Promotion of social development: Eos Foundation publishes the 2022 budget

There Eos Foundation – Edison Social Horizon Ets announces the publication of Social Report 2022. Eos was born in January 2021, with the aim of creating social value in the areas where Edison is present, for sustainable and inclusive development.

“We are proud to tell the work and concrete results of a participatory process that has involved many people, from the Eos team to local partners, from institutions to Edison volunteers, in the grounding of projects with a high social impact – he declares Francesca Magliulo, director of the Eos Foundation – Edison Social Horizon – In 2022 we activated 12 projects between Lombardy, Piedmont And Sicily, in collaboration with 40 local partners, on four vectors: urban social regeneration, accessible sport, innovative civic education and sustainability of cultural organizations. In the next two years we expect to activate many others in Campania, Sardinia, Lazio, Puglia and Veneto. Last year we laid the foundations of our path that places the young generations at the centre: we are committed to accompanying them on a path of growth by encouraging their aspirations without imposing our parameters as adults, but also to learn from them, listening to them and making them participate of our decisions and initiatives”.

There Eos Foundation is committed to the promotion of social development, growth and education of boys and girls aged between 11 and 17, for contribute to tackling educational povertya rapidly growing phenomenon Italywhich prevents boys and girls from learning, experimenting and cultivating their aspirations and talents.

In Italy, in fact, the rate of minors living in absolute poverty has tripled in the last 10 years and there are more than 1.9 million families in this condition (Istat 2022 data). Household spending on education remains very low on average, in particular for the poorest families of the population and in the southern regions (Source: elaborations by Save the Children on Istat data – 2023), and boys and girls often drop out of school due to the fragility of the family context in which they were born and for the inadequacy of the recovery strategies implemented by the schools themselves. In the last school year, over 80,000 students were rejected due to too many absences (source: Con i Bambini and Istituto Demopolis – Italians and child educational poverty. How much future do we lose? – 2022).

With the pandemic, the proportion of boys, girls, boys and girls who do not play sports or do physical activity in their free time has increased. In particular, this share between 11 and 14 years of age increased from 15.7% in 2019 to 21.3% in 2021 (Source: Openpolis – Con i Bambini elaboration on Istat data – April 2023). The two years of the pandemic then put a strain on the psychological well-being of boys and girls: for 2021, a worsening of mental well-being conditions has been observed, especially between 14 and 19 years of age, and in the last two years there has been an attempted suicide per day among adolescents (+75%).

The Eos Foundation operates through a three-year plan 2022-2024 whose initiatives are designed and implemented in co-planning with Third Sector entities already active in the territories, to pool complementary knowledge and skills. Furthermore, the actions aim to have a long-term impact in order to leave a strong and identifiable legacy to the territories. The Foundation also takes care of measuring the social impact produced through qualitative and quantitative parameters, with the aim of grasping the changes actually generated in the lives of the boys and girls who are protagonists of the initiatives and in the entire community.

During 2022, with the support of over 40 project partners (95% of them local) the Foundation involved around 2,000 children with an average age of 13-14, 100 parents and 1,300 people from the educating communities. Following the outbreak of the crisis and humanitarian emergency in Ukraine during the same year, it reached over 6,500 people (average age 30, 13% aged between 11 and 16), with the support of 12 partners and volunteers by Edison.

In particular, Urban trajectories, the flagship project of the Eos Foundation on the fight against educational poverty, in 2022, the year of its launch, reached almost 500 boys and girls, 40 family members, 550 people from the educational community thanks to the support of 13 partners. While the sports initiatives launched in Milan And Cataniaseen as a key educational opportunity, in partnership with theRugby Milan Amateur Sports Association they involved over 670 girls and boys with an average age of 13 years.

Social Report 2022

The 2022 financial statements closed with a substantial balance between the donations collected by the Foundation and the donations made. The total donations received by the Foundation amount to 1.2 million euros (98% coming from the founder, Edison Spa, and 2% from the Rete del Dono fundraising for the Ukrainian emergency). The annual endowment was entirely allocated to the Foundation’s activities and residually, as budgeted, to operating costs.

The investments made in 2022 amount to 1.3 million euros, and also include the previous year’s operating surplus used to support emergency-related activities, with particular reference to the Ukrainian crisis. In particular, 88% of investments was allocated to local projects (in partnership with Third Sector entities) and 12% for the ordinary management of foundation activities.

In 2022, the donations were divided into the following areas: 56% for the urban social regeneration16% mostly accessible sport12% for thecivics16% for the sustainability of culture; while on a geographical basis, 60% of the donations were destined to Sicily38% at Lombardy and 2% al Piedmont.

The three-year development plan of the Foundation also envisages a progressive increase of Edison’s annual endowmentto be combined with other funds obtained from fundraising activities and participation in tenders in partnership with third sector entities active in the field. In particular, the donation relating to the year 2023 was approved with an increase of 200 thousand euros compared to that of the previous year for a total amount of 1.3 million, while again for this year a 32% increase in the budget available to projects is expected thanks to the two co-financings with With the children (one relating to Urban trajectories and the other to the new project Criscito to Naples).