Solidarity collection: the new Memorandum of Understanding for the activation of the solidarity number has been approved.

The Memorandum of Understanding for the activation of the solidarity number to raise funds, to support specific interventions to help victims of emergencies, has been approved by a Decree of the Head of the Department, Angelo Borrelli.

 
On March 23rd, the MoU was signed by Rai and by communication and media operators, for widespread coverage about the collection.The agreement, already signed in 2014, was renewed in 2020, and provides for the procedures for the activation of the solidarity number and the procedures for the drafting of proposals by the territory and the approval of the initiatives to fund with the money collected.

The solidarity collection usually starts immediately after a disaster for which a state of emergency or mobilization is declared (Articles 23 and 24 of Legislative Decree 1/2018, Civil Protection Code), and allows those who intend to make an economic contribution in favor of the territories and populations affected by the emergency, to make a donation by SMS, mobile phone, and by call, fixed telephone. The numbers available to the Civil Protection solidarity collections are, as a rule, 45500 or 45599.
 
For this purpose, after its activation, the solidarity number is disclosed and the operators share modalities, tools and contents of the information to ensure homogeneity, coordination and transparency in the communication with donors.
 
During the collection, the Department periodically communicates the amount of donation to ensure transparencyo. Telephone operators pay into a non-interest-bearing current account in favor of the Department the sums actually collected as a result of donations through solidarity numbers, within six months of the end of the collection.
 
The subjects receiving the funds are defined with the resolution of the state of emergency or by Orders of the Head of the Department of Civil Protection. A specially constituted Committee of Guarantors examines, evaluates and approves the project proposals of the Regions affected by the event and guarantees maximum transparency on the use of the sums, also through periodic meetings with the implementing parties and the regions concerned.