Oblative fundraising is an ancient phenomenon, as demonstrated by secular collections and religious begging, practiced for centuries. Yet, it is little investigated on the legal level, despite its growing spread, even greater in the pandemic era. Traditionally organized by committees and non-profit organizations, in the digital society it can be launched by anyone, even an individual, for altruistic purposes or not, since the web allows to disseminate a project by asking the public to support it with liberal offers of money. Nowadays, this fundraising is called donation-based crowdfunding, in which the fundraiser, on its website or on a specific platform, solicits interested parties to contribute to a declared goal, setting a target of the collection as a minimum level to be reached within a set time. From a certain point of view, it is the emersion point of a new philanthropy, sensitive to the social impact of the gift: therefore, it gives new life to the human spirit of liberality and allows anyone to be a widespread and serial micro-philanthropist. At the same time, it marks a line of continuity with the oblative model consolidated by experience and typified in the civil code with regard to fundraising promoted by committees. Within this dialectic between novelty and tradition the volume tries to decipher the theme, wondering if the different legal nature of the fundraiser (committee, association, foundation, corporation or natural person), of the pursued project (altruistic or not) and of the means of communication used (internet or other mass media) affects its legal coordinates. The book aims not only to connect the theme with the system of donations, but also to provide solutions to more specific problems, first of all that of the destination constraint relating to the funds raised. To do so, great attention is paid at trying to fine-tune the line between to donate binding the donee to a purpose, through “modus” or condition, on the one hand, and to give to someone to donate to others, through “fiducia” or mandate, on the other hand. From this point of view, the research develops the thesis that, despite the tendency of the web not to make differentiations according to the subjective qualification of the fundraiser, the destination constraint is different depending on whether the fundraiser is a legal person, as such with a patrimony to which the funds raised are combined, or an individual. With regard to legal persons, moreover, despite the deemed neutrality of the legal forms of the entities, the research prefers not to give a unitary solution, but to distinguish according to the type or form under which the legal person operates. With respect to the natural person, the modal donation scheme cannot always be applied, because the “modus” cannot require the donee to devolve to third parties the whole amount of what has been received by donation. Hence, the need to admit that there are also fundraising in which, technically, there is no destination constraint and in which, therefore, the achievement of the goal depends mainly on an incentive linked to the reputation of the fundraiser on the web. The classic issues of civil law intersect, then, with those posed by the digital society, such as the standardization of contractual relationships, the remedies against the deceptiveness of online communication and the role played by crowdfunding digital platforms, specialized in intermediation between collectors of money and backers.

Le raccolte fondi oblative, o pubbliche sottoscrizioni, costituiscono un fenomeno antico – come dimostrano collette laiche e questue religiose praticate da secoli – eppure poco indagato sul piano giuridico, a dispetto della sua crescente diffusione, ancora maggiore in epoca di pandemia. Tradizionalmente organizzate dai comitati e da enti non lucrativi, nell’attuale società digitale possono essere lanciate da chiunque, anche persona fisica, per scopi altruistici o meno, complice la facilità con la quale il web consente di divulgare un progetto chiedendo al pubblico di sostenerlo con offerte in denaro senza corrispettivo. Punto di emersione di una filantropia sensibile all’impatto sociale del dono, il crowdfunding donativo via internet – in cui sul proprio sito o su apposita piattaforma il fundraiser sollecita gli interessati a contribuire a un obiettivo dichiarato, ponendo un target della raccolta come livello minimo da raggiungere entro un tempo prestabilito – dà nuova linfa allo spirito di liberalità umano e consente a chiunque di essere un micro-filantropo diffuso e seriale. Al tempo stesso, esso si pone in linea di continuità con il modello oblativo già consolidato dall’esperienza e tipizzato nel codice civile con riguardo alle raccolte fondi promosse da comitati. È entro questa dialettica tra novità e tradizione che il volume cerca di decifrare il tema, chiedendosi se la diversa natura giuridica del raccoglitore (comitato, associazione, fondazione, società o persona fisica), del progetto perseguito (altruistico o meno) e del mezzo di comunicazione adoperato (internet o altri mass media) influisca sulle sue coordinate giuridiche. Nel raccordare il tema con il sistema delle liberalità, il lavoro intende dare soluzione a più specifici problemi, anzitutto quello del vincolo di scopo gravante sui fondi raccolti. Per farlo, grande attenzione è riposta nel tentativo di mettere a punto la linea di confine tra donare vincolando a uno scopo, tramite modo o condizione, e dare a qualcuno per donare ad altri, tramite fiducia o mandato. Da questo punto di vista, la ricerca si indirizza a ritenere che, a dispetto della tendenza del web a non differenziare a seconda della qualifica soggettiva di chi raccoglie fondi, il vincolo di scopo si atteggi diversamente a seconda che il fundraiser sia un ente, come tale dotato di un patrimonio di destinazione al quale i fondi raccolti si uniscono, oppure una persona fisica. Rispetto all’ente stesso, peraltro, ad una soluzione unitaria è preferita quella che – malgrado la ritenuta neutralità delle forme giuridiche degli enti – distingua a seconda del tipo sotto cui l’ente opera. Rispetto alla persona fisica, d’altronde, l’applicazione dello schema della donazione modale incontra il limite sistematico per cui non può darsi un modo che imponga l’integrale devoluzione a terzi di quanto donato: di qui l’esigenza di ammettere che vi siano anche raccolte fondi in cui, tecnicamente, non c’è un vincolo di scopo e nelle quali, allora, la realizzazione dell’obiettivo corrisponde a un incentivo legato alla reputazione del fundraiser sul web. Le questioni classiche della civilistica si intersecano, poi, con quelle poste dalla società digitale, come la massificazione dei rapporti contrattuali, i rimedi contro la decettività della comunicazione on-line e il ruolo giocato dalle piattaforme digitali di crowdfunding, specializzate nell’intermediazione tra raccoglitori e contributori.

Renda, A., Donation-based crowdfunding, raccolte fondi oblative e donazioni "di scopo", Giuffrè Francis Lefebvre spa, Milano 2021:<<Dipartimento di Scienze giuridiche sede di Piacenza>>, 746 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/168953]

Donation-based crowdfunding, raccolte fondi oblative e donazioni "di scopo"

Renda, Andrea
2021

Abstract

Oblative fundraising is an ancient phenomenon, as demonstrated by secular collections and religious begging, practiced for centuries. Yet, it is little investigated on the legal level, despite its growing spread, even greater in the pandemic era. Traditionally organized by committees and non-profit organizations, in the digital society it can be launched by anyone, even an individual, for altruistic purposes or not, since the web allows to disseminate a project by asking the public to support it with liberal offers of money. Nowadays, this fundraising is called donation-based crowdfunding, in which the fundraiser, on its website or on a specific platform, solicits interested parties to contribute to a declared goal, setting a target of the collection as a minimum level to be reached within a set time. From a certain point of view, it is the emersion point of a new philanthropy, sensitive to the social impact of the gift: therefore, it gives new life to the human spirit of liberality and allows anyone to be a widespread and serial micro-philanthropist. At the same time, it marks a line of continuity with the oblative model consolidated by experience and typified in the civil code with regard to fundraising promoted by committees. Within this dialectic between novelty and tradition the volume tries to decipher the theme, wondering if the different legal nature of the fundraiser (committee, association, foundation, corporation or natural person), of the pursued project (altruistic or not) and of the means of communication used (internet or other mass media) affects its legal coordinates. The book aims not only to connect the theme with the system of donations, but also to provide solutions to more specific problems, first of all that of the destination constraint relating to the funds raised. To do so, great attention is paid at trying to fine-tune the line between to donate binding the donee to a purpose, through “modus” or condition, on the one hand, and to give to someone to donate to others, through “fiducia” or mandate, on the other hand. From this point of view, the research develops the thesis that, despite the tendency of the web not to make differentiations according to the subjective qualification of the fundraiser, the destination constraint is different depending on whether the fundraiser is a legal person, as such with a patrimony to which the funds raised are combined, or an individual. With regard to legal persons, moreover, despite the deemed neutrality of the legal forms of the entities, the research prefers not to give a unitary solution, but to distinguish according to the type or form under which the legal person operates. With respect to the natural person, the modal donation scheme cannot always be applied, because the “modus” cannot require the donee to devolve to third parties the whole amount of what has been received by donation. Hence, the need to admit that there are also fundraising in which, technically, there is no destination constraint and in which, therefore, the achievement of the goal depends mainly on an incentive linked to the reputation of the fundraiser on the web. The classic issues of civil law intersect, then, with those posed by the digital society, such as the standardization of contractual relationships, the remedies against the deceptiveness of online communication and the role played by crowdfunding digital platforms, specialized in intermediation between collectors of money and backers.
2021
Italiano
Monografia o trattato scientifico
Giuffrè Francis Lefebvre spa
Renda, A., Donation-based crowdfunding, raccolte fondi oblative e donazioni "di scopo", Giuffrè Francis Lefebvre spa, Milano 2021:<<Dipartimento di Scienze giuridiche sede di Piacenza>>, 746 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/168953]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10807/168953
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