UBI Banca announces the issue of a new Social Bond “UBI Comunità per VIDAS”, for a total amount of 20 million euro, the proceeds of which will be donated, as a donation, to VIDAS for the project management of the former hospice pediatric hospital in Lombardy born for children and young people suffering from incurable diseases (about 30.000 in Italy), who need daily assistance and palliative care.
Casa Sollievo Bimbi was built by Vidas in Milan and will open its doors next spring. It is a serene, colorful and luminous place where every seriously ill child or young person will receive, together with his or her family, the therapy and affection they need.
Project activities and objectives
An entire floor of "Casa Sollievo Bimbi" will be dedicated to hospitalization. Here the very young patients can be welcomed for so-called relief hospitalizations or entrusted to the care of an entire health and social care team in a protected and equipped environment, should the parents need to interrupt, for short periods, the assistance activity, which can be very challenging since it is continuous 24 hours a day. The need is particularly felt by families with several children.
"Casa Sollievo Bimbi" is designed as a bridge between the home and the hospital, where there will be the possibility for parents to benefit from "qualification hospitalizations", or periods of time in which to become familiar with the equipment and principals doctors, to be used at home. These are often essential tools to ensure the survival of their children. Finally, there will also be room to accompany children who, for social and housing reasons, will not be able to spend the last part of their lives at home, also offering psychological support to their families.
VIDAS's "Casa Sollievo Bimbi" aims to act as a pilot project for pediatric palliative care in Italy, defining intervention models that can be a reference for other structures.
Up to €100.000 in grants through donations
The total contribution donated by UBI Banca to VIDAS, by way of donation, to support the "Casa Sollievo Bimbi" project and, in particular, the start-up of the hospitalization service, can reach up to 100.000 euro in the case of subscription of the entire nominal amount of the bonds subject to the offer.
The bonds, issued by UBI Banca, have a minimum subscription amount of 1.000 euro, duration of 3 years, six-monthly coupon, gross annual rate of 1,60% (1,184% net annual). They can be subscribed from 28 February 2019 to 27 March 2019, unless the offer is closed early.
"Collaboration solutions between the public, private and private sectors are increasingly the winning strategy for satisfying society's needs, even in the welfare sector", he says. Vincent Algiers, head of the UBI Community Area of UBI Banca. "In this sense, the UBI Community Social Bond for VIDAS makes it possible to contribute to supporting the association in responding effectively to a question, that of pediatric assistance to children and young people with very serious pathologies, which is extremely delicate and for which a structure like 'Casa Sollievo Bimbi' is undoubtedly an important step forward”.
“The commitment of UBI Community meets that of VIDAS”, he says Giorgio Trojsi, general manager of the Association "responding to an 'advocacy' function, typical of the third sector, which today, however, is declined according to a new concept which is not only that of reporting, but promotes the involvement of all those - private, public, social private – who share the responsibility of affirming respect for the fundamental rights of the members of a society, such as the rights of minors in conditions of grave fragility and their families. Thus, the long journey of VIDAS is an exemplary demonstration of how the synergy between the third sector, public and private can give shape to virtuous projects of great social importance".
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 when supporting initiatives 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.
VIDAS calculated the social benefits, estimated at €1,20 ex-ante for each euro invested. These benefits are mainly represented by the reduction of expenses incurred by families for continuous private assistance and for specialist home care (nurses, physiotherapists, speech therapists, paediatricians) thanks to the acquisition of nursing and assistance skills and by the reduction of costs for stay thanks to the hospitality in the mini-apartments present in Casa Sollievo Bimbi, as well as the growth of skills of the medical-nursing staff acquired by free participation in professional training courses on pediatric palliative care. At the end of the project, the consolidated result (ex-post) will be reported and communicated.
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 January 2019, the UBI Banca Group issued 92 UBI Community Social Bonds, for a total value of over one billion euro, which made it possible to donate contributions by way of donations for over 4,8 million euro to support initiatives of social interest and were subscribed by approximately 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.
