This study, created by the will of the Download Cooperative, would not have been possible without the support of the Albergo Etico staff during all stages of the research. For this reason we would like to thank all those who in various ways have contributed their time and experience to this research:

• Cooperative Download Members: Alex Toselli, Antonio De Benedetto, Egidio De Benedetto, Niccolò Vallese
• Staff Albergo Etico: Fiorella Borio, Stefania Dusio, Eugenio Giannetta e Chiara Fasan
• ToGroove Pistoia – Cristina Coppini
• Children with disabilities and their families from Asti and Pistoia: Niccolò, Marcella, Francesco, Irene, Andrea, Jessica, Silvia, Daniele, Dario, Francesco, Chiara, Francesca, Matilde, Giorgio, Elena, Alessia
• Expert job placements for people with disabilities: Antonio Bartolini
• Colleagues from ARCO’s Inclusive Development Unit: Federico Ciani and Caterina ArcipreteStefano Bartolini and the CGIL of Pistoia for the granting of spaces for interviews

The story of Albergo Etico was born in 2006 from the meeting between the brothers Antonio and Egidio De Benedetto, (managers of the Tacabanda restaurant in Asti) and Niccolò, a boy with Down syndrome who began an internship at their restaurant. From 2006 onwards, the experience of work inclusion at Tacabanda has grown, both for the quantity of people involved and for the quality of the work placement methods. We will have to wait for the arrival of Alex Toselli in 2015 to open the first Ethical Hotel, managed by the Download Cooperative in Asti.

The Download Cooperative pays close attention to assessing the impact of its business. With the aim of better understanding the changes produced by the beneficiaries and the intensity of this change, the Download Cooperative has chosen to thoroughly analyze the socio-work inclusion model tested in Albergo Etico through the SROI analysis methodology.

The “Albergo Etico” project was born in 2006 from the meeting between the brothers Antonio and Egidio De Benedetto, who manage the Tacabanda restaurant, and Niccolò, a student with Down syndrome from the Hotel School – Professional Training Agency of the Asti Hills, who was welcomed inside the Tacabanda restaurant to carry out an internship. The De Benedetto brothers soon understand its potential and begin to be passionate about the challenge of accompanying the boy to discover his own talents. Niccolò’s internship will be the first of a long series of stages and internships that were carried out within Tacabanda in the following years and which led to the creation and progressive consolidation of the Download Method developed by direct experience and field observation of young people with Down syndrome who approached the world of work and catering. The method is called Download because, as described by the official website of Albergo Etico, “with the computer term download we want to describe the action of synthesis and simplification of the professional experience towards the person with cognitive, sensory and physical deficit, as in an imaginary data download between operating systems”.

The SROI index describes the social and economic impact of the activities of the Download Cooperative and Albergo Etico on its beneficiaries and stakeholders. By applying an input-output-outcome-impact model based on extensive dialogue with stakeholders, we calculated that for the fiscal year 2018 the Download Cooperative generated a social return of 3.72 euros per 1 euro invested. As already explained in the previous paragraphs, a conservative approach was used to avoid overestimating the index. It is therefore possible to say that the result obtained describes a significant return in social terms.