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A YEAR OF BATTLES TO KEEP ON CHANGING: THE 2024 BALANCE SHEET OF THE FIGHTTHESTROKE FOUNDATION

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A YEAR OF BATTLES TO KEEP ON CHANGING: THE 2024 BALANCE SHEET OF THE FIGHTTHESTROKE FOUNDATION

the photo shows Mattia with the green Fight Camp t-shirt, a big smile and thumbs up - photo taken during the 2024 edition of the Fight Camp in Milan

ALT TEXT: the photo shows Mattia with the green Fight Camp t-shirt, a big smile and thumbs up - photo taken during the 2024 edition of the Fight Camp in Milan

At the 10 years of mission of the Fightthestroke Foundation, let's look together at the impact produced and the new horizon of systemic change that awaits us.

THE MAIN FINDINGS OF 2024:

Also in 2024 our keywords were: science, technology, design, sport to be able to support communities of people with pediatric stroke, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, childhood onset disabilities. In particular, technology has increasingly become a transversal enabler, a hygienic factor that permeates all our activities. Our mission to contribute to the sustainable development goals (in particular SDG 3: Good health and well-being for people and SDG 10: Reduce inequalities) has continued, but we keep on thinking about the succession of our organizational model, so that it becomes increasingly scalable, actively involves other families and can reach different territories.

As regards scientific research, we have focused on:

  • Collaborating with national and international networks on Cerebral Palsy and Disability, also exploring virtuous experiences abroad to contaminate and innovate the Italian scenario. In particular, we have carried out a series of initiatives in collaboration with the international organizations ICPS and CP-ECA, and completed two work missions in Australia (Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research) and Denmark (Elsass Foundation).

  • We have started an ongoing dialogue to support the creation of a center focused on the early and intensive treatment of Cerebral Palsy in Milan, which we hope will come to life in the coming years.

  • We have continued to support research in support of the evidence collected so far with the MirrorHR epilepsy research kit, thanks also to a collaboration with the University of Bologna which is analyzing the initial evidence collected thanks to the massive amount of data made available to families.

  • We have deepened our knowledge on Nutrition, Sport, Disability, while offering a nutritional consultancy service to our families: the study in collaboration with the ICANS center - University of Milan is almost completed, the results will be published during 2025.

  • We have studied and promoted research on sport and neurodevelopmental disability conditions, with particular reference to the introduction to Paralympic swimming and 7-a-side football CP.

  • In general, we have always promoted a scientific research free from prejudice and based on evidence, which bans non-validated rehabilitation methods: for this reason we have collaborated with the Transmit Australia project which will see the light in 2025 with the CP Thrive app.

  • We have also distributed the Care Pathways on the rehabilitation of children with Cerebral Palsy in paper format, so that they are present on all the desks of general practitioners and specialists in the sector.

  • In every conference we attended, we promoted the rights, self-determination and mental health of children with Cerebral Palsy disabilities, also through listening to their needs, the wise use of technology and the dissemination of inclusive good practices: the voice and protection of children is also reported in the Child Protection Policy available on our website.

  • We actively participated and supported several scientific conferences in the sector and facilitated the participation of other families in the community.

  • We contributed as authors to several scientific publications, among which we like to mention this review https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1295273/full.

  • We continued to work as a partner on the AINCP project which in 2024 was mentioned several times by the Italian media and which allowed us to bring the voice of families also in many co-design sessions.

As for activism, community, design:

  • We have cultivated the network of associations that deal with CP in the world, promoting synergies with the European CP-ECA group and the international ICPS, but also with other Italian networks, institutions and associations that deal with disabilities, caregivers, siblings, prenatal diagnosis, protection and promotion of our rights (among others we mention Coordown, Fondazione Silene, Fondazione The Bridge, Ashoka).

  • We have promoted several trainings on Diversity & Inclusion topics in companies, as well as in school laboratories.

  • We have evolved the Disabled Data project, through the partnerships already underway but also with the validation of the scalability of the model in Europe: thanks to the Reinforcing EU project, we have released the DDEEP (Disabled Data European Engagement Path) toolkit.

  • We have added new services to the Palestra dei Fighters, offering free counseling by a psychologist to children with disabilities, as well as caregivers. Among the most used services to date are Physiotherapy and Taekwondo lessons, at democratic prices.

  • We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the birth of the Fightthestroke movement with a rebranding operation, active listening to community feedback, launching insight analysis for an upcoming ADV campaign, promoting initiatives related to 5x1000, developing editorial content dedicated to children (the latter in collaboration with the AINCP project).

  • We increased the penetration of our content on Youtube, also through new episodes of Fightthevirus interviews (on assistive technologies, AAC, epilepsy surgery, movement disorders, paralympic swimming) and through proprietary channels, such as the newsletter, released regularly every month.

  • We collaborated in the publication of Il Sole 24 Ore with the guide on the Disability Reform (https://ecommerce.ilsole24ore.com/shopping24/il-progetto-di-vita.html).

  • We continued to promote enabling technology and different experiences in accessible gaming (https://www.fightthestroke.org/mediakitita/tg2-costume-e-societ-23-videogiochi-accessibili-gennaio-2024).

  • We actively participated in the various board meetings promoted within these networks: Family User Forum EACD, CP-ECA, IPSO, S4IN, World Rehabilitation Alliance.

  • We became the first partners in Italy of the Valuable 500 Network, joining the Valuable Directory (https://www.fightthestroke.org/aziende).

  • We ignited the entry of our group of Young Adults into the network 'CP group members of Adults with CP', promoted by the International Cerebral Palsy Society.

As for sports, we focused on:

  • Evolving the Fight Camp towards a scalable social franchising model: a manual and a video report are now finally available for the replication of this social enterprise model.

  • Participate in crucial events for our community and to learn new skills, such as the Paris Paralympics or other similar initiatives around the world, with particular reference to countries of the European Union and Australia (our Fight Camp experience this year was also mentioned in the live TV broadcast of the Paris Paralympics https://www.fightthestroke.org/mediakitita/cerimonia-apertura-paralimpiadi-parigi-2024)

  • Actively participate in the italian federation of Foundations ‘Sport for Inclusion Network’ for the promotion of inclusive sport in Italy and promote the IPC, Fispes, Finp, Bimbi Sperduti initiatives.

  • Support families in personal initiatives that strengthen their belonging to the movement, the embodiment of our mission and the scalability of our model in other territories, particularly in the sports field.

METRICS AND ACTIVITIES 2024:

The publications on our blog (in Italian) qualify us as a mature player in the third sector and attentive to meeting the needs of its beneficiaries: let's review the topics covered here together.

Among the remote events we particularly remember:

  • the speech at the F. Stabili High School for TEDx Ascoli Piceno

  • the initiatives to promote the Feeding Tube Awareness Week

  • the participation in the Progetto Tablet Toscana

  • the lesson at a fashion school in Modena on Inclusive Language and Accessible Fashion

  • the EPTRI Child-Health Tech Webinar

  • the lesson on diversity and innovation at the Bottega Terzo Settore in Ascoli Piceno

  • the speech on DEI for the employees of The Economist and MSD Italia

  • the workshop on inclusion and disability for children at an elementary school in Monza

  • the event in Eliopoli on the occasion of the inauguration of the Innovate Lab

As for the events in person in the area, we also remember, among many others, our participation as a representative of Italian families at the EACD Congress in Belgium, at the Festival dell'Economia in Trento in a panel with Minister A. Locatelli, at the Kids Marketing Forum, in the lesson dedicated to the Master Riabilitazione Infantile Reggio Emilia, at the Conference on Pediatric Stroke at the Niguarda Hospital, at the Simfer-Sinpia Congress in Rome, at the AusAcpdm international congress in Cairns (Australia), at the CP360 and Artificial Intelligence Summit in Pisa, at the MS Global Hackathon in Seattle, at the meeting in Brussels with the new members of the European Parliament, at the Paideia Festival in Turin, at the course on social entrepreneurship at Bocconi.

During the year, we also celebrated with dedicated events the International Cerebral Palsy Day, the GAAD and the World Day of Persons with Disabilities: the ‘Festival Impaziente’ initiative was particularly successful, allowing us to share new materials and insights on Cerebral Palsy.

The work of evangelization continued with the MirrorHR app, the epilepsy research kit available free of charge since 2021 on the Apple store and which over the years has given families priceless hours of sleep, while allowing them to intervene promptly when epileptic seizures arise in their loved ones. In 2024, the application was downloaded by 1,370 families, thus reaching a total of 9,220 downloads, with 74,000 sessions and presence in 96 countries. Among these users, the families who participated in the co-development donated 52 million heartbeats and 132,584 symptoms were tracked. The success of the application, still released free of charge, has also been mentioned in Italian (AIE) and foreign (Epilepsy Foundation) publications.

In terms of fundraising, in 2024 we maintained the penetration of 5x1000 preferences which allowed us to exceed the threshold of €45,000 collected thanks to the 2023 tax returns. Other sources of fundraising include: corporate donations, individual donations, corporate matching funds platforms, research grants and training initiatives, calls for proposals, the digital store on Worth Wearing and initiatives on the occasion of anniversaries. Partnerships with companies continued, both on the training front for DEI issues and on specific sector collaborations (such as the one with Nestlè Health Services and with MSD Italia).

The search for our keywords on Google and the possibility for families to intercept validated health information more and more quickly, continued to suffer declines, mainly due to the ban of some keywords (e.g. CP) that impacted the metrics of the website www.fightthestroke.org: in 2024 we had 37,571 visits, 30,497 unique visitors and 60,872 page views.

The number of forms for requesting further information from the site has increased, with particular reference to the free download of the Manual for Perinatal and Pediatric Stroke (109 additional requests) and the new Care Pathways guidelines on the rehabilitation of children with Cerebral Palsy (127 additional requests), which remain the most downloaded publications from the site together with the forms for requesting the free Day Hospital at the Child Stroke Center of the Gaslini Hospital.

The work of optimizing and automating newsletters continued this year, thanks to the pro bono support of Palabra consultants: we sent updates in Italian and English to our approximately 7,000 subscribers every month (+784 vs AP).

Social media presence remains essential to reach our beneficiaries and we have therefore increased the organic performance of our social media properties compared to 2023 with a regular and channel-specific editorial calendar, despite the multiplication of platforms, the automatic ban of keywords and the progressive fatigue of our readers from infodemic.

These are the data at the end of 2024:

Facebook:

Fightthestroke Page: 9,549 followers – 9,963 people following our official page

Closed Group Families #Fightthestroke: 1009 active members (+8%) – record of 1000 families reached in November 2024

Closed Group Young Adults #Fightthestroke: 93 active members (+6%), to which are added the contacts of the dedicated group on whatsapp (28)

Instagram:

Public Profile Fightthestroke: 4,940 followers (+9%)

Linkedin:

Organization Page: 2,600 followers (+9%)

X/Twitter:

Organization Page: 2,214 followers (declining, as per the editorial plan and the logic of the new platform, from which we have decided to distance ourselves)

Threads:

Organization Page: 769 (since December 2023) (+47%)

Whatsapp:

Group tutors: 72 qualified contacts (+12%)

Fightthestroke WA Community: 285 participants (stable)

Youtube:

Video channel: 744 subscribers (+12%) and 234 videos (+23%)

Other channels managed: Twitch, TikTok, Telegram; under observation the maintenance of the X, Clubhouse, Pinterest, Bluesky channels.

Our model today allows us to manage projects with a level of excellence in the processes, as if we were a multinational, while we continue to pursue the desire to not have a physical headquarters; we take care of our beneficiaries with a high scientific credibility, as if we were a research center, while we capitalize on the value of the knowledge of families' lived experiences; we operate with the same ambition as a large design studio, but instead we are small, agile, lean in organization. Today we support over 1000 families of children with disabilities in Italy and we reach many others, thanks to various alliances around the world: we do it for free and for this reason it is essential for us to have access to unrestricted funds such as those of 5x1000 and small and large donors, which allow us to support the operating costs of the Foundation and to work full time on this mission.

 

2025 GOALS:

2025 will be the year in which we will open up even more to European and international collaborations (such as those already started with UN, WHO, EU), thanks to the alliances already established and which now allow us to reach a network of over 60 countries around the world; and to the promotion of a global awareness campaign, to make people with Cerebral Palsy increasingly visible to civil society.

However, we will have to take into account the changed geopolitical conditions, which are also reflected in the balance between countries, the increase in fixed management costs and the possible reduction in the propensity to donate (both by individuals who see the increase in costs linked to inflation, and by companies that are revising downwards their policies on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility). In 2025 we will still be able to count on the campaign promoted by Fondazione Mediolanum in our favor, to support the rehabilitation of children with neurodevelopmental problems.

From a regulatory point of view, Europe will see the entry of the European Accessibility Act and new rules on inclusion, while Italy should complete the project tables on Caregivers and the Independent Living Project for people with disabilities.

We will still make use of a consolidated network of #fightthestroke ambassadors and a ‘sounding board’ of experts, who we hope will be able to amplify the messages of our mission. 

During 2025 we will participate as a partner in the European project ‘Vote4All’ for the promotion of the rights to vote and full citizenship of all people with Cerebral Palsy, with several stages in European capitals, and we would like to increase our planning capacity to access funds from other European calls (with particular reference to children’s rights and the education of healthcare professionals on the needs of people with Cerebral Palsy).

Numerous initiatives are planned both on the sports-rehabilitation front, with an annual calendar that will cover all months of the year with at least one initiative promoted by us, and on the art-culture front: in fact, we are planning a small but significant pilot project on a dubbing/theater and sociality course for young adolescents in Milan, and we are moving towards the 9th and 10th edition of the Fight Camp (abroad and in Italy).

The initiatives in favor of scientific research will continue, through the AINCP project (which will enter the heart of rehabilitation research, upon completion of the observational study) but also in the dissemination work on Artificial Intelligence and Universal Screening, on innovation in robotics, on the new frontiers of technology for a cure based on scientific evidence, on assistive technologies, on clinician-patient co-design practices, on new experiments in communication adapted to children with PC.

2025 should also show us new evidence of the data collected with the MirrorHR epilepsy research kit and the pilot of a new learning model for students with specific disorders (MirrorBuddy).

We will continue to train and study incessantly, we will continue to promote moments of reflection on the topics that are dear to us, we will continue to work to reach more and more families in times of need: thanks to those who will continue to accompany us on this journey.

Milan, April 2025