Italy

Introduction to Philanthropy Research in Italy

By Gina Rossi, Raffaella Rametta and Chiara Leardini

Research on philanthropy in Italy remains fragmented because comprehensive national datasets are limited. As a result, most research focuses on particular sectors, organisations or forms of giving rather than on the philanthropic landscape as a whole. Existing studies cover donor motivations, nonprofit management, transparency and disclosure, tax incentives, legal frameworks and foundation governance.

Research on donor behaviour has examined both monetary and time donations. One large study of more than 22,000 adults found a positive relationship between giving time and giving money and explored motivations such as the “warm glow” of giving and social reputation.

Several studies have focused specifically on philanthropy for cultural heritage. Research suggests that perceived effectiveness and cost-benefit considerations influence giving generally, while personal values and reputational motives may be more dependent on the particular context in which a donation is made.

The Italian “5 per mille” tax designation system has also attracted considerable research attention. Studies indicate that transparent governance and accessible, high-quality organisational information can strengthen donor trust and influence the choice of recipient organisation.

Research on nonprofit management has similarly highlighted the importance of disclosure. Studies of Italian community foundations suggest that information on organisational identity, performance and governance can be particularly important for building donor confidence, while more detailed financial disclosure is associated with higher donation levels.

Legal research has grown following the reform of the Third Sector through Legislative Decree No. 117/2017. This includes work on the regulation of third sector organisations, taxation of donors and tax-exempt entities, and the governance of special types of foundations, particularly foundations of banking origin.

Overview of Giving in Italy

Giving by individuals

Several different surveys provide information on individual giving, although their estimates are difficult to compare because they use different samples, definitions and reference periods.

According to the Italian National Institute of Statistics, 12.8% of Italians aged 14 or older made at least one donation to an association in 2022. This represented an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared with 2021. Giving increased particularly among women and people aged 35–44, while people aged 45–74 remained the age groups most likely to donate.

A separate nationally representative survey found that approximately 38% of Italians aged 25 or over made a donation to a nonprofit organisation between January and May 2022. Their average donation was €118.

The Italiani solidali survey provides a broader estimate. It found that 55% of individuals made at least one donation to a nonprofit organisation in 2022. When informal giving, including contributions to parishes and tax-designation mechanisms supporting public-benefit organisations, was included, the proportion rose to 63%. The average donation increased from €61 in 2021 to €69 in 2022.

Public and social-benefit causes were the most widely supported, with 59% of donors contributing to organisations in this field. Environmental causes and education and research were each supported by 35%, while 31% donated to organisations working on international aid, human rights and refugees.

Women were more likely to be donors, and the highest propensity to give was found among people aged 45–64. The survey also identified increased participation among people aged 15–24.

A later estimate using data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Italian Revenue Agency places total individual giving in 2022, including both formal and informal donations, at approximately €7.457 billion. Detailed figures showing how this amount was distributed across causes are not available.

Italian tax law provides incentives for charitable donations. Individuals may deduct 30% of qualifying cash or in-kind contributions to non-commercial third sector entities, rising to 35% for donations to voluntary organisations, subject to a maximum deduction of €30,000 per tax period. Alternatively, donations may be deducted from taxable income up to 10% of declared income, with unused amounts carried forward for up to four years.

Bequest giving

Italy has no centralised or systematic national database on charitable bequests. Information is therefore derived mainly from representative surveys on attitudes toward legacy giving rather than from comprehensive administrative records.

Awareness of charitable bequests is relatively high among older Italians. In 2022, 79% of people aged over 50 reported knowing about solidarity bequests, up from 73% in 2021. Among this age group, 26% had either already included a charitable gift in their will or intended to do so, while 27% remained undecided.

Family considerations play an important role in these decisions: 64% of respondents said they would involve close relatives when considering a charitable bequest.

No reliable national figure is available for the total value of charitable bequests. Available estimates suggest an average bequest of approximately €20,000, indicating that legacy giving is not restricted to very wealthy households.

The potential for future growth is substantial. Projections by Fondazione Cariplo estimate that charitable bequests to nonprofit organisations could reach €8.4 billion by 2030 and €35.7 billion by 2040. These projections assume that 50% of the wealth of people without heirs and 5% of the wealth of families with heirs would ultimately be directed to nonprofit causes.

Corporate giving

The most recent detailed evidence on corporate philanthropy refers to 2020. The Corporate Giving in Italy study covered 116 medium-sized and large companies with combined turnover of €304 billion in 2020. Seventy-two per cent were headquartered in Italy and 28% were subsidiaries of international groups.

The participating companies allocated €567.1 million to philanthropy in 2020. This includes both monetary and in-kind contributions made directly by companies or through their corporate foundations. Average giving per company was €510,000.

Public and social-benefit causes received €111.2 million, or 19.6% of the total. Health received €99.8 million, or 17.6%, and education and research €86.2 million, or 15.2%. Culture received €74.3 million, while environmental and animal-related causes received €19.3 million.

A large residual category accounted for €151.9 million, or 26.8% of corporate giving. This mainly reflected civil protection, emergency response and disaster relief, which alone accounted for around 19% of the total. The unusually high level of giving in 2020 was strongly influenced by the COVID-19 crisis.

Corporations may deduct qualifying contributions to non-commercial third sector entities from taxable income up to 10% of their total declared income. Unused deductions may be carried forward for up to four subsequent tax periods.

The corporate data are based on a survey of 57 companies combined with a content analysis of sustainability reports from 59 listed companies. They therefore provide important evidence on large businesses but do not constitute a complete census of corporate philanthropy in Italy.

Foundations

Reliable national donation data are available primarily for Italy’s foundations of banking origin. These private, autonomous nonprofit institutions were created in the early 1990s following the privatisation of public savings banks. Italy has 86 such foundations, which use returns generated by their endowments to support social initiatives and local economic development.

In 2022, foundations of banking origin distributed €962.2 million, 5.3% more than in 2021. Their funding was provided through 21,301 grants, with an average grant size of €45,171. More than 43% of total disbursements consisted of grants worth over €500,000.

Education and research were supported by 85 of the 86 foundations, while 84 supported culture. Public and social-benefit activities received support from 61 foundations and health from 57.

Education and research received €319.1 million in 2022, accounting for 34.2% of total foundation giving. Culture received €246.9 million, or 25.7%, while public and social-benefit activities received €167.9 million, or 17.4%.

Health received €37.2 million, environmental and animal-related causes €30.9 million, sport and recreation €7.3 million, and international aid, human rights and refugee-related causes €2.9 million.

The available foundation statistics therefore represent foundations of banking origin rather than all foundations operating in Italy.

Over the past three decades, foundations of banking origin have distributed more than €26 billion through more than 400,000 initiatives. Their endowments are now worth approximately €40 billion. They also finance Volunteer Service Centres and participate in collective initiatives addressing child poverty, digital inequality, social cohesion in Southern Italy and social housing.

Charity lotteries

Charity lotteries are a very recent development in Italy. There was no charity-lottery income in 2022, and the first Italian philanthropic lottery was launched only in 2023.

Italian legislation allows qualifying third sector organisations to organise philanthropic lotteries for social projects. Eligible organisations must have net assets of at least €500,000 and have been registered in the Single National Register of the Third Sector for at least three years. The minimum contribution for participation is €500.

The first authorised initiative, Lotteria Filantropica Italia, ran in 2023 but raised only €3,000. This was insufficient to finance a social project, so the lottery was terminated and all contributions were refunded.

Charity lotteries therefore contributed €0 to the national estimate for 2022.

Sources of Contributions in Italy

The available data produce an estimated €8.986 billion in philanthropic contributions. This should be regarded as a partial rather than comprehensive estimate. No official national survey or dataset captures all giving in Italy, no reliable national figure exists for charitable bequests, and corporate data refer to 2020 rather than 2022.

Individual giving dominates the available estimate, accounting for approximately 83% of measured philanthropic activity. Foundations of banking origin account for 10.7% and corporate giving for 6.3%.

Looking only at the corporate and foundation data for which distributions by cause are available, education and research received approximately €405.3 million, culture €321.2 million, public and social-benefit causes €279.1 million, and health €137 million. These figures do not include the €7.457 billion attributed to individual giving because no comparable sectoral breakdown is available.

The absence of comprehensive national datasets remains a major constraint on philanthropy research in Italy. The implementation of the Single National Register of the Third Sector may improve access to reliable organisational data and enable a more complete picture of Italian philanthropy in the future.

Source

Rossi, G., Rametta, R., & Leardini, C. (2026). Philanthropy in Italy. In B. Hoolwerf & J. Vamstad (Eds.), Philanthropy in Europe: Mapping Research and Data on Donations by Households, Bequests, Foundations, Corporations and Charity Lotteries (pp. 189–202). European Research Network on Philanthropy.

You can download the full publication here: Philanthropy in Europe.