner of Intesa Sanpaolo with whom we share our particular attention to these issues, we have developed an innovative project for micro-donations on digital channels, offering an additional tool to all our customers to support solidarity projects'' .
Michele Centemero, Mastercard Country Manager Italy, stated: “We are very proud to be part, together with Intesa Sanpaolo, of this important project in support of Caritas and Italians in difficulty during this critical time. Mastercard is committed to doing good while we do our job, making social impact an integral part of our products and services. Our donation platforms support some major causes around the world and allow millions of consumers to make a difference. We are happy to extend our platform model for the first time to donations at ATMs, in order to allow all Italians to transform a simple daily gesture such as using their card into an act of solidarity and concrete support that is safe and accessible to all''.
Don Francesco Soddu, director of Caritas Italiana, stressed: “The proliferation of initiatives like this feeds the 'concreteness of charity' as a sign of attention to the social consequences of Covid19, which is increasingly widening the boundaries of poverty and vulnerability. Only with a shared joint commitment will it be possible to prevent the poor, the last, the marginalised and the helpless from paying the highest price of the crisis''.
ForFunding.it is Intesa Sanpaolo crowdfunding platform for non-governmental and non-profit organizations and foundations that wish to start fundraisers involving a large community of active donors. The platform is secure and transparent and offers public reporting both about the funds raised and how they are used.
*Methodology note
The research was conducted in collaboration with Astra Ricerche, on a sample of 1,184 respondents nationwide - equally divided between men and women in the 18-65 age group - in the 31 May-3 June 2020 period.
Press information
Intesa Sanpaolo
Media and Associations Relations
Media Office for Institutional, Social and Cultural Activities
Daniele Occhi daniele.occhi@intesasanpaolo.com
Tel +393467549834
https://group.intesasanpaolo.com/en/newsroom/news
Mastercard
Giuliana Abbate, Giuliana.Abbate@mastercard.com
Press Office Mastercard: FleishmanHillard Tel + 39 02 31804 710
Edoardo Grandi, edoardo.grandi@omnicomprgroup.com
Sara Festini, sara.festini@omnicomprgroup.com
Ludovica Marchese, ludovica.marchese@omnicomprgroup.com
Marco Alocci, marco.alocci@omnicomprgroup.com
Caritas Italiana
Press Office: tel.0666177226-502
Intesa Sanpaolo
Intesa Sanpaolo is one of the soundest and most profitable banks in Europe. It offers commercial, corporate investment banking, asset management and insurance services. It is the leading Bank in Italy, with approximately 11.8 million customers who are assisted through both digital and traditional channels. The Group’s international subsidiary banks serve 7.2 million customers across Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Intesa Sanpaolo is considered one of the most sustainable banks in the world. For the Group, creating value means being a driver for growth, for the benefit of both society and the economy. As regards the environment, the Group has set up a 5-billion-euro fund for the circular economy. Intesa Sanpaolo supports major economic inclusion and poverty reduction projects, including an impact fund of 1.2 billion euro for loans available to social groups who struggle to access credit. Intesa Sanpaolo has a high level of involvement in cultural initiatives, organised by the Bank or in collaboration with other entities in Italy and further afield. These include permanent and temporary exhibitions showcasing the Bank’s impressive artistic heritage at the Gallerie d’Italia, the Group’s museums located in Milan, Naples, Vicenza and soon Turin.
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Mastercard
About Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.
Caritas Italiana
Caritas Italiana is the pastoral organization of the Italian Episcopal Conference for the promotion of charity. It aims to promote "the testimony of charity and the charity commitment of the Italian catholic church community, in the forms that are appropriate considering time and needs, for a complete development of the human being, social justice and peace, with particular attention to the poor and with a mainly pedagogical function”. (Statute, art. 1). Key is the connection and work with the 218 diocesan Caritas, all over the country, engaged in the animation of the catholic church and civil community, and in the promotion of pastoral tools and services: counselling centres, poverty and resources observatories, parish Caritas, migrants’ shelters, etc. Its statutory tasks include: organise and coordinate emergency actions in case of national or international disasters, carrying out studies and research on the needs in order to identify the causes, preparing both preventive and curative intervention plans, within the common pastoral planning and in order to stimulate the action of the civil institution towards an appropriate legislation; promoting voluntary service and encouraging the training of the pastoral charity operator; contributing to the developing Countries’ human and social development.
website: www.caritas.it; Twitter: @CaritasItaliana; Facebook: @CaritasIt; Instagram: @Caritasit
