Policy and Advocacy

Assifero is committed to supporting the collective demands of its associates and to contributing to the recognition, support and promotion of the Italian philanthropic system at the institutional entities and networks of which it is part

Assifero association network

Assifero joined the Registro Unico del Terzo Settore (RUNTS) as an association network on 28 July 2023 by decree of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies.

The introduction of philanthropic organisations into RUNTS

Assifero, thanks to the work led, in particular, by the former President Felice Scalvini, managed to obtain the recognition of philanthropic organisations within the Third Sector Code with articles 37, 38 and 39, dedicated to foundations and philanthropic organisation, and a dedicated section in the RUNTS.

This is a key step because it recognises the specific characteristics of philanthropic entities and legitimately defines their belonging to the Third Sector. Ever since the launch of the Third Sector Reform in 2017, Assifero has been a staunch supporter of the changes that the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies proposed for the Third Sector, first and foremost the establishment of a Single National Register of the Third Sector – RUNTS, which would recompose the fragmentation given by the many registers in force, one for each type of entity, and move in the direction of greater transparency, to the benefit of institutions and citizens.

Assifero is member of

 

  • Consiglio Nazionale per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo (National Council for Development Cooperation), a body composed of the main public and private actors of the Italian development cooperation system;
  • Patto per un Nuovo Welfare sulla Non Autosufficienza (Pact for a New Welfare for the Non-self-sufficient), a broad social coalition that intends to draw up operational proposals for the reform of care for the non-self-sufficient elderly. Assifero participates through Fondazione Ravasi Garzanti.

Achievements

  • IRES exemption for property income for philanthropic organisations, obtained with the 2022 Simplifications Decree, through the insertion of paragraph 2 bis to Article 84 of the Third Sector Code. According to the reformulation brought about by the Fiscal Simplifications Decree, in fact, the IRES exemption regime may also concern income deriving from the asset management of the property, and not from the property itself, provided that the income is allocated to the performance of general interest activities in a non-commercial manner.
  • Resolution No. 75 of 21.12.23 of the Revenue Agency, signed by the Central Director Dr. Patrizia Claps, obtained in response to interpellations submitted by Assifero, admits that philanthropic bodies may use property income not only to make non-repayable disbursements, but also to make investments by underwriting capital and loans, provided that there is no remuneration. The investment, another important novelty, may be made with a share of the disbursements, to be placed in an ad hoc fund, to which will correspond active and temporary financial items, distinct from the investments made with the assets and destined mainly to produce returns to be used to finance institutional activities.