Fondazione Cariplo is a Milan-based philanthropic foundation supporting nonprofit and public-interest projects across Lombardy, Novara, and Verbano Cusio Ossola.
Fondazione Cariplo uses its financial, professional, and project-development resources to support initiatives that strengthen communities, advance the common good, reduce inequality, and promote social, cultural, and economic development.
Fondazione Cariplo was formally established in 1991 after Italy’s Amato-Carli law separated banking activity from philanthropic activity. Its roots trace back to the Commissione Centrale di Beneficenza, created in 1816 to address poverty after the Napoleonic wars, and to the Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde, founded in 1823 to mobilize savings for local economic and charitable purposes. After the separation, Cariplo S.p.A. continued as a bank while Fondazione Cariplo continued the philanthropic work historically carried out by the savings-bank system.
Fondazione Cariplo operates mainly as a grantmaker, awarding non-repayable contributions to nonprofit and public entities for projects and initiatives. Its approach combines grants, collaboration support, innovation pathways, social entrepreneurship, advocacy, research, knowledge-sharing, impact investment, and other financial structures linked to community needs. Its 2025 planning is organized around four mandate lines: shared value, inequality reduction, wider territorial relationships, and enabling conditions for stronger communities.
Fondazione Cariplo is one of Italy’s established philanthropic foundations of banking origin. Its legacy includes the continuation of a philanthropic tradition dating back to the 19th century, the creation and support of 16 community foundations, and long-term work across culture, environment, research, social inclusion, and local development. Its 2025 plan allocates more than €215 million across institutional and philanthropic activities, including major cross-cutting initiatives addressing issues such as ageing, environmental sustainability, social integration, digitalization, migration, and NEET youth.
Fondazione Cariplo works through a wider “Mondo Cariplo” ecosystem that includes instrumental entities, community foundations, and functional entities. Referenced partners and affiliated bodies include Fondazione Social Venture Giordano Dell’Amore, Fondazione Housing Sociale, Regione Lombardia, ANCI Lombardia, Intesa Sanpaolo, and the 16 Fondazioni di Comunità. The foundation also seeks public and private alliances for cross-cutting “Sfide di Mandato.”
Fondazione Cariplo’s 2025 annual planning document positions the foundation around strengthening communities as both wider territorial systems and local proximity networks. Its 2024–2027 strategy is structured around four mandate lines: creating shared value through sustainable territorial ecosystems; reducing inequalities linked to poverty and fragility; widening relationships between its territory, Italy, and Europe; and creating enabling conditions for stronger communities.
The foundation uses KPIs in its philanthropic planning to reflect on the practical benefit created for people and communities, not only to track performance. In 2025, it planned higher allocations than in previous years, citing positive asset-management performance and an expected 2024 surplus. The DPPA 2025 also identifies three cross-cutting “Sfide di Mandato,” each with €20 million in availability, while its investment approach aims to preserve long-term asset value and generate resources for its philanthropic mission.