Private giving:
According to the survey “The Potential of Growth of Private Donation in Italy. A qualitative and Quantitative Scenario of Private and Household Donations” carried out by the Institute of Social Research (ISR), in 2005 Italian donated about 4,803 billion euros to social causes, which is 0.38% of the national GDP. The research considers also a twofold increase of private donations in the next fifteen years. The total amount of money donated will get to 6 billion euros by 2010, 7,500 billion by 2015 and 9 billion euros by 2020.
The survey “Italian and donation” carried out by the Eurisko in 2007 says that the percentage of people that donate money for a social cause has increased of 30% during 2007 and that donations in favour of scientific research is the most popular social cause with 14% of preferences. The research carried out by SWG and Vita Consulting, Monitor of Donations in 2007 reveals that on average 150 Euro have been donated to a social cause.
Corporate giving:
The research, “The Potential of Growth of Corporate Giving. A Quantitative Scenario” Carried out by the Institute of Social Research (ISR) in 2005, based on data of declared corporate tax returns in 2001, says that more than 34,400 business (2,3% of the total) made a donations to the non profit sectors. The total amount donated in 2001 was 266 millions of euros and the average donation was about 8,000.
In the research is also highlighted that industrial business are more likely to donate than those operating in the field of services and agriculture, in particular corporate working in the insurance and chemical field are more likely to donate, more than 13% and 11%, respectively. The average donation is higher for energetic resources, brokerage, chemic, and insurance business. As far as territorial distribution is concerned, businesses based in the North of the country are more generous with a high inclination to donate. Emilia Romagna is the region where the level is highest, about five out 100 corporate declare to donate. Companies based in Piemonte, Lombardia and Lazio donate more than the average donation.
Fiscal advantages to the sector: 5 X 1000
The 5 per thousand is a fiscal mechanism that allow Italian taxpayer to allocate 0.005% of their tax income to a non profit organisation. It was introduced for the first time in the 2005 financial law. In 2006, its first year of approval, 16 million Italians, about 60% of taxpayers chosen to give their 5 thousandths to a non profit and approximately 350 million euros have been raised for the civil society.
In 2007 the government imposed a roof on the total amount that could be collected by the 5 thousandths law, so that no more than 250 million euros would actually be allocated to the third sector no matter what sum was actually raised through taxpayers donations. In 2008 this mechanism has been reconfirmed in the financial law and the roof has been raised up to 400 million euros.
In 2007, the Italian association for cancer research, Airc, was by far the overall winner with 727,868 taxpayer preferences.
