People at the center

What we are experiencing is not simply an era of change, but a change of era. We are, therefore, in one of those moments in which the changes are no longer linear, but epochal; they constitute choices that quickly transform the way of living, of relating, of communicating and elaborating thought, of relating between human generations and of understanding and living faith and science ».

In the words of Pope Francis there is a method that should be carefully guarded. Which requires, before any action, a reflection, a lucid, realistic discernment of the present.
An invitation to think again. Because going back to thinking is the first challenge we are called to. It takes time to think about time. Because the time we live in - and that the Covid tsunami has accelerated - is radically rewriting the instructions for living and the instructions for living together and putting institutions, associations and churches in crisis - even if we often persist in not seeing it. So, even before saying what to do, it would be useful to think again. Because, otherwise, it is a sterile idleness. We therefore need new maps to decipher the present. Also on the subject of work. Above all, I would say, on the subject of work. Which is profoundly changing the connotations. In this article I focus in particular on the digitalization in progress that involves and challenges, in particular, all the realities of the Third Sector.

The Third Sector's demand for innovation

A concrete need and a powerful suggestion, the realities of the third sector perceive a growing need for innovation and digitization. There is a risk of not keeping up with the times, in the now dominant perspective that only those who are capable of innovating - in terms of computerization, process management, communication - have a guaranteed future. But it's not going to be an easy transition, and it certainly hasn't even started on the right foot. At least this is what emerges from the study conducted at the beginning of the year by the Italian Social Foundation, Deloitte Private and Techsoup Italia.

The survey [1], which involved about 180 Third Sector organizations, represents a pioneering contribution on the subject, as it is exclusively dedicated to our worlds. Moving on five main drivers - leadership and culture of innovation, organizational structure, personnel management, social finance, technology and digitization - the will is to return the current photography by highlighting the most suitable methods for the implementation of new technologies and practices, as well as to promote a real culture of innovation.

However, the picture that emerged does not seem encouraging. Some evidence clearly shows the lack of even a medium-term strategy, with clear and measurable objectives: - almost two thirds of the realities interviewed declare the scarcity of resources to invest with which they have to deal; - over six out of ten say they find resistance in the digital transition process, mainly due to internal reasons - training and sensitivity of staff (employees and volunteers) - and to the growing bureaucracy in the management of relations with the outside world, in particular with the Public Administration; - almost half recognize the inadequacy of the IT and digital skills of the staff.

There is a lack of training opportunities that are measured on non-profit realities. Not so much because there is a scarcity of the offer at the didactic level; rather, because there is a lack of institutional and cultural accompaniment in this transition. The training courses promoted by the various schools and institutions are not enough, it is necessary to insist on the promotion of a culture of change. This is, at the root, the meaning of the concept of innovation: to alter the order of established things to innovate, to make new things. Often our associations, social enterprises, foundations - as well as our networks - appear crystallized, weighed down by that order established over the years, by the rhetoric of "this has always been done". It is useless to deny that the digital transition brings with it a mass of changes that risk not taking root in the least, or worse, doing damage if it does not meet a favorable cultural substrate.

At the service of those who serve

It would be unfair not to recognize the extenuating circumstances of the case. The Third Sector, in parallel with the growing variety of social needs and the aging trend of the population, records a continuous expansion, which is however not supported by adequate resources (financial and consequently human).
Those who work in the sector on average have high workloads, which often overflow in voluntary work, and the digital transition weighs on as an additional and complex task to be fulfilled.
Those who commit themselves in this direction do so mainly because of that fear of being left out that was said. Data in hand, this leverage is not sufefficient.

One more step is required of us: the effort to frame technological innovation in a perspective of support for the activities that are already taking place. It is necessary to emphasize the opportunity it represents for greater integration in the context of the Third Sector, such as to favor the construction of a shared know-how on the daily challenges that unite us, on the weaving of networks "at a distance" and, because no, on finding the resources that the opening of new channels allows to attract. A solid support from the institutions in this regard would also be desirable.

However, the primary challenge of leading this transition to the service of those who serve is another. It consists in enhancing the human resources that digitalization can bring with it, effectively relieving them of repetitive, sometimes alienating, low added value activities. It may seem like a purely corporate lexicon, but it is not, it has a translation that is unique in our world. The time that is saved - a precious resource regardless, especially in a time when it is difficult to find new collaborators and volunteers - can be invested in what are the real high value-added activities of our organizations, namely the care of relationships and of the person. That attention, that putting oneself at service, that authentic taking charge of the women and men with whom we come into contact, made even more necessary by the collateral effects due to digitization, exacerbated by the end of the last year.

Inequalities and the digital divide

Opportunity and challenge for survival.
This seems to be the double nature of the digital transition that we cannot but deal with.
Because not taking advantage of the possibilities described above does not automatically mean that only the relative "opportunity costs" can be taken into account.

The spectrum of the digital divide, or the gap between those who are and those who are not computer literate and have access to the related tools and the network, is already materializing in many non-profit areas. It is sufficient to think of those associations that made physical presence on the territory and meeting people in the squares their typical communication, recruitment and financing channel. Or just think of many of our recipients.

In this sense, the commitment to lead the digital transition within the Third Sector has an even higher value. Because to the risk of marginalization experienced by our organizations, there is also the danger of social exclusion that affects the individuals to whom our action is directed. We need a technical and cultural accompaniment that allows us in turn to accompany the pockets of fragility that cling to us in this transition. The stories, the trust, the faces that we cannot ignore if we do not want to betray the social pact at the foundation of the Third Sector. We do not need entities that, while professing solidarity and inclusion, operate in the wake of the digital divide, inexorably feeding the existing social and cultural discrimination. Inequalities are galloping very well on their own.

Daniele Rocchetti
NP May 2021

[1] Fondazione Italia Sociale, Deloitte Private, TechSoup Italia (2021), The demand for innovation in the Third Sector, Working Paper Fondazione Italia Sociale n. 6, February 2021.

* President of the ACLI of Bergamo