REPORT 1 – PART II: Routes to the Future: Trends, Emerging signals and Scenarios

Every atlas begins with the need to navigate a complex landscape. Cultural fundraising in Italy develops through relationships among cultural organisations, citizens, businesses, foundations, public institutions and communities, bringing together financial resources, expertise, trust and participation.
The Atlas was created to make this still-fragmented ecosystem easier to understand. It combines academic literature, sector reports, secondary data, interviews and organisational cases to map practices and actors, classify fundraising instruments and interpret ongoing transformations. It is conceived as an open and continuously evolving knowledge resource supporting both research and cultural-sector professionals.

How might relationships among cultural institutions, supporters, and territories change in the coming years? What role will data and digital platforms play? And what conditions will enable fundraising to become a more stable and strategic organisational function?
The second part of Report 1 looks beyond the current landscape to identify emerging signals of change. Through a futures thinking approach, the evidence is organised into three trajectories: digital technology as a relational infrastructure; the shift from occasional support towards belonging and shared responsibility; and the growing connection between fundraising, territorial networks, and geographies of giving.
These trends are translated into scenarios that illustrate possible future configurations and the conditions needed to bring them about. A Delphi session involving professionals and experts explored their relevance, critical issues, and operational implications, while raising new questions for the future of cultural fundraising in Italy.