UBI Banca launches the new social bond “UBI Community for the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Foundation”: the bond loan has a total amount of 20 million euros, the proceeds of which will be donated, as a donation, to the "Virtual Round" project which will be carried out in the Geriatrics department of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo. Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza is a “classified religious hospital” highly specialized, which has about 900 beds divided between 30 medical and surgical wards and 50 clinical specialties with a "catalogue" of about 4.300 diagnostic and therapeutic services. Every year it records about 57.000 hospitalizations and over 1,3 million outpatient services.
Project activities and objectives
The "Virtual Round" project envisages the activation of innovative digital applications, such as social robots, videopresence and multimedia training tools, which will serve both to enrich the experience of hospitalized elderly people with the offer of cognitive stimulation services, and to facilitate families in the management of patients who need sub-intensive care after their discharge. The project therefore intends to provide concrete answers to the needs of those involved in the assistance of elderly patients, in particular in the critical phase of transition from the hospital to home care. It also wants to promote the quality of life of the patients themselves and increase the autonomy of their families, thanks to the use of robotic solutions and telemedicine. From the point of view of the health system, the solutions envisaged will also be able to help reduce the recourse to repeated hospitalizations, at the same time alleviating the economic burden that families often have to bear if forced to stay for long periods in hospitals.
Up to €100.000 in grants through donations
The total contribution donated by UBI Banca to the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Foundation as a donation to support the “Virtual Round” project can reach up to €100.000 if the entire nominal amount of the bonds involved in the offer is subscribed. The bonds, issued by UBI Banca, have a minimum subscription denomination of 1.000 euro, duration of 3 years, six-monthly coupon, gross annual rate of 1,15% in the first year (0,851% net annually), 1,25% the second year (0,925% net per year) and 1,35% the third year (0,999% net per year). They can be subscribed from 27 June 2019 to 29 July 2019, unless the offer is closed early.
“UBI Community Social Bonds allow private savers to direct financial resources towards worthy initiatives by combining, in investing, individual economic objectives with value-based objectives of general interest” he declared Vincenzo Algeri, UBI Community Manager of UBI Banca. “These are useful tools for fueling sustainable and innovative planning paths shared between the public, private and social private sectors, functional to the development of the Third Sector, an increasingly important sector in Italy both at a social and economic level”.
“With Social Bonds it is possible to contribute to the realization of projects such as Virtual Round – he continued Alberto Pedroli, Head of the Southern Territorial Macro Area of UBI Banca – which, promoted by a primary point of reference for our area such as the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Foundation and by seizing the opportunities offered by the most modern technologies at the service of quality of life, are able to generate a positive and concrete impact in the life of our communities".
"Since 1991 Casa Sollievo has been recognized by the Ministry of Health as an "IRCCS", i.e. Institute of Hospitalization and Treatment of a Scientific Character and in all these years - explained the general manager Michele Giuliani – our researchers have always been open and available to collaborate with the best institutions in the country to bring innovation, knowledge and benefits to the community, without any profit. The issue of UBI Community Social Bonds for Casa Sollievo, as well as allowing the continuation of some studies through financial support, are also useful because they allow researchers and the Institute to feel the trust and esteem that the community places in our Work".
SROI as a tool for measuring social value
With reference to the project, the value of the social benefit for the recipients and the community connected to the Social Bond is calculated, as has already happened on the occasion of contributions linked to previous placements. The method chosen for this quantification is the social return on investment - SROI. SROI is the means to quantify, in economic terms, the social or environmental value generated by a project, an initiative, a social organization.
The Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Foundation calculated the social benefits, estimated at 1,88 euros ex-ante for each euro invested. These benefits are mainly represented by the improvement in the quality of life and care for patients and their families and by the reduction of the direct and indirect economic impact that the care of an elderly patient has on their families. At the end of the project, the consolidated result will be reported and communicated (ex post).
UBI Community Social Bonds
Social Bonds are debenture loans aimed at supporting initiatives of high social value, which offer subscribers a market yield and provide that, with the funding deriving from the placement, the Bank disburses sums of money by way of donation or loan at competitive conditions in support of projects or investments with a high social impact. They involve and reward significant non-profit realities in the reference territories, characterized by a good ability to mobilize peoplestakeholder and with projects with a high social impact.
From April 2012 to June 2019, the UBI Banca Group issued 94 UBI Community Social Bonds, for a total value exceeding one billion euro, which made it possible to devolve donations of over 5 million euro to support initiatives of social interest and were subscribed by more than 37.000 customers of the UBI Group. In addition, plafonds have been activated for loans of over 21 million euro intended for consortia, businesses and social cooperatives.
