(Finance) – As of 31 December 2022, there were 360,061 non-profit institutions active in Italy and, overall, they employed 919,431 employees. Between 2021 and 2022, institutions decreased slightly (-0.2%) while employees increased by 2.9%, maintaining the growth trend seen in the previous year. In 2022, institutions are growing more in the South (+2.0%) and on the Islands (+1.1%) and are slightly decreasing in the North-East (-1.2%), North-West (-1.0 %) and in the Center (-0.3%). The regions with the greatest increases are Campania (+3.7%), Calabria (+3.3%), and Sicily (+2.3%), while those with the highest decreases are the autonomous province of Bolzano/Bozen ( -7.2%), Molise (-6.1%) and Basilicata (-3.4%). This is what emerges from Istat survey “Structure and profiles of the non-sector profit” referring to 2022, presented today.
Non-profit institutions, although they have increased more in the Southern regions since 2018, still present a rather concentrated territorial distribution: approximately 50% are active in the North, 22.1% in the Centre, 18.5% and 9.5% in the South and on the Islands respectively.
Between 2022 and 2021, i employees employed by non-profit institutions they increase more in the South (+6.9%), in the Islands (+4.2%) and in the North-West (+2.9%). The increase in employees is greatest in Basilicata (+14.0%) and Campania (+12.0%), mainly due to the growth in size of social cooperatives, and in Liguria (+8.7%). The number of employees decreases only in Molise (-8.2%). The territorial distribution of employees remains significantly concentrated, 56.4% are employed in the Northern regions while only 21.3% work in non-profit institutions in the South.
The concentration of employees increases in non-profit institutions that employ more staff
In 2022, 85.2% of non-profit institutions operate without employees, 6.1% employ up to 2 and 4.8% between 3 and 9 while the share of institutions with at least 10 employees is equal to 3, 9%. The latter, in addition to employing 87.0% of employees, are those in which this staff has grown the most (+3.2%) compared to the previous year.
Stable associations, foundations on the increase and social cooperatives still decreasing
Between 2021 and 2022, the decrease in non-profit institutions mainly affected institutions with another legal form (-2.0%), and social cooperatives (-1.6%) whose number has been decreasing since 2018. Associations are almost stable (+0.1%) while foundations show the greatest increase (+1.7%). The association continues to be the legal form that brings together the largest share of institutions (85.0%), followed by those with another legal form (8.5%), social cooperatives (4.1%) and foundations (2 ,4%). The distribution of employees by legal form is rather heterogeneous, with 53.5% employed by social cooperatives and shares standing at 18.6% in associations and 15.6% in non-profit institutions with another legal form. Compared to 2021, the increase in employees stands at around 2.9% for all legal forms.
Religion and education and research the sectors with the most sustained declines
Compared to 2021, non-profit institutions are growing in the sectors of philanthropy and the promotion of volunteering (+7.4%), recreational and socialization activities (+5.2%), the protection of rights and political activity (+1, 6%) and sports activities (+0.6%) while they decrease in the remaining sectors of activity and in particular in those of religion (-6.8%) and education and research (-4.2%). The sports sector collects the highest number of non-profit institutions (34.0%), followed by those of cultural and artistic activities (15.1%), recreational and socialization activities (14.8%), social assistance and protection civil (9.7%). Employees are growing in all sectors of activity and in particular in those of philanthropy and promotion of volunteering (16.6%), trade union relations and interest representation (+12.0%), the environment (5.7%) , cultural and artistic activities and international cooperation and solidarity (+5.5%). The distribution of employed personnel is concentrated in a few sectors such as social assistance and civil protection (49.0%), education and research (14.5%), economic development and social cohesion (11.4%) and healthcare (10.8 %).
The use of employees in the sectors of sporting, recreational and socialization activities is lower
The institutions that operate without employing employees are concentrated in the sectors of sporting activities (95.2%), recreational and socialization activities (94.0%), the environment (92.9%) and cultural and artistic activities (91.5%). On the contrary, the use of employed personnel is greater in the sectors of economic development and social cohesion (71.9%) and education and research (60.5%), where approximately one institution in four employs at least 10 workers.
More social promotion associations, fewer voluntary organizations and non-profit organisations
Compared to 2021, social promotion associations increase significantly (+66.7%) while the growth of social enterprises is limited (+0.6). Voluntary organizations decrease (-3.2%) presumably due to the transmigration procedures and operations in the RUNTS. The contraction of non-profit organizations is greater (-8.3%) which, with the repeal of the establishing Legislative Decree, cease to exist or more likely acquire a new qualification among those envisaged by the Third Sector Reform.
The variation of non-profit institutions that do not possess any of the qualifications considered stands at -5%.
10.5% of non-profit institutions are represented by social promotion associations, 9.6% by voluntary organisations, 4.6% by social enterprises, 3.3% by non-profit organizations and 72.0% by other non-profit institutions. The weight of the organizational forms changes significantly considering the employees employed: social enterprises employ over half of the employees (55.1%), followed by other non-profit institutions (30.4%), non-profit organizations (9.4%), voluntary organizations (3.4%) and social promotion associations (1.7%). Compared to 2021, employees grow significantly among social promotion associations (+24.4%), which in addition to those previously registered in the regional registers also include clubs and affiliations of social promotion associative networks, but also among voluntary organizations (+11.7%), social enterprises (+3.7%) and non-profit organizations (+2.3%). Considering the main organizational profiles of non-profit institutions, some territorial differences emerge. Social promotion associations are relatively more widespread in the North-East (13.7%) and less present in the Islands (6.6%). The share of social enterprises is higher in the Islands (8.3%) and in the South (6.9%) and lower than 4% in the rest of the country. Compared to the territory, the distribution of voluntary organizations and non-profit organizations is more homogeneous. Voluntary organizations are more present in the North-East (10.4%) while non-profit organizations are slightly more widespread in the North-West regions (4.1%). Finally, the percentage of non-profit institutions with another organizational form varies between 70.8% in the North-East and 74.7% in the North-West. The main organizational forms of non-profit institutions also differ with respect to the activities carried out. Voluntary organizations are mainly active in the traditional sectors of intervention: social assistance and civil protection (41.1%) and healthcare (26.0%). Non-profit organizations are more present in the field of international cooperation and solidarity (16.6%) as well as in the social assistance and civil protection sector (43.5%). Social enterprises operate mainly in the sectors of social assistance and civil protection (47.8%) and economic development and social cohesion (31.1%), although the share of companies active in the field of education and research is not negligible ( 10.6%). Social promotion associations mainly carry out recreational and socialization activities (47.2%) and cultural and artistic activities (28.1%). Finally, the areas of activity that characterize the other non-profit institutions are sports activities (45.6%) and other sectors (17.4%).
Taxpayers’ choices for non-profit institutions through the 5 per thousand are decreasing
In 2022 there are 69,381 non-profit institutions registered in the list of entities receiving the five per thousand (19.3% of the total). In the 2022 tax return year, the amount received by non-profit institutions is approximately 446.4 million euros while the choices expressed by taxpayers at the time of the return stand at 11.1 million, a decrease compared to 2021 (- 6.3%). Although some association networks opt to collect the five per thousand contribution through the national headquarters and not by individual club and/or territorial branch, it is interesting to consider the distribution of the preferences expressed by taxpayers, and the related amounts, based on the geographical distribution of the beneficiary non-profit institutions. The institutions of the North-West, which represent 28.7% of those benefiting from the five per thousand contribution, collect over 40% of the choices expressed by taxpayers, a share which rises to 46.1% considering the amounts, 29.6 % of the choices expressed by taxpayers are destined for non-profit institutions active in the Central regions. The institutions of the other geographical divisions receive a smaller share of choices expressed by taxpayers in relation to their relative weight among the institutions benefiting from the five per thousand. The comparison between the distribution of institutions eligible for the five per thousand contribution and that of the choices made by taxpayers also allows us to identify the sectors of activity most rewarded by citizens (Table 9). The sectors of activity in which the share of choices expressed by taxpayers is higher than the relative weight of the institutions operating there are: education and research (19.5% against 4.5%), healthcare (14.4% against 8.8 %) and international cooperation and solidarity (9.8% versus 4.7%). On the contrary, the share of choices is lower in the sectors of sporting, cultural and artistic, recreational and socialization activities. As regards the organizational form, the choices made by taxpayers through the five per thousand mainly involved non-profit organizations (31.9%) and voluntary organizations (26.9%), to a lesser extent social enterprises (3.5 %). The distribution of the five per thousand amounts with respect to the different organizational forms is very similar to that of the number of choices