Third sector, employment growth continues

In 2021, innovative non-profit institutions that declared to have implemented a social innovation project amount to 8.3% of the total, or just under 30,000. These include social cooperatives, which account for 7.7% of the total (compared to 4.2% of the sector) and foundations, which account for 3.9% (compared to 2.3% of the total).

Innovative NPIs are distinguished from the rest of the NPIs by their solidaristic orientation: almost 8 out of 10 NPIs are public benefit oriented. Two thirds of the innovative NPIs have as their mission the support and support of weak and disadvantaged persons and almost half of them focus their activities on the promotion and protection of rights.

Institutions that innovate are also those that have a greater propensity for digital innovation, local user involvement and networks. In fact, they have a wide network of stakeholders. Fifty-five per cent have a multi-stakeholder network, 74.6 per cent have relations with the public administration and 67 per cent with activity recipients. Moreover, the most innovative IPs present a higher degree of digitisation: almost all of them (95.5%) use at least one digital technology, 55.5% use digital platforms and 4 out of 10 use mobile applications.

Among the innovative elements detected, the creation of new relationships emerges, which concerns half of the innovative NPIs, followed by the development of a new service/product (46.2%). Almost one third of the NPIs report having innovated processes, and no less significant is the share of NPIs that identified new types of users (23.9%) and regenerated a place (19.1%). In 65.3% of the cases, the innovative NPIs implemented the project or intervention in collaboration with other public or private subjects and within the framework of the collaboration, the non-profit institution played the role of promoter in 50.8% of the cases.

With the implementation of the social innovation project/intervention, the NPOs claim to have achieved several results, generating positive effects on processes and activities, including the exchange of know-how and the involvement of beneficiaries in the project phase. More than 56% of the organisations promoting innovation also managed to change the way their employees work, showing how social innovation is not only necessary for the territory and development, but is also a tool to change third sector organisations.

"It is no longer enough to promote good solutions," emphasises Paolo Venturi, Director of Aiccon, "It is necessary to create new institutions and, together with them, to help redesign the rules of the game that underlie the growing uncertainty and vulnerability.