Company: origins and mission

On March 10, 1995, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Roma established Compagnia Sviluppo Imprese Sociali S.p.A. to foster the birth, growth and development of social enterprises. The experience developed in the banking world, the awareness of non-profit issues, the intention to get involved in a new way to help and to alleviate underprivilege, encouraging the creation of new jobs, attracted from the very beginning important business groups. Thanks to these groups’ support, Compagnia emerged as a full-fledged financial intermediary specializing in ethical finance. COSIS’s daily activities are all aimed to achieve its goals to help and provide economic support, by creating conditions and utilizing resources, in sectors where the focus is on the improvement and respect of man. Thus, in 1997, to meet the growing demand of loans, Compagnia raised funds by issuing “Solidarity and Work” bonds. This was the first ethical bond issue placed with Italian investors. The project was successful, thanks to the help of such important industrial groups as Toro Assicurazioni, Standa, Pirelli, Olivetti, Unipol, Società Autostrade, Benetton.

Moving along the development path, in its effort to find new partners and additional resources to implement projects in the field of social enterprise, Compagnia looked to the European Union. In fact, together with its leading shareholder, Fondazione Europa Occupazione, it applied to the EU to obtain a grant, in the shape of co-financing, to develop social enterprises in Southern Italy.

In fact, at the end of 1998, the European Union acknowledged the entrepreneurial nature of social enterprises, including them in the group of recipients of resources intended for the development of SMEs. This led to the set-up of Sovvenzione Globale OASIS, (Orchestrare Azioni di Sviluppo per le piccole e medie Imprese Sociali), a fund for the development of small and medium social enterprises. COSIS and Fondazione Europa Occupazione, working as active partner and intermediary, respectively, managed this fund, which called for in-kind contributions (services) and financing (subscription to shares and disbursement of loans) to cooperatives for the creation of jobs and to consortia of social cooperatives operating in Southern Italy. Out of 85 OASIS-financed projects in a year, more than 90% involved an equity investment, turning COSIS into an actual “ethical merchant bank”.

Thanks to the experience gained in the management of Sovvenzione Globale, COSIS expanded its reach, preparing to provide services (assistance, tutoring and control in the different implementation stages of the projects financed) to foster the development and firming up of social entrepreneurship.

During these years, COSIS has entered into several partnerships and alliances with different players both in the profit and non-profit sectors, to devise socially responsible, environment-friendly and economically sustainable solutions. Thanks to the financing provided to 460 enterprises, for a total of more than 51 million euros (2004), COSIS is currently engaged in the dissemination of existing skills within the non-profit sector and in providing directly financing-related services, so as to ensure the full cultural and managerial development of social enterprises.