2008-07-04
Review on the 2008 EUConsult Conference
The EUConsult conference was held in Rome from Friday June 20th through Sunday June 22nd, 2008. The leadership of the group should be congratulated for their wise choice of location - Rome was more exquisite than ever and the hospitality of Pasquale Pesce (conference host) and Dr. Franco Pavancello, President of John Cabot University, where the meetings convened, were outstanding.
EUConsult (formally known as The European Association of Consultants to and about Not-For-Profit Organizations) is a trade association of individuals and large and small companies that provide consulting services to the nonprofit and NGO sectors in Europe. While some members are international firms with offices in and outside of Europe, and some have expanded their European operations to serve clients throughout Europe and the United States (US), by and large EUConsult is a European association serving European clients. There are forty plus members and, in the interest of full disclosure, this correspondents company was offered an opportunity to become a member.
The speakers list included some of the EUConsult members and others from the Italian government, nonprofit organizations, cultural organizations, educational institutions and a particularly enlightening presentation from Dr. Dario Disegni, the Director of the Cultural Sector of the Compagnia San Paolo di Torino, one of the largest grant making foundations in Italy. Two significant themes emerged from the formal discussions: there has been an explosive growth in the number of nonprofit organizations and, with that growth, the financial and human capital impact that these organizations are having on civil society in Italy; there is a large and growing influence from the Italian banking foundations on Italian society.
While the most recent statistics are not yet available, the number of NGOs in Italy is increasing at a rapid rate. By some measures, the sector has grown by almost 50% in the last ten years; other statistics point to a growth of more than twice that. Though not discussed formally at the conference, this increase in the number of nonprofits, similar to the situation today in the US, combined with a significant demographic trend of an aging population and a diminishing workforce, is likely to create a situation where there will be the funding to run the sector but not the people to manage it. This points to a growing need for consultants to fill these lacunae.
The conference also highlighted the importance of the major Italian grant making foundations. Many of these institutions, founded as charitable institutions in the 16th Century, have been transformed through changes in the banking laws into some of the largest, independent foundations in the world. The Compagnia di San Paolo, one of approximately a dozen of such institutions in Italy, awarded grants and services in excess of 148 million Euros in 2006. Such an institution would be equivalent to a $4.5 billion American foundation, larger than Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations, for example. These Italian foundations today are taking a major role in creating and improving the civil society in Italy. As the Italian government struggles under growing pressure to support pensioners and to fund other social costs related to an aging and shrinking population, the future health of the society will be supported, and social policies influenced, by these institutions.
As recently as ten years ago, the nonprofit consulting industry in Europe was not mature or professionalized. There were the beginnings of fundraising consulting activities; some professionals from the field provided paid advice in their areas of expertise; and a few economic-consulting firms worked with governments on research and policy. Then, the Lottery in Great Britain created an unexpectedly large fund for new construction of cultural institutions and that, combined with budget pressures on European governments, created a movement toward a more business-like approach to the entire nonprofit sector. We are now witnessing the maturing of, and no doubt, an acceleration of the trend. As any sector matures it creates a consulting industry around it.
The mission of EUConsult is to establish and support an ethical and professional consulting industry for the growing NGO sector in Europe. There is no question that the need for consulting will grow and that the sector will be better served as EUConsult extends its influence. More information may be found at www.euconsult.org
The speakers list included some of the EUConsult members and others from the Italian government, nonprofit organizations, cultural organizations, educational institutions and a particularly enlightening presentation from Dr. Dario Disegni, the Director of the Cultural Sector of the Compagnia San Paolo di Torino, one of the largest grant making foundations in Italy. Two significant themes emerged from the formal discussions: there has been an explosive growth in the number of nonprofit organizations and, with that growth, the financial and human capital impact that these organizations are having on civil society in Italy; there is a large and growing influence from the Italian banking foundations on Italian society.
While the most recent statistics are not yet available, the number of NGOs in Italy is increasing at a rapid rate. By some measures, the sector has grown by almost 50% in the last ten years; other statistics point to a growth of more than twice that. Though not discussed formally at the conference, this increase in the number of nonprofits, similar to the situation today in the US, combined with a significant demographic trend of an aging population and a diminishing workforce, is likely to create a situation where there will be the funding to run the sector but not the people to manage it. This points to a growing need for consultants to fill these lacunae.
The conference also highlighted the importance of the major Italian grant making foundations. Many of these institutions, founded as charitable institutions in the 16th Century, have been transformed through changes in the banking laws into some of the largest, independent foundations in the world. The Compagnia di San Paolo, one of approximately a dozen of such institutions in Italy, awarded grants and services in excess of 148 million Euros in 2006. Such an institution would be equivalent to a $4.5 billion American foundation, larger than Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations, for example. These Italian foundations today are taking a major role in creating and improving the civil society in Italy. As the Italian government struggles under growing pressure to support pensioners and to fund other social costs related to an aging and shrinking population, the future health of the society will be supported, and social policies influenced, by these institutions.
As recently as ten years ago, the nonprofit consulting industry in Europe was not mature or professionalized. There were the beginnings of fundraising consulting activities; some professionals from the field provided paid advice in their areas of expertise; and a few economic-consulting firms worked with governments on research and policy. Then, the Lottery in Great Britain created an unexpectedly large fund for new construction of cultural institutions and that, combined with budget pressures on European governments, created a movement toward a more business-like approach to the entire nonprofit sector. We are now witnessing the maturing of, and no doubt, an acceleration of the trend. As any sector matures it creates a consulting industry around it.
The mission of EUConsult is to establish and support an ethical and professional consulting industry for the growing NGO sector in Europe. There is no question that the need for consulting will grow and that the sector will be better served as EUConsult extends its influence. More information may be found at www.euconsult.org
An article by James Abruzzo, correspondent, New York, USA
Managing Director, DHR Nonprofit Practice
Managing Director, DHR Nonprofit Practice
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