For 2021, non-profit organizations plan new investments, mostly aimed at enhancing their human capital. More than 8 companies out of 10 declare themselves satisfied with the relationship with the lenders, especially appreciating the existence of dedicated and trained personnel. This is what emerged from tenth edition of the Observatory on "Finance and the Third Sector" by Intesa Sanpaolo and Aiccon – Italian Association for the promotion of the Culture of Cooperation and Non-Profit.
According to the data collected from the survey, 54,4% of the subjects interviewed (social cooperatives and social enterprises srl) expect new investments for the current year, 34,3% aimed at enhancing their human capital. Albeit a sharp decrease compared to 2019 of -31,3%.
For planned investments, the main source of coverage is constituted by theSelf-financing (50,4%), followed by resources provided by banks (27,6%). This is thanks to the consolidation of relations with credit institutions: 80% declare themselves satisfied in this sense, especially appreciating the existence of dedicated and trained personnel (27%) and a specific dedicated offer (40,4%; +5,2% compared to the previous year).
In fact, 83% of the companies that have applied for financing from banks in the last three years (32,8%) have obtained the entire amount requested. The main method of using the loans obtained is given by medium-long term investments (47,2%), in continuity with last year.
As regards knowledge relating to financial instruments with a social impact, it remains fairly constant (44%), especially among consortia (58,3%). 34,6% of those who know the theme are interested in using it or are already using it (17,3%). But it is the type A social cooperatives that are most interested (23,1%). The best known and most used instrument is that of subsidized loans (e.g. Revolving Fund for MISE enterprises, funds with EIB subsidized funding, etc.). Furthermore, 58,4% of the organizations have started measuring the social impact of their activities.
As in the past, this edition also set itself the goal of analyzing the financial needs of the last three years (2018-2020). Despite the emergency situation, 7 organizations out of 10 (-21% on the previous survey) declare that they have made investments in this observation period. In particular, type A social cooperatives (76,8%). 51,5% confirmed self-financing (method indicated above all by job placement cooperatives - 54,9%) as the main source of coverage, followed by reliance on banking institutions (28,4%), to which they resorted almost half of the consortia.
Marco Morganti, head of the Intesa Sanpaolo Impact Department explained how: “2020 was a complex year for organizations in the third sector which had to rethink their activities in consideration of the new constraints imposed by the contingent situation. In a short time, social and health needs have been enormously amplified or, as in the case of culture, activities have been eliminated. In both cases, the necessary, indeed indispensable, nature of the Third sector has become evident, as well as the need for greater structural, organizational and financial solidity of the organizations that are part of it”.
“The world of social cooperation is aware that it is necessary to “invest to restart” – he declared Paul Venturi, director Aiccon -. Human capital becomes the first of the resources to be mobilized and retrained and the sustainability strategies activated are increasingly plural and open to investors and impact instruments. Within this transition, banks are perceived as indispensable players and their value grows to the extent that the ability to converse authentically with a world that simultaneously demands an increasingly personalized offer and a strong empathy for community and inclusive projects grows".
For the first time, the Observatory is enriched by an analysis curated by Ipsos Italy and AICCON, in collaboration and with the patronage of Confcooperative-Federsolidarietà and Legacoopsociali, aimed at detecting the future development prospects of social enterprises which returns a positive trend of these entrepreneurial realities above all with respect to their employment dimension in the face of greater difficulty in terms of economic.
According to this analysis, 31% of the realities recorded an increase in terms of employment and a growing labor cost for half of the respondents. However, profit margins and the economic result are down respectively in 64% and 59% of cases.
“With reference to the course of 2021 – he underlined enzo risso, scientific director of Ipsos Italia -, the social enterprises questioned declared a positive outlook in terms of both growth from an economic point of view - both the profit margin (+13 on 2020) and the economic result (+23 on 2020) - and stability from an employment point of view - the number of employees substantially unchanged (+5 on 2020) ".
