Paola Deffendi has confirmed the closure of the Centro di Documentazione e Ricerca (CDR) at Fondazione Cariplo, stating that the organization regrets the impact on employees who dedicated significant personal and professional effort to the center.
The decision to dissolve the CDR marks the end of a specialized unit tasked with the preservation of institutional memory and the conduct of systemic research. Deffendi, speaking on the administrative and human repercussions of the move, acknowledged the depth of commitment from the staff involved, noting, “Ci dispiace per chi ci ha messo cuore, anima e testa”—we are sorry for those who position heart, soul, and head into it.
Institutional Restructuring
The closure is part of a broader strategic reorganization within Fondazione Cariplo, one of Italy’s largest banking foundations. According to institutional directives, the transition is driven by a shift in how the foundation manages information and conducts research, moving away from the centralized model provided by the CDR toward a more integrated, digital-first approach.
The CDR functioned as a hub for documenting the foundation’s philanthropic activities and providing research support for its grant-making processes. The dissolution of the center implies a redistribution of these functions across other operational departments, effectively eliminating the CDR as a standalone entity with its own dedicated staff.
Impact on Specialized Personnel
The reorganization has resulted in the termination of roles specifically tied to the documentation and research center. Deffendi’s remarks highlight the friction between strategic institutional pivots and the professional identities of the specialists employed by the center, who focused on the intersection of archiving, social research, and institutional history.
Internal communications indicate that the decision was based on an evaluation of operational efficiency and the evolving needs of the foundation’s digital infrastructure. Whereas the foundation maintains that its core research capabilities remain intact, the loss of the CDR’s specialized workforce represents a shift in the internal expertise available to the organization.
Operational Transition
Fondazione Cariplo has not detailed a one-to-one replacement for the specific methodologies employed by the CDR. The current phase of the transition involves the migration of physical and digital archives into a centralized system managed by broader administrative teams.
The foundation has not provided a timeline for the full integration of the former CDR functions into other departments, nor has it specified whether any of the specialized roles will be recreated under different designations.
