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Bertelsmann's latest project aims to shake up the school system. Mohn argues that German children leave school without life skills because of a stifling bureaucracy that eschews contact with the outside world. The foundation has been running two pilot projects in the company's home state of North Rhine-Westphalia in cooperation with the Education Ministry. The first project looked at education in 52 schools. The second, which started in 2002 in 278 schools, includes a scheme to retrain 5,000 teachers and give school heads greater autonomy. At the Otto Hahn secondary school in Herford, near Hanover, the changes have given director Achim Korbitz the chance to be creative in working with local companies. A kitchen-appliance firm sent apprentices to the school to practice making service calls in English with the students as a way of showing them that "there's more to language instruction than MTV English," says a teacher there. That helps train both the students and the apprentices. "We're making use of our room to maneuver," Korbitz says.
Bertelsmann's insistence on running its projects sometimes attracts controversy too. Some educators question how independent Bertelsmann the foundation is of Bertelsmann the media company--and are worried that commercialism might arise in schools as a result. One school initially refused to participate in the program unless Bertelsmann sold its TV operations.
In Italy publicly held UniCredit is modeling its year-old foundation, Unidea, on those of U.S. philanthropists such as the Fords and Charles Stewart Mott, a General Motors pioneer. UniCredit CEO Alessandro Profumo says that the work these foundations have been doing to foster civil society in Eastern Europe is "a source of inspiration." Unlike more parochial Italian donors, Unidea is spending 60% of its grants on projects in Africa, including ones to combat AIDS in Mozambique and improve public health in Burkina Faso. Also, the bank set up one of the first gift-matching programs in Italy, meeting employee donations euro for euro. "We wanted to raise the awareness of employees that they are part of a company that believes in a value system that is far bigger than a simple creation of value for shareholders," Profumo says.
UniCredit's approach is a stark contrast to the more traditional, political kind of philanthropy that some Italian savings banks have practiced. Owned by communities, they were expected to serve as patrons for local causes. In the mid-1990s new laws required them to split off their philanthropic divisions, creating 89 foundations, with endowments totaling $45 billion. They included the $6 billion Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation, which has financed art exhibits, restored churches and renovated a Siena hospital, buying a new MRI machine. Just $5 million of the $175 million Monte dei Paschi disbursed last year went outside Italy. "We pay a lot of attention to the territory where we operate," says Giuseppe Mussari, the foundation's president.