Sustainability Report 2012 - Generali Versicherung AG

GUIDELINES FOR COMMUNITYINITIATIVESFour action areas have been identified in order to guidethe choices of the Group companies.Social area: initiatives aimed at improving all aspectsof society, with a particular focus on those that seek to:• provide assistance (covering primary needs, healthand medical services, basic education, etc.) to thosein difficulty (people suffering from poverty or illness,orphans, disaster- or war-stricken communities, etc.);• integrate the disadvantaged into society and educationand/or employment through rescue work andeducation;• raise the awareness of the community with regard tosocially relevant issues, often related to the company’sbusiness, such as road safety, health and volunteerwork;• support research, particularly medical, scientific andeconomic research, and educational training on topicsrelated to the activities of the Group companies.Cultural area: initiatives aimed at enhancing andpreserving the artistic, historical and cultural heritage ofthe areas in which Generali operates and making it moreaccessible to the public.Environmental area: initiatives aimed at protecting theenvironment and raising awareness about issues such asclimate change, energy saving, separate waste collectionand pollution.Sports area: initiatives to support youth, amateur andprofessional sport.In these areas priority is given to initiatives regardingchildren and young adults, the future of our society,even if the demographic changes taking place in somecountries have also seen the attention focused onassociations and projects for the elderly.The criteria used to choose which initiatives to supporttake into account the priority action areas and the socialvalue of the proposals and the reliability of the bodiespromoting them. Checks are made at a later date toensure that the funds actually arrive at the designateddestination and to ensure ongoing long-term supportfor those organisations that have made good use ofthe financial resources received and have mission andvalues shared by the Group or are involved in broadreachingprojects. For larger-scale initiatives, the Groupcompanies also seek to evaluate their social impact,examining the number and type of the benefits they hadon the socio-economic context.In terms of the aforementioned criteria, the individualGroup companies make their own decisions as regardstheir operations, concentrating the resources earmarkedfor the community on a single or a few large-scaleinitiatives, or on one specific issue, or splitting the fundsbetween several initiatives covering various topics. Insome cases, employees are also involved in choosingwhich organisations should benefit from the resourcesavailable.In some countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, Mexico, theCzech Republic and Hungary) the activities are alsocarried out via foundations that have been specificallyset up for this purpose.Depending on the end goal, which may be eitherphilanthropic or predominantly commercial in nature, thecommunity-oriented initiatives implemented within theaction areas identified by the Group may be divided into:• donations, when the funds or resources in kinddestined for these communities have the sole goalof providing a public service or materials for publicuse. Such contributions can be made periodicallyor, as mentioned, on a regular basis, according toan established schedule in the event that they are tobe used for the development of specific, large-scaleprojects. The majority of the community-orientedinitiatives pursued with the participation of the Groupcompanies fall into this bracket.• commercial initiatives, i.e. the sponsorship of eventsand shows of significant cultural and sport value fromwhich the community benefits, but which are alsodirectly aimed at promoting the brand or a specificcompany product, or to improve its image.Thanks to their ability to combine commercial goals withsocial goals, commercial initiatives are a crucial part ofthe Group’s communication policies which, by their verynature, are developed over time in accordance with theneeds of the business, and can therefore be irregular.The Group’s policy of engagement in the communitytherefore relates exclusively to donations.Explendor de Renacimiento (Renaissance splendor), Spain112 | Assicurazioni Generali - Sustainability Report 2012