Valerio Melandri

Educator/Teacher

Valerio Melandri is a cultural entrepreneur, trainer and educator on nonprofits and fundraising. He is a professor in Principles and Techniques of Fundraising at the Forlì School of Economics and Management and founder and Director of the University of Bologna's Master in Fundraising, now in its 20th edition. Pioneer of the inclusion of the discipline "Fundraising" in Italian universities (first to teach it in an Italian degree program), since 2012 he is Visiting Professor at Columbia University in New York, where he teaches "Principles and Techniques of Fundraising" at SIPA (School of International and Public Affairs). Founder and president of the Philanthropy Centro Studi based at the University of Bologna's Forlì School of Economics, he is the creator and promoter of the first Italian fundraising portal (www.fundraising.it) and founder and chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Festival del Fundraising, the largest event in the European Community dedicated to nonprofits and fundraising, among the most attended in the world. With nearly 5 million annual online contacts and more than 170 publications dedicated to culture, nonprofit and fundraising, he is the best-selling author on the subject in Italy; he is also an established speaker in Italian and English, with a TED viewed by several tens of thousands of people. Since 2019 he has been Councillor for Culture, Universities and Internationalization of the Municipality of Forlì, where he has revolutionized the way culture is enjoyed, giving it a more understandable, lively and current approach. With a view to making cultural initiatives less elitist, ancient and unapproachable, he conceived the event "Arena San Domenico - Forlì Estate," enhancing numerous cultural and social realities of the area that shared the stage with international artists. Over the past three years, his work has focused on promoting the "Art Bonus" project, in which the natural fusion of his 20 years of experience in the field of fundraising to his sensitivity in the cultural field has led to important achievements and recognition. With "Art Bonus Forlì - Sostieni la Rinascita" he has activated awareness programs with respect to donations from citizens and companies in favor of the rehabilitation of buildings of great historical and artistic value, to be returned to citizenship as a tool for the creation of a new cultural awareness and identity. Indeed, its vision of culture is inspired by the principles of subsidiarity and complementarity, where the public body and private entities work in collaboration and mutual support, ensuring the public mission of a cultural offer of great value and utility. The new approach to artistic and cultural programming offered in the city has led to a consistent increase in attendance at theaters, museums and various events, making Forlì more competitive in terms of tourism as well.

I like people, being together, learning, learning, from people who are different from me, from people who don't think like me, telling me a new point of view. The best feeling I experience is when I get surprised, and say, "oh fuck, I never thought of that, it's true!" Living for me is always starting, always beginning again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92PA4rNv9VU What if the way people donate to nonprofits normally is wrong? What if there was a more effective way? Valerio Melandri, during the talk, engages us in his own story in order to be able to answer these questions. A consultant, trainer and educator on fundraising, he is a lecturer in Principles and Techniques of Fundraising at the School of Economics in Forlì and director of the Master in Fundraising at the University of Bologna. A pioneer in the inclusion of this discipline in Italian universities, he is Visiting Professor at Columbia University, New York, founder and president of Philanthropy Centro Studi, a research, training and consulting center, and creator and promoter of www.fundraising.it. He is chairman of the organizing committee of the Festival of Fundraising, the largest Italian event on fundraising, among the most attended in the world. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Activist fundraising, nonprofit, running, biking, drinking, eating good food, spaeking,