Benefit societies grow more than other companies

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Being a Benefit Corporation is also good for the profit and loss account. Companies that have made this choice record better results than non-benefit companies, thus showing that having the common benefit at heart is not a brake on profits, on the contrary. As shown by the National Research on Benefit Societies 2025, on the basis of the 2021-2023 operating results, the turnover of benefit societies grew by 26% (median value), exceeding the 15.4% recorded by non-benefit societies, with a particularly marked difference in the microenterprise segment. In terms of employment, the growth was just as significant, with 62% of the Benefit Societies increasing their workforce, compared to 43% of non-benefit companies. Not only that, but Benefit Societies - which integrate the profit objectives characteristic of all companies with a commitment to common benefits for society and the environment - also pay greater attention to the remuneration of their employees: the labour cost per employee in Benefit Societies is 3,000 euros higher than in non-benefit companies, highlighting a concrete commitment to enhancing human capital and supporting purchasing power in a period of high inflation.

The number of Benefit Societies in Italy continues to grow strongly. According to data from the Observatory on Benefit Societies of the Brindisi-Taranto Chamber of Commerce and Infocamere, at the end of the third quarter of 2025, they had reached 5,309, up 21.98% year-on-year, with a total production value of EUR 67.888 billion and 236,023 total employees. In 2019 there were 438 Benefit Societies and, as shown by the National Research on Benefit Societies 2025, at the end of 2024 there were more than 4,500 such companies, an increase of about 27% compared to the previous year, reaching a level of 1.57 per thousand of the total number of registered companies. The National Research analysis went beyond the numbers, also examining the composition of the boards of directors: those of the Benefit Societies - active in all sectors and of all sizes - show greater diversity both in terms of gender and age. The presence of women on the boards affects 48% of companies (compared to 38% of non-benefit companies) and a peak of 62% in large companies (compared to 48% of non-benefit companies), the presence of young people under 40 is 27.9% (compared to 20.0% of non-benefit companies), with significant peaks of 30.4% in the South (compared to 21.9% of non-benefit companies). In particular, the Benefit Companies that include an under 40 in the board compared to companies in which the entire board is made up exclusively of over 65s turn out to be particularly dynamic, registering a more intense growth in turnover (+30.6% vs. 23.5%), a greater propensity to hire (+20.0% vs. +10.9%) and more generous wage policies (labour costs +34.5% vs. +23.2%).

The National Research went further and carried out a further qualitative analysis, examining the specific common-benefit purposes included in the articles of association. The articles of association of 3,619 Benefit Societies registered as at 31.12.2023 in the Companies Register database of the Chambers of Commerce were examined, and it emerged that there are 18,618 stated purposes: on average, a distribution of 5.8 purposes per Benefit Society emerges, with the largest number of companies adopting 4 purposes each. In detail, 32.5% of the specific common-benefit purposes (6,045 purposes) are centred on Social Capital; 24.4% (4,542 purposes) concern commitments to change the Business Model with the explicit aim of having a positive impact; 17.6% (3,271 purposes) are specifically committed to Human Capital; 13.4% (2,494 purposes) are centred in the Leadership and Governance area, which concerns company management practices; 12.2% (2,266 purposes) directly concern the Environment. It should be noted that the mapping of common-benefit purposes was carried out using the international standard Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), which is recognised worldwide as one of the most comprehensive models for classifying the most relevant environmental, social and governance issues in relation to the financial risks associated with different sectors.

From this analysis, a 'Top 10' of specific aims of common benefit emerged. As stated in the report, the first in the ranking is 'Relations with the community': it is the contemporary form with which the social responsibility of Italian companies and their virtuous and responsible coexistence with territories and communities is expressed. It is mentioned 5,250 times, accounting for 28.2% of the total. In second place is 'Involvement, diversity and inclusion of people' (2,747, 14.7%), with the podium closed by 'Spreading the benefits model' (1,939, 10.4%). In fourth place is 'Business model resilience' (1,528, 8.2%). This is followed by 'Product design and lifecycle management' (1,524, 8.2%); 'Operational efficiency' (1,067, 5.7%); 'Supply chain management' (568, 3%); 'Procurement and material use efficiency' (486, 2.6%); 'Ecological impacts' (442, 2.4%); and finally 'Professional ethics' (406, 2.2%).

In this context of growth and qualification of the benefit model, the Benefit Competition, the national competition promoted by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, is also part of the initiative, aimed at both benefit companies and those intending to take on this legal form. The competition aims to valorise and disseminate the best business experiences that integrate economic objectives and positive impact on people, communities and the environment. In line with the evidence emerging from the National Research 2025 - which shows that Benefit Societies are more dynamic in terms of growth, employment, work quality and governance - the MIMIT initiative intends to strengthen the culture of the benefit model, fostering the emergence of innovative, scalable and replicable practices, capable of combining competitiveness, sustainability and shared value for the Italian production system.