Support the Institute

The Istituto degli Innocenti is a public sector Company providing Care Services; as such, it is entitled to receive donations for its activities. Whether for specific or general purposes, donations contribute to: a) improving services and projects for children and single-mother families who live in care centres; b) supporting activities to protect, develop and promote the Institute's great historical, cultural and artistic heritage and assets; and c) backing its research, documentation and training activities aimed at promoting the rights of children and adolescents.

Donations are totally altruistic acts of generosity, made without any direct or indirect benefit for donors.

Cash donations can be made in Italy through the "Spontaneous payments" section of the Iris PagoPA platform by selecting "Istituto degli Innocenti" and then "Donations" https://iris.rete.toscana.it/public/addon/bollettino_bianco/edit.jsf?id…. For international payments, please use the following bank transfer details: IBAN: IT43L0306902887100000300031 SWIFT code (BIC): BCITITMM.

For the donation of properties, bequests or to receive information, please contact the General Secretariat Service, IT systems and InnocentiMuseum within the Institute’s General Management (email segreteriagenerale@istitutodeglinnocenti.it ; tel.: +39 055 2037399 ext. 329).

Unlike donations, sponsorships are payments which, although freely made, are likely to produce a financial benefit for the donor in terms of public image.

The Institute identifies projects and activities that can be sponsored and freely evaluetes proposals submitted by external parties.

If the value of a sponsorship exceeds € 40,000, a public bid for the project is issued.

Please check the "Bandi e concorsi" section of the Italian website https://istitutodeglinnocenti.portaletrasparenza.net/it/trasparenza/bandi-di-concorso.html, to see if there are any active sponsorship notices.

For information and contacts: General Secretariat Service, IT systems and Innocenti Museum - General Management (email: segreteriagenerale@istitutodeglinnocenti.it ; tel.: +39 055 2037399 ext. 329).

The Innocenti Foundation, a non-profit organisation, was set up in 2016. Its main purpose is to support and sustain the activities of the Istituto degli Innocenti, particularly those aimed at assisting children and families in difficulty, and promoting and upholding children's rights. The Foundation can also carry out its work by supporting research and information initiatives encouraging greater focus on childhood, adolescence, families, motherhood and the condition of women in society.

Furthermore, the Foundation supports and promotes cultural activities as well as the development and popularisation of the Institute's historical, archival and monumental heritage and assets. It also launches initiatives to find the necessary resources to develop its projects.

For further information on the Foundation’s activities and projects, please consult: https://www.fondazioneinnocenti.com/

Contact: segreteria.fondazione@istitutodeglinnocenti.it; tel. +39 055 2037124.

"Adopt a Token" is a fundraising campaign launched by the Foundation to support the Istituto degli Innocenti's project to conserve, protect and popularise the identifying tokens, the small objects that the girls and boys had with them when they arrived at the old Ospedale. They constitute a unique and invaluable heritage that the Institute aims to carefully safeguard through this project, by means of archival reorganisation, cataloguing, and the digitisation of the tokens and related documents (such as the Hospital’s child admission registers). The images produced, and their corresponding metadata, are progressively entered into a digital display, allowing them to be viewed and accessed online, thereby promoting their dissemination and awareness further.

The Historical Archive of the Institute preserves over 40,000 identifying tokens. Their presence is documented as far back as the earliest registers of the fifteenth century, when the custom of abandoning infants with “tokens” as a sign of good fortune took on an essential administrative function. During the centuries of anonymous abandonment, these items represented, for the Nocentini (the young residents of the Institute), the only tangible proof of their origins and a sort of identity document, essential to be recognised by their parents for a future reunion. For this reason, they were often broken or double objects, easily found with the halves kept by families in the meantime.

The tokens that have come down to us date mainly from the nineteenth century, when their systematic preservation was undertaken in recognition of their historical value. These are mostly coins and medals, votive accessories such as rosaries, brevi, medals and crosses, or everyday objects such as jewellery, buttons and ribbons. In particular, in the nineteenth century, the variety of objects increased: coins and votive accessories remained common, but items such as watch keys, photo clippings, a spectacle lens, or a nutshell also began to appear.

Therefore, this project thus makes it possible to preserve the identity and stories of the Nocentini, contributing to the reconstruction of a history of childhood at the Institute, with its undeniable cultural and emotional significance.

You can support the archiving, cataloguing and digitisation of one or more identification marks and related documents with a minimum donation of €100, payable to IBAN: IT08L0200802837000106076588, or via PayPal. For further information on joining the campaign, visit the Foundation's website https://www.fondazioneinnocenti.com/adotta-un-segnale.

Thanks to the support of businesses in the Florentine area, energised by the strength of volunteer work and the involvement of mothers living in residential care centres, the ProFili Workshop is in a position to offer sewing courses, tailoring services, clothing repair and embroidery. The Workshop also offers small accessories and gifts for special occasions including scented miniatures of a copy to scale of one of Andrea Della Robbia's putti, the symbol of the Institute. This is an exclusive product made entirely in the Workshop and packaged for special occasions and for party favours to celebrate births and weddings.

The products are available at the Bookshop of the Innocenti Museum (Piazza SS. Annunziata, 13) and can also be made on request.

All proceeds are donated to the Rondini Project whose aim is to support and promote independence for mothers with children and mothers-to-be living in residential care centres.

For information, please contact the Education and Care Service (email: educazioneaccoglienza@istitutodeglinnocenti.it ; tel.: +39 055 2037299).

The Spedale degli Innocenti Volunteers Association has been working at the Institute for almost thirty years. The Association supports various residential centres (Casa Bambini,Casa Madri, Casa Rondini and Nuova Casa Rondini) by participating in numerous projects to assists in the growth and independence of their guests.

Volunteers work very closely with the Institute’s Education and Care Service that is also in charge of coordinating their activities.

Volunteers contribute by:

• Offering children the opportunity to enjoy experiences and activities that are different from those in care centres. Volunteers also do this by taking children out; these outings are agreed with the educators and the children’s social service contacts and are included in their educational plans;
• Offering support to mothers or family units at specific times of the day and accompanying them when they are accessing various services in the area;
• Collaborating with the educational staff on specific activities such as taking children to “protected” meetings with the parent who does not live with them (this is done on request), accompanying them to health visits, and supporting children and mothers during hospitalisation;
• Supporting women following pathways for social inclusion and initiatives to foster aggregation organised by the Rondini Project, and actively participating in these pathways and initiatives;
• Organising charity and fundraising events for children and mothers in difficulty;
• Contributing to awareness-raising among citizens.

For information, please contact

volontari@istitutodeglinnocenti.it

the Education and Care Service (email: educazioneaccoglienza@istitutodeglinnocenti.it; tel. no.: +39 055 2037299).