Italy: Daniele Fusi

VITA Europe meets Daniele Fusi, Direct Marketing Manager of CESVI. Founded in 1985, today CESVI is one of the most important humanitarian organisations in Italy. With its 30 offices abroad, CESVI intervenes in every continent to deal with every type of emergency: from famine to epidemics (especially malaria and dengue in the South- East Asia, malaria and Hiv/Aids in Africa), from assistance to refugees (e.g. North Uganda and DR Congo) to help for flood victims.

Daniele, what is the impact of the individual fundraising for CESVI?
Since 2005 , the individual donors have become the first financer for Cesvi. During 2006 we raise 5,132,075 euros form individual donations. The donations to Cesvi coming from individual donations and companies represent the 40% of the funds raised for the projects. Cesvi can count on the support of about 40,000 active donors and we have seen an increase of 10% during the last three years.

What is the profile of your donors?
Men slightly donate more than women , about 55%. Mostly of our donors live in the central-northern Italy , and they belong to a medium – low class. Their age ranges around 55-65 years old, and they have a medium cultural level. The majority of them owns a middle school or high school diploma.

Which is the most preferable channel used by CESVI’s donors?
Our donors use more postal payment bill, or either a direct interbank payment, RID in Italian.
RID likes to our donors because their donation get directly from their bank account so they are sure to have done a donation.
Who donates through RID is our faithful donor, because they choose to donate not for a specific project but they support our organization itself.
Then we decide to give the funds raised in accordance to the need of the projects.

Based on your experience, what do Italian donors like most?
Cesvi identified 6 areas to reduce the poverty in the world. Italians support mostly projects related to childhood and to humanitarian emergencies.

As time passed by, have you changed the way to raise funds?
Last year we started a campaign for legacies. They will have an impact of 10% on the total of the income.

To find about more visit http://www.cesvi.eu/index.php

See also other interviews:

– Athla Onlus: Ferdinando Orlando  

– WWF: Paolo Giganti
– Action Aid: Manuela Sorrentino