Third sector reform and GDPR the focus of Italian fundraising event

This year’s annual ASSIF Day saw a focus on third sector reform in Italy, together with adapting to the upcoming GDPR requirements.

The event took place on 23 February at the LUISS EnLabs in Rome, attended by 135 guests. Each session discussed an area with daily impact on Italian fundraisers and finished with 10 practical action points to take back to the office.

The morning began with a roundtable on GDPR, which comes into force on 25 May 2018. Participants included Maria Roberta Perugini from law firm Jacobacci & Associati; Luca Bolognini, president of the Italian Institute for Data Privacy; Dr. Genevieve Garrigos, director of communications and institutional relations at BMI Systems and former director general of Amnesty International France; Massimo Montanile from the Federprivacy of Rome, and Sebastiano Moscatelli, chief financial officer & general affairs director at Save the Children Italy.

A key focus of the discussion was how well nonprofit organisations in Italy were adapting to the new privacy legislation with roundtable agreeing that this demanded an active commitment with many as of yet under-prepared. The panel also agreed however that the GDPR’s requirement for transparency provided a good opportunity for charities to show people that they are carrying out fundraising responsibly. Action points from the session included ensuring GDPR awareness at all levels of an organisation, checking what consent is already held and whether legitimate interest may be able to be used.

 “It seems many charities are not yet really prepared for the implementation of the GDPR but luckily we already have strong privacy laws in Italy so the change won’t be dramatic,” said Andrea Caracciolo, ASSIF Board member and trainer and consultant at the Rome Fund-raising.it School. “This roundtable provided some practical actions points designed to help charities in those areas where they may struggle however.”