Snam Foundation

In more than 75 years since its establishment, Snam has made a contribution to the innovation, progress and social growth of Italy through the creation and management of complex infrastructures. Taking inspiration from the Snam infrastructural vocation, and placing itself as an player for the development of the social system through the construction of networks also listening directly to stakeholders in the communities, the Foundation aims to redevelop the most vulnerable areas of the country also through the protection and care of the landscape and environment heritage as well as the development of cultural and social activities by all means.

The Snam Foundation, as a system integrator, places itself as an connection between Snam and the social sector. It promotes partnerships with different players within the local communities prioritising agreements with social enterprises and making available its methodology, managerial skills and the capacity to attract investments and developing relational networks. Strengthening the capacity to support the needs of a changing world, the Foundation promotes the dissemination of social innovation.

Since its establishment in 2017, the Foundation has undertaken the development of new projects, involving the corporate area and its employees in initiatives and gained accreditation from other Foundations and third sector national bodies.

In 2018, the Foundation replied to a call for ideas from the social enterprise “Con i bambini” (With the children) about a research on co-financing projects to fight educational poverty. The idea submitted by the Foundation was chosen and it is based on the promotion of an alliance between schools, families and other players in the community, specifically third sector organisations, to overcome education poverty among underage students and prevent forms of hardship among children. The project strives to contribute to the removal of obstacles of an economic, social and cultural nature which hinder the full use of the educational processes by underage students and aims to define an experimental collaboration model between schools and third-sector organisations to implement integrated educational services that can be scaled up on a national level.

The idea will be developed, on a trial basis, through a co-design project, in schools in three cities: Milan, Palermo and Brindisi with the goal, in each specific situation, of defining a joint educational project for schools and third-sector organisations, which can then be replicated in different settings on a national scale.

Activities have been developed involving corporate people, promoting both interaction between business and the non-profit world, and encouraging the engagement of employees and involving them in social impact initiatives.

Free Energy is an initiative to support ideas and projects of third-sector organisations suggested by the Snam Group employees and which are aligned to the actions already implemented by the Snam Foundation. The goal of the project is to increase the positive impact of supportive initiatives to which employees already dedicate their leisure time. The Free Energy project was organised around 4 themes: “Double your contribution”, “Suggest a project”, “Submit an idea”, “Indicate your commitment” and around 70 people have been involved with approximately 100 reports.

With the volunteering day Snam employees spent a working day voluntereeing for third-sector organizations identified by the Foundation.

Three hundred employees (more than 10% of the corporate population) joined the initiative working at 23 non-profit organizations, 49 different activities in 28 Italian locations.

The Tesori – Terre Solidali in Reti Inclusive initiative continued. The project was launched in 2017 to promote social agricultural projects in partnership with Confagricoltura with the purpose of building on corporate assets, local experiences and skills and strengthening relationships with the local communities.

In 2018, two calls for tender were launched, addressed to social workers, mainly in the agricultural sector, which have led to the selection of projects which are better able to connect aspects of inclusion, social impact on local communities, and sustainability, through innovation and experimentation.

Currently, also thanks to the support of the Snam employees in the area, a detailed plan is being developed for interventions in the areas of Camerino, Ronco all’Adige and Messina.

The free ten-year use of the land, together with the economic support and the financing of the online Masters in Social Agriculture organised by the University of Tor Vergata, are the prize for project winners.

In 2018, the Foundation followed the winners of Welfare, che impresa! namely the start-ups Tripmetoo and Agrishelter, supporting them during the incubation process and accompanying them on the subsequent launch and consolidation phases; it also renewed its participation in the new edition of the “Welfare, che impresa!” competition, contributing, together with “Fondazione con il Sud” and the other partners to the implementation of the third edition planned for 2019.

This year, Snam again participated to Youth in Action for Sustainable Development Goals, a competition promoted by Fondazione Italiana Accenture, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, aimed at young people under 30, with the goal of collecting and rewarding the best design ideas to promote the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Italy. The winners were rewarded with a paid internship. The role of the Snam Foundation was to facilitate the relationship between Snam and the other sponsoring Foundations taking part in the selection of the final ideas and offering to the internship to the chosen candidate. The Snam Foundation will support this competition also in 2019.

In 2018, the Snam Foundation signed agreements with different partners, including: Fondazione Con il Sud, CGM (Consorzio Nazionale della Cooperazione Sociale Gino Mattarelli), Confagricoltura, Assifero, (Associazione Italiana delle Fondazioni ed Enti della filantropia Istituzionale), EVPA (European Venture Philantropy Association), IID (L’Istituto Italiano della Donazione) and Fondazione Lang.