MILAN — OTB Foundation is once again taking concrete action to ensure inclusion and create opportunities — and expanding its scope to the U.S. and U.K.
The fourth edition of “Brave Actions for a Better World” is broadening the pool of beneficiaries and introducing innovations in the selection process. For the first time, the call — which offers a grant of 200,000 euros — will also be accessible to nonprofit organizations based in the U.S. and U.K., as well as in Italy.
“Our aim is to foster the social and labor integration of women, youth and people with migrant backgrounds, promoting concrete opportunities for training and job placement to strengthen their economic and social autonomy,” said Arianna Alessi, vice president of OTB Foundation.
The goal is to strengthen the support for women, youth and people with migrant backgrounds, with a focus on social inclusion, financial education and job training, Alessi explained.
“We want to support innovative projects, capable of generating real social progress through new solutions, services or technologies. We are looking for concrete initiatives, which produce a tangible impact on the quality of life of the beneficiaries, an impact that is economically sustainable thanks to a cofinancing model adapted to the management capacity of the proposing entity,” Alessi said.
Aligned with previous OTB Foundation initiatives, Alessi underscored that “transparency” is mandatory, with “clear and documented reporting” of the projects. In sync with the name of the initiative, and a mantra for OTB founder and Alessi’s husband Renzo Rosso, “brave” reflects the courage required to tackle “complex problems” with boldness, concretely, and with “out-of-the-box approaches.”
The foundation is looking at promoting high-impact interventions, both nationally and internationally, creating concrete opportunities for personal and collective growth.
“Brave Actions for a Better World” is launched at a time of global crises and wars that accentuate social inequalities and even more significant in light of the recent cuts in international aid. In a statement, the foundation underscored that “the British government has in fact drastically reduced funding for poor countries, while in the United States, the Trump administration has suspended 67 percent of NGO activities globally.”
As with all projects funded by OTB Foundation, the selection criterion is based on five basic concepts: innovation, concreteness, sustainability, accountability and courage.
Since its establishment in 2006, the charitable arm of the OTB Group, the parent company of brands including Diesel, Jil Sander, Maison Margiela, Marni and Viktor & Rolf, has supported more than 380 international projects globally focused on social development, impacting the lives of 380,000 people.
To make participation easier, the 2025 call “streamlined its selection process with a new application model structured in two phases, with a focus on the project idea and expected impact, simplifying all bureaucracy and putting the projects back at the center,” the foundation said in the statement. “A highly qualified technical committee will evaluate the proposals based on criteria of innovation, sustainability and social impact. The selection committee will consist of entrepreneurs, experienced managers in financial and human resources, professionals from academia, and experts in nonprofit law and taxation of the Third Sector.”
Candidate projects — with a minimum duration of one year — must then propose effective and sustainable solutions that can generate a concrete and lasting impact in the communities involved.
According to Oxfam’s Global Wealth Report 2023, global inequality is steadily increasing, with a widening gap between rich and poor. Women and children are among the most vulnerable to poverty and marginalization, according to the UN, with one in 10 women living in extreme poverty.
The “Brave Actions for a Better World” call for proposals is conceived, promoted and financed by OTB Foundation with the technical support of Italia nonprofit, which will manage the participation phases and the first part of application selection.
