Who is CORRENTI?

CORRENTI was established as a charity in Florence (Italy) in 2010. We now have 10 members, all supporting CORRENTI on a voluntary basis.

CORRENTI’s initial aim was to provide continuous, reliable funding to support the work of the Malealea Development Trust, based in Lesotho.

Lesotho is a landlocked country in Sub-Saharan Africa, dependent on agriculture and employment in neighbouring South Africa. Around 40% of Lesotho’s population lives on less than $1.25 a day. Lesotho has one of the highest global prevalence rates of HIV and AIDS: out of the 2million population, 280,000 people have HIV (Official 2020 figures). Women, particularly adolescent girls and young women, are disproportionately affected. Huge numbers of children have been orphaned because of the disease.

Malealea Development Trust (MDT) proves hope and opportunity in this context. MDT is a long-standing charity association working to support health, quality of live and opportunities for adults and children in the Malealea area. MDT works hand in hand with the Malealea community on a range of socio-economic and environmental programmes.

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What does CORRENTI do?

CORRENTI’s promotes Just Development: ONLY development, with 100% of funding going to the beneficiaries and FAIR development, with a commitment to supporting reliable, trustworthy development initiatives.

CORRENTI’s philosophy is:

    1. Every €/$/£ that you donate goes to the final beneficiary;
    2. We know the people / organisations that we donate to personally;
    3. We provide long-term support. A one off donation is nice, but small organisations need to be able to plan their activities;
    4. We ensure complete transparency, reporting on use of funding and making our accounts publically available.

Find out more about our projects below.

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How does CORRENTI work?

We raise funds through various initiatives: events, crowd-funding, tax returns, collaborations with local enterprises;

Before giving any grants, we ensure that the beneficiary organisation is reliable, trustworthy and well known to our members. We maintain close contact with them, to build up a relationship build on reciprocal trust;

We ensure full reporting of our costs, with documentation (photos / videos) and a breakdown of costs. We share this and our full accounts publically, to ensure full transparency.

We work with local enterprises, who support us through donations and partnerships for special projects:

Resolvo is a consultancy company operating in the field of European funding and cyber security based in Florence. The founding members (current President and Vice President) of CORRENTI are employees of Resolvo and since 2010, in addition to members’ voluntary activities, Resolvo has been the headquarters of CORRENTI and guarantees an annual donation. To date, it has donated over 19.000€.

DiVin Boccone is a delicatessen, food and wine shop, offering cellar tastings and sales of Tuscan and Apulian products and wines in the heart of Florence. They have been collaborating with CORRENTI since 2022, organising events at their special venue and the Christmas hampers initiative (donation to CORRENTI for every hamper sold).

Garden Cooking Class is a family business based in Florence that aims to promote KM 0 Tuscan food, tradition and the Italian lifestyle by organising cooking classes and tasting experiences. They have been collaborating with CORRENTI since 2023, with a donation to our association for every participant in their courses.

Bar Pasticceria La Magnolia was completely renovated and opened under new management in October 2022. They offer exceptional homemade sweet and savoury pastries, lunch and aperitifs. They have been collaborating with CORRENTI since 2022, with organisation of events at their venue and the panettone initiative (donation for every panettone sold at Christmas 2022).

I Sergenti is a farm based in Reggello (FI) that produced organic wine and olive oil of the highest quality. They have been collaborating with CORRENTI since 2021, donating prizes every year for the Christmas lottery.

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CORRENTI’s PROJECTS

Annual donations to Malealea Development Trust

One of CORRENTI’s founders spent time with MDT in 2008 and has maintained close contact ever since, vouching for the tireless and essential work that they do.

Since 2010, through annual donations, CORRENTI has donated over 37.000€ to Malealea Development Trust.

Working on the ground, with the community, Malealea Development Trust knows best where to allocate the funds, so we leave it up to them. Over the years, our donations have contributed to the orphan support programme, providing food, medicine, school books to children and their foster families. They have been used to purchase school uniforms and shoes for children, to pay for school fees and even to pay for a Christmas party.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, CORRENTI’s donations were also used to provide food packages for 35 families over a period of six months.

Crowdfunding – BMX Future Stars

Maseru, Lesotho is one of the poorest cities in Southern Africa with significant health problems associated with HIV and AIDS. BMX Future Stars is an inspirational programme in Maseru, offering children and young people a safe community space. Its founder grew up in Malealea and worked with MDT.

It is developed around an existing bike track, set up near the Bicycles for Humanity NGO in Maseru, where children and young people can learn to care for themselves, be safe and be ambitious for the future, breaking the cycle of ill-health and poverty in their community. Above all, it is a space where they can be happy, laugh and play and enjoy their youth.

CORRENTI ran a crowd-funding campaign in 2016 and raised 2.125€ for this initiative. We also donated 3000€ during the COVID-19 pandemic to purchase regular food parcels for 80 children.

Crowdfunding – for one more child

CORRENTI donors raised 2720 € in our 2018 Crowdfunding campaign. Malealea Development Trust supports orphans and vulnerable young people to have a safe, healthy and fulfilling life

This crowdfunding supported seven teenage orphans with training to acquire life skills, in dress making, catering, carpentry and hair dressing. The campaign was designed to help break the cycle of poverty for these young people.

Ukraine humanitarian aid

In 2022, CORRENTI supported fundraising for female workers in Ukraine. We were contacted for a fund-raising campaign organised by a close friend of one of our members, who has spent time in Ukraine and knew people there personally. This is the first donation outside of Lesotho, but we all agreed that this unprecedented situation deserved support.

Funding was sent to the families of 9 employees of a small company in Kiev, all with small children. One of the women was killed along with her 13 old daughter and brother during bombing on 1st March. The money was sent to her mother, to support the surviving children. Another woman lost her 27 year old son in Iprin.

CORRENTI donated 1.500€. A total of 4.750€ was raised (150.138 Ukraine grivnia, after the exchange).

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How can you support CORRENTI?

You can donate. We welcome donations from home and abroad! Specifically for our Italian friends, all donations are deductible on your tax returns. (IBAN IT59T0306909606100000103273 BIC/SWIFT BCITITMM)

Italian friends can allocate their 5×1000 on their tax returns. Just select CORRENTI ODV (CF 94188060480).

You can come to one of our events. Follow us on Facebook to find out when they are.

Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash