Italian Non Profits Are Now Defined by Social Commitment
OPINION |

Italian Non Profits Are Now Defined by Social Commitment

A NEW ITALIAN LAW PASSED IN JUNE REDEFINES THE STATUS OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES AND REWARDS THOSE WHO CREATE JOBS, PROMOTE VOLUNTEERING AND ACT FOR THE COMMON GOOD

by Giuliana Baldassarre, SDA Bocconi School of Management
Translated by Alex Foti


ISTAT, Italy’s national statistics agency, estimates that the number of operational non-profit institutions increased by 28% between 2001 and 2011, employing 5.7 million people. The growth and consolidation of the non-profit sector highlights the need to rationalize the many laws that currently regulate Italian charities, which are often elusive in their complexity and heterogeneity.

Responding to this need, in June 2016 a law was approved reforming the so-called third sector and the social enterprises that comprise it. The government's intentions were twofold: to enhance the principle of subsidiarity and give recognition to the centrality in terms of productive capacity and employment of non-profit organizations.

There are many major points of the reform, but chief among them is a legal redefinition of the not-for-profit sector that should promote cultural change in terms of social acceptance and diffusion of philanthropy. The current reform defines the third sector as “all private entities organized for the non-for-profit pursuit of civic solidarity and social assistance, which, while implementing the principle of subsidiarity and in accordance with their respective statutes, promote and carry out activities in the general interest, by means of unpaid voluntary work, mutualism, or the production and exchange of goods and services."
 
In this sense,  the crucial point is that the activity carried out is set as the decisive element to qualify the social utility of a non-profit organization, and not simply the legal form and the goals set out in its statute, such as the non-distribution of profits. The social utility of an organization is due to the fact that its activities have produced verifiable results in terms of the public interest: the law says that the assessment of social performance and measurable impact of the results achieved is a necessary condition for obtaining tax breaks.

By focusing on activities, the law identifies non-profit entities in terms of their mission: for example, managing a restaurant employing former inmates, establishing a cultural center in a disadvantaged neighborhood or running a clinic providing quality services to marginalized people are now to be considered activities in the general interest. Such activities need not only to be specified, but also periodically updated, to ensure pertinence, relevance and adequacy in meeting standards of social utility in changing contexts. The law also highlights the need to promote the allocation of unused public assets and confiscated property from organized crime, in order to facilitate the transfer of these assets to non-profit organizations. In addition, it reaffirms the role of volunteers through the creation of a fund devoted to finance the organizations that resort to them.
 
Finally, another fund of €17.3 million for 2016 and €20 million for 2017 is established to directly support activities made in the general interest. Summing up, several aspects still need be examined, and we’ll have to wait the upcoming administrative decrees for that. It is expected that administrative simplification will follow the establishment of a single national register that ensures that the commitment to civic altruism and gratuity of services goes hand in hand with the business and professional dimensions of work.
 
 

Latest Articles Opinion

Go to archive
  • With Increasingly Flexible Work, the Old Stakes Are of Little Use

    New work time arrangements and forms require new ways of management and new protections. And therefore, new forms of labor relations and union organizations

  • Trust That Can Be Trusted

    There is social trust and institutional trust. And if the former is more stable to external shocks, the latter is more sensitive to them. The two can also diverge, as during the pandemic, when mistrust in US institutions towards emergency management corresponded to an increase in social trust

  • Reskilling Is the Key

    According to a survey by the World Economic Forum around the world, in 2027 42% of jobs will involve automation. The competitiveness of workers will therefore increasingly depend on training that brings them up to date with the new needs of the market. For this to happen, however, they need to grasp its usefulness

Browse the magazine in digital format.

View previous issues of Via Sarfatti 25

BROWSE THE MAGAZINE

Events

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31