Corporate responsibility, Italy

The staff in our Milan and Rome offices regularly contribute their time and energy to local corporate responsibility initiatives. We have set out a selection of the community projects that we have been involved in.

World Food Day 2013

Colleagues from across our offices donated generously to World Food Day last week (16 October). Over 1,500 food items were donated, with our colleagues from the Milan office generously donating over 122 items in total. The items were donated to Opera San Francisco for the Poor. Opera San Francesco for the Poor provides free primary and hospitality to people in need of food, clothing, personal hygiene and medical care to restore dignity and hope through sharing and solidarity.

This was the first year that Eversheds has supported the event, and it is hoped that next year we will be able to increase our donations.

For more information on this years World Food Day, view our previous news item with links to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) website.

Pro bono

We regularly do pro bono legal assistance to Croce Rossa Italiana (the Italian Association of the Red Cross).

Dynamo Camp

We are now going to start a relationship with Dynamo Camp. Dynamo Camp is the first summer camp in Italy to be structured specifically for children with serious or chronic illnesses who are currently in therapy or in post-hospitalization convalescence. The camp is a member of the Hole in the Wall Camps Association, founded by philanthropist Paul Newman.

Dynamo Camp is structured as a non profit association (ONLUS) according to Italian law, and it is supported by a number of private donors with the strategic help of Fondazione Dynamo, a Milan based institution that helps social projects to develop and achieve economic sustainability according to the model of venture philanthropy.

We will be working in conjunction with Dynamo Camp to prepare our e-Christmas cards with all contribution being donated to their facility.

International Women's Day

We gave our support to a non profit Italian organization AIDOS (Associazione Italiana Donne per lo Sviluppo) that works for the recognition of women’s freedom and rights, operating to assure a better life to people living there.

Activities included the purchase of books from the Feltrinelli bookshops and website. On 8 March, for every book bought, AIDOS received 20 cents. Lawyers in both offices were asked to make a wish list of books and wait until 8 March to buy them.

PROMOD, a chain of fashion shops, agreed to donate a percentage of total sales from its 78 retail shops in Italy to AIDOS. Our colleagues were encouraged to buy during that day.

AIDOS leaflets were distributed within the firm, and a collection box was available all day in reception to encourage people to make a donation.

World Food Day 2011

As part of World Environment Week, our staff in the Milan office donated eight used computers to Cova school, where they will be used by the students.

They also held a ‘cake day’ each Monday during June when colleagues sold homemade cakes and desserts in the office to raise funds for the Banco Alimentare Foundation, which distributes food to the needy.