The reasons for the Foundation
Governance and the Foundation’s relationship with the company
The staff and external collaboration
Management of the Foundation
G.P.: Now that we have spoken about governance and of the relationship between the company and the Foundation, let’s have a look at economic matters. I suppose the activity of the Foundation focuses on the company.
C.L.: Well, let me see… we have various clients. The Foundation offers its ‘products’ free of charge.…..
G.P.: What do you mean by ‘free’?
C.L.: …that the Foundation doesn’t sell its products [in the same way a company does]. It absorbs the costs through the funds allocated by its founding member. So the providing of funds necessary for the activity depends on the efforts of the founding member. In contrast, the distribution of the cultural products of the Foundation reaches a wider ‘clientele’. Some of these products are for Dalmine itself, especially when our initiatives concern internal communication. For example, during the centenary, we carried out some research, published a book and a volume of photographs, and organized some exhibitions especially for the company and its employees. Many other activities of the Foundation (above all providing access to the archives for free consultation every day of the week, without copying costs, giving information and copying images) are for external clients. So I’d say that we have found a balance in what we accomplish. Also we manage a great deal of information in our historical archives, which the company itself needs—information not only about company history but also specific, technical data and in this case, the company itself becomes our client. So we have only one income, but many outcomes.
G.P.: When the Foundation creates its own cultural policy, does it also take into account the presence and the needs of external clients? I believe some initiatives were created together with the Dalmine municipality.
C.L.: In some cases, the exhibitions in Bergamo were held on property belonging to the municipality and the historical museum of the town, and once in the theatre in 2004-2005.
G.P.: Let’s suppose the Centro per la Cultura d’Impresa asked Dalmine Foundation to provide a service. Then what would happen? C.L.: We don’t supply this kind of service. The activities we carry out regard the valorization of our heritage, which goes back to the archives. On a more general level, we are interested in promoting a debate on themes regarding business history and culture. To do this, we carry out non-profit activities. We organize seminars and free courses; we establish free partnerships with the universities; we welcome all our users for extensive research that can last up to a year. For short private research, for people who want to know something about their homes, their history, or significant life events that may link them to Dalmine. This activity creates services and products that are not sold or commercialized, but are at the public’s disposal. If we organize, a specific cultural project or an exhibition in collaboration with another institution, the relationship is based on an exchange of skills and shared planning or logistics. A clear example of this is the historical museum in Bergamo. An exhibition was planned and produced by the Dalmine Foundation; our partnership with the museum existed through the coordination for setting up the exhibition and in the management of the guided tours in collaboration with the educational staff of the museum. So we can say that the kind of relationship we establish with our partners depends on specific situations and does not lead to economic relations, but are based only on the partnership for the projects. 
S.M.: I’d add, as a board member, that this choice does not depend only on our decision to supply free services but also on the fact that charging for services is quite expensive. To supply services for a fee, or to sell books means to change the structure, the practices and the procedures that are be in line with a non-profit organization. At that point, you would have an economic institution that requires several sources of income; otherwise the costs would probably far outweigh the earnings. If we decided to go in that direction, we would create…
C.L.: …a company.
S.M.: This would require a business method based on economic analysis and evaluation with an advisor to see if the new profile would be compatible with our non-profit status.
C.L.: In this moment we work from a liberal perspective.
S.M.: By now, we have realized that any products or services that we could invoice tend to be occasional. We are not interested in the promotion of a commercial activity, which would mean a change in the Foundation’s structure. Carolina’s and the other collaborators’ time is precious and it is almost entirely devoted to our internal projects. So, at present, we have no plans for a commercial project. Besides, we wouldn’t do it because of our guidelines; I see that in other activities when you draw up the accounts you say: “I sold the tickets but I had to hire a person to strip them, I had to pay the taxes, and then there is the VAT on the free tickets, and then the SIAE”. If I had offered this ticket at no charge, I would have spent less time and less money. In our company, if we decided to sell things, the first thing the board would want to know is the real income. We have thought about doing something with the books that we publish…
C.L.: Yes, nowadays the selling of books is limited to certain institutional events or activities such as exhibitions and seminars. We are thinking about it.
S.M.: We thought it could be interesting to sell the books, maybe on the Net. The problem is that it requires a change in the administrative procedures with a specific cost and we do not know if this is justified. Books or publications could become a new social service rather than a source of income. Also from an accounting point of view, non-profit organizations have specific rules.
C.L.: We would need separate accounting, something we don’t have at the moment.
G.P.: The Foundation and the [new] multinational character of the corporate group; one history or many histories?
S.M.: A shrewd answer to your question would be: “One history and many histories” because in a company there are many realities. There is Dalmine’s history that goes back for one hundred years. C.L.: There is the family history.
S.M.: Of course, the family’s connection to Dalmine has its own history. So there are multiple histories. I think that with the passing of the time the focus has moved from Dalmine’s history to that of Agostino Rocca. What we should think about now is whether we can consider Dalmine Foundation in the context of a reality such as Tenaris. These are issues to be discussed that will lead to new decisions and programs. We will always defend the historical role of the Foundation. Let’s not overlook the importance of Dalmine’s relationship with the territory. People come here and consult our records and bring up relevant ideas all the time. Ultimately, exchanging ideas, looking at what other organizations do and perhaps modeling ourselves on other examples gives us fresh input. We will have to look at what other people have done in the same situation, when they decided to globalise. What kind of relationship there is between the activity of the Foundation and the rest of Tenaris and Dalmine? It’s a subtle question, because maybe there is the idea that the Foundation is a place to elaborate products that will eventually bear the company’s brand. In this case, there is an external advisor who helps Carolina.
C.L.: Yes, this in an informal idea, although quite important. It gets us to think ‘outside the box’ and helps the technician – who, in this case, is me – to manage the projects and create a better environment for our growth.
S.M.: I think that informality and a simple structure are an advantage. In fact, a few days ago we all had a drink together at the bar, sitting around with our papers saying “ok, let’s start a draft paper that can be formalized later on and sent to Mr. Rocca because we would like to do this, that and the other. What do you think?” It’s important when deciding on a program…now Carolina is going to Buenos Aires. So the mechanism is both formal and informal and this is an advantage.
G.P.: The informal birth of formality, so to speak.
S.M.: Yes, then it is formalized with a program, a budget and everything. But it all starts with brain storming by two people. I ’m not sure this method would work everywhere. [Mr. Muller leaves the room.]
G.P.: Can I ask you one more question very quickly? What is the makeup of your staff?
C.L.: There is a director and, at this moment, two people [three people at the time of publication of this article] with a full time contract.
G.P.: So two [three] employees.
C.L.: Exactly. Three since September 2007. With the following functions: one person working with me to coordinate activities; a secretary who takes care of invitations, communications, and logistics regarding the management of the headquarters and the repositories; one person who looks after the research and public services which includes several tasks: being there when someone needs to consult the records of the archives, collecting information or references, buying the books necessary for research or assisting the authors when we start a project requiring a long and systematic use of the archives or information concerning the company’s history. Beside this formal team, the Foundation employs professionals who deal with the archives—cataloguing, making inventories, digitalizing and restoring photographing materials. Contracts are various, from the professional advisor to a fixed-term contract, depending on the situation. Their number is variable, depending on the amount of work to be done with a maximum of five people for the largest projects. Using professionals requires the difficult task of rationalization because the time our external collaborators dedicate to the Foundation must be reconciled with other jobs they might have in other institutions. I tend not to have too many fixed employees as it means to take some economic risks. On the contrary, I like having a certain number of activities that can be done through fixed-term external collaboration.
G.P.: So the real investment is in the organizational staff and not the professional one.
C.L.: Which might seem a little absurd; an archives not hiring an archivist.
G.P.: No, it’s not absurd.
C.L.: But we are not an archives, we are a Foundation that happens to have an archives and our organization could change. So I thought it important to have a solid organization and hire specialists when we need them for specific purposes.
G.P.: That’s understandable. One last thing: tell me something about the dimensions of the Foundation’s economic activity . 
C.L.: In the period going from the birth of the Foundation in 1999 to 2006, the Foundation had three levels of management costs from 100.000 to 600.000 Euros.
G.P.: Of course, the highest amounts are linked to the centenary.
C.L.: Absolutely. That’s why I speak about different levels from the basic one to the highest. At the same time, I think that we need to consider, apart from the economic aspects, the benefits of the Foundation such as the free use of its headquarters, its equipment, a series of general and administrative services supplied by the company, initiatives and intensity of work being equal. So the budget is important but needs to be seen within context and in a formalization of a relationship between the company and the cultural organization. We are formally related to Tenaris Dalmine by the loan of this headquarters including its expenses at no cost. Then, we pay the company a flat rate for some services such as accounting. It’s really important to point out that the relation with the founding member does not depend only on material services such as the use of a house and computers. There are also intangible elements that are highly relevant for the final budget of the Foundation in terms of skills and specializations that we can use.
G.P.: I understand; you are speaking to the director of an association that has to pay to its founding member a rent that amounts to more than the annual membership fee. In the interview with Tommaso Fanfani, he underlined that the Piaggio Foundation is based on the participation of two other public entities but in reality, Piaggio gives the Foundation more than the established 50% because of the free loan of the headquarters and because the personnel are at the Foundation’s disposal. In this case, the data regarding the formal management are incidental.
C.L.: And I believe that in the economic evaluation of the performance of organization like ours, it is crucial to point this out and quantify it, because of its relevance in many cases. Renting a building in the center of Milan has one cost, while renting a warehouse in Pontedera has another. And these are fundamental issues for the people who manage the whole structure of material and, I cannot emphasize the importance of intangible elements enough. They are essential.
G.P.: You are right. Thank you.
