The Compagnia di San Paolo pursues socially useful objectives in order to promote cultural, civil and economic development with the income from its assets.
Article three of the Articles of Association states that the Compania operates in the sectors allowed under Legislative Decree 17th May 1999 no. 153, from which relevant areas are chosen every three years. In any case, the Compania only makes this choice within the broad areas in which its institutional activity is organized, such as research and education, the arts, cultural heritage and activities, health, and social policy.
The Compagnia’s work is carried out through grants and projects directly managed by its own organisation and instrumental bodies: the ‘Fondazione per la Scuola’, the ‘Ufficio Pio’, the ‘Fondazione 1563 per l'Arte e la Cultura’, the ‘Collegio Carlo Alberto’, the ‘Istituto Superiore Mario Boella’, ‘Istituto Superiore sui Sistemi Territoriali per l’Innovazione’, and the Human Genetics Foundation. Also worth mentioning is the Fondazione Bersezio - managed by a Board appointed by the Compagnia - which follows the implementation of cultural development initiatives through projects and actions honouring the memory of Vittorio Bersezio.
The Foundation’s governance is based on a distinction between policy-making, administration and monitoring; in particular the Consiglio Generale is the policy-making organ of the Compagnia that determines the priorities, programmes and objectives and verifies the results, while the Management Committee has all the powers of ordinary and extraordinary administration. Both bodies are presided over by the Chair, assisted by the Secretary-General, who is the head of the organisation.
The members of the Consiglio Generale are nominated by local authorities and by economic and cultural institutions for terms lasting four years. The members of the Management Committee may be selected from within the Consiglio Generale or externally.
Every four years the Consiglio Generale drafts the Multi-Year Planning Document, in which the guidelines and operation criteria for the next four years are defined. In October of each year the Consiglio approves the Planning Guidelines for the following year, allocating the resources for Areas and Programmes.
Furthermore, within April of each year the Consiglio approves the previous year’s financial statement.