IT
PRESS RELEASE
Nonprofit, Inapp: “Boom in number of organisations doing social work – almost double the number than 5 years ago”
From 19 thousand in 2016 to 34 thousand in 2021. They engage 1.2 million staff, half of them volunteers, offering services that reach 3.5 million people and families.
Fadda: “Although it is growing steadily and represents a fundamental pillar of our welfare system, the Italian nonprofit sector still needs to be fully known and adequately valued. Supporting the nonprofit sector is pivotal, especially in terms of strengthening and recognising skills and professional profiles. This is necessary to ensure robust policies so that these organisations can provide welfare services that complement essential services provided by the state in order for citizens’ needs to be better met.
Rome, June 27, 2023 – There are 33,973 nonprofits engaged in the provision of social services in 2021, almost double the 18,971 surveyed in 2016 – these are predominantly present in the South (32.2 percent). They engage 1.2 million people, equally distributed between paid staff (49.8%) and volunteers (50.2%), with a very strong presence of women (more than 800 thousand employees or twice as many as men). These services reach 3.5 million people across the country.
These are the findings presented in the Inapp report “The Supply of Social Services in the Third Sector,” published in follow up to the Fourth Survey on Non-profit Social Services: Inapp’s periodic sample survey, carried out nationwide in 2021 and involving about 5 thousand entities.
Unlike other surveys, Inapp’s one provides an informative picture of two factors that are usually investigated separately: social services and the nonprofit organisations engaged in providing those services. The data allows to depict a timely and articulate picture of social services provided by nonprofit organisations. These encompass social cooperatives, social enterprises, voluntary organisations, social promotion associations, philanthropic organisations, associative networks, mutual aid organisations. These provide a variety of services such as residential and social welfare interventions (36.6 percent), assessment and reception services (26.3 percent), combating social marginality to supporting inclusion particularly through information and prevention activities (51 percent) and socio-educational integration (51 percent).
“Although it is growing steadily and represents a fundamental pillar of our welfare system,” comments Sebastiano Fadda, president of Inapp, “supporting the nonprofit sector is pivotal, especially in terms of strengthening and recognising skills and professional profiles. This is necessary to ensure robust policies so that these organisations can provide welfare services that complement essential services provided by the state in order for citizens’ needs to be better met.”
The strong presence of women in the sector is concentrated entirely in operational positions and sparsely represented at the apex level of governance of these entities. They mostly occupy paid positions and are more numerous in social cooperatives and foundations.
By looking at the type of entities, it is possible to note how voluntary organisations are the main nonprofit provider of social services (39.1%), growing compared to 2016 (+6.2%). These are mostly concentrated in the Northeast with smaller presence in the South. Social Enterprises or Social Cooperatives (35.9 percent) are highly represented and booming, with an increase of 7.7 percent. They are followed, at a great distance, by Social Promotion Associations (9.1 percent) and Philanthropic Bodies (or Foundations) which have decreased in numbers (-3.2 percent).
The territorial distribution of employees shows another trend: the Northwest with 39.4 percent has the largest number of employees while the South only has 20.6 percent of total employees nationwide. In addition, the ratio between paid and volunteer staff varies across areas: in the North there is a greater incidence of volunteer labour (Northwest 31.6 percent) while in the South the opposite phenomenon is observed, with a prevalence of paid labour (43.3 percent).
The pervasiveness of nonprofit entities in the implementation of social services is also confirmed by the considerable number of beneficiaries which, on average, is around 3.5 million people. Most of the services are aimed at families (63.7 percent) followed by the disabled (57.1 percent) and minors (53.8 percent).
“In this context,” Fadda concludes, “the valorisation of social work must follow the recommendations contained in the recent European care strategy, which stresses the need for highly qualifying training paths to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of social services to properly take care of those who need it. This is an issue that Inapp will follow closely along with the impact of digitisation: a process of change that carries risks and opportunities for the future, including the social services sector.”
For more information:
Giancarlo Salemi – INAPP President Spokesperson (347 6312823)
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