The Social cooperation in Italy and the CGM consortium experience

The Social cooperation in Italy and the CGM consortium experience

Social cooperatives were born in Italy during the 70s.

They have been recognised by the Italian legislation on November 8th, 1991, through the Law 381/91.

Social cooperatives have as their purpose “to pursue the general interest of the community in promoting human concerns and in the social integration of citizens”

Italian social cooperatives The origin

Law 381/91 Art.1

Primary and secondary objects are reversed if compared to ordinary enterprises:

Primary object

Secondary object

naturepublic private

Satisfaction of all its social interlocutorsAccomplishment of the general

interest of society

Respect for the “economic” and “efficient placement”

criteria for all the available resources

Law no. 381/91 Art.1- Typologies

Cooperatives of SOCIO-HEALTHand EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

“Users”: handicapped, elderly,minors, mental disabled persons,social excluded, drug addict people, children..

Type A

WORK INTEGRATION Cooperatives mainly supportingadult people EXCLUDED FROM SOCIETY; DISADVANTAGED PERSONS(drug addict, offenders,handicapped people, …)

Type B

Law 381/91 Art.1 - Typologies

AnyFields:

Socio-health

Educational

Market

30% of disadvantaged people

Everybody

(coherently with the carried out activities).

Operators/

employees/ members

B TypeA Type

Law 381/91 Art.1

SocialCooperative

a bIt's social because

it carries outactivities of social

interest

It's social for the wayin which productive

activity is carried on

Law 381/91- Members

We have 3 categories of members:

1. WORKER MEMBERS economic compensation.(Ordinary working members, paid members, disadvantaged working

members).

2. VOLUNTEER MEMBERS.

3. USER MEMBERS(users of services/activities of social cooperatives + their families)

+ FUNDING MEMBERS (Law 52/92, art.4)(whoever grants capital (without limits) to the cooperative, but not directly

involved in the cooperative activities; natural and legal persons.)

Social cooperation in Italy

Volunteers

Work placements

Income

Workers

Users

Social Cooperatives

This phenomenon is widespread in the whole country, although not in a homogeneous way.

Source: ISTAT data 2005

317.339

13.938

4.994.398

8,97 billion

34.500


Source: ISTAT –data 2005

A-type cooperatives: 59% B-type cooperatives: 32,8 % Mixed cooperatives: 4,3 Consortia: 3,9%

B-type cooperatives and consortia are more spread in the Northern regions;

In the Southern part we mainly find A-type cooperatives; In Central regions instead, we find many mixed

cooperatives.


Source: ISTAT – data 2005

353.172 persons operate in social cooperatives divided as follows:

317.939 paid human resources 34.500 volunteers733 ecclesiastic people

Compared to 2003, people employed in cooperatives increased by 34,31%.

Women represent 71,2% of the total amount of people working in social cooperatives (74% employees, 52,5% volunteers).



A-type cooperatives divided into fields of activity

59,1% of A-type cooperatives operate in the field of social care, followed by the education and research field (21%), culture, sport and entertainment fields (10,7%) and health (9%).

Also in this case, we find important differences in the A-type sectorial specialisation of social cooperatives across the country.



Work placements in B-type cooperatives

Disadvantaged people in B-type cooperatives are 35.141

The percentage of disadvantaged workers is 55,5% of the total workforce (much higher than the minimum of 30% required by law).

The average number of disadvantaged people for each cooperative is 12.

The most numerous categories are handicapped people (46,3%) and drug addict people (16%).

The social cooperation in Italy The development of the social cooperation

Transformation of the welfare systems Local dimension of welfare Contracting out of the services Local programming (law 328/00) Evolution of the third sector

Greater economic and social importance From protection’s forms to services’

production From the voluntary service to the social

enterprise

New needs not satisfied Increasing demand of greater quality of life Transformation of the social and familiar roles

The social cooperation in Italy Social cooperative models

Various organizational and ownership schemes determined

by…

The presence of volunteers

…distinguishing between cooperatives that are lacking

and cooperatives with a meaningful presence…

The size

…based on the size of the incomes, we identify

cooperatives with small, medium and large sizes …

The membership

…based on the presence of one or more stakeholders (single or

multi stakeholder)…

Location

… distinguishing them between cooperatives located in the

northeast, northwest and in the south…


Source: ISTAT – dara 2005

ConsortiaThe main purpose of social consortia is to offer services aimed at sustaining the expertise and management activities of member cooperatives:o management of human resourceso account assistance and finance consultingo management of administrative documentso trainingo informationo projects planning o assistance in taking part to public tenderso support in elaborating political strategieso taking part to public tenders on behalf of member cooperatives (general contractors).Among the most offered services are those concerning the assistance in taking

part to public tenders (74,6% of consortia), projects planning and coordination (72,5%) organising the exchange of information and experiences between cooperatives (70,8%), promoting cooperatives’ image and the promotion of new services (67,6%).

The new law on social enterprise (L.D.155/2006)

Definition of social enterprise: any kind of private organisation (e.g. associations, foundations, co-operatives, non-cooperative companies) which permanently and principally operates an economic activity aimed at the production and distribution of social benefit goods and services while pursuing general interest goals.

• SE may not limit their goods or services to members only.

• Social benefit goods and services qualified on the basis of

economic and social sectors (social assistance, healthcare, education, environment, cultural sector, social tourism, university education, research and cultural services, instrumental services for SEs), or

the specific scope of the enterprise, namely the working integration purpose of the organisation (minimum 30% disadvantaged workers)

• Non-distribution constraint (also for companies), except for:

“capped” remuneration of financial instruments in favour of nonmembers (today 5%).

The new law on social enterprise (L.D.155/2006)

(In associations companies) majority of directors shall be appointed by members (non-members may appoint the remaining part)

SE may not be “controlled” by for profit entities and/or by public entities (independency requirement)

Required: beneficiaries’ and workers’ involvement (information, consultation, participation, influence on specifically relevant decisions)

Limited liability if assets amount to a certain value

Accounting and reporting rules (derived by company law)

Social balance sheets requirement

Internal or external auditors (if applicable on the basis of legal requirements mainly concerning the size of the firm)

The Cgm consortium The consortium structure

The local consortia can be member of the national consortium CGM

The cooperatives are generally joined in local consortia on territorial basis (provincial or metropolitan )

Local consortium

Local consortium

Local consortium

cooperative cooperative cooperative

The Cgm consortium The numbers of Cgm

CGM is the biggest network enterprise of the

Italian social cooperation

It associates 78 territorial consortium networks

(provincial or metropolitan) which at their turn associate

1.150 social cooperatives diffused on all the national

territory, for a total of 35.000 workers, 5.500 volunteers

and an aggregated turnover of 1,1 billion euros. It

associates also 4 funding members.

The Cgm consortium Its mission and values

Our missionCgm supports the development of social cooperatives.

It helps third sector organisations to become social enterprises close to the citizens in every phase of their

life-cycle.

Our valuesThe centrality of the person. Ethics of the action. The

economic pluralism and the democracy. The entrepreneurship. The active citizenship.

The Cgm consortium Main areas of action

Disabilities

Childhood and adolescence

Labour inclusion of disadvantaged persons

Migration, international cooperation

Active labour policies

Mental health

Social tourism

The Cgm consortium To bring about its own projects…

...and in conformity with its own statute, Cgm carries out:

• Editorial activitiy

• Studies and researchs

• Training

• Technical-managerial and organizational advice

Moreover it:

coordinates relationships between social cooperatives’ sector and public actors (mainly Government and Ministries)

promotes and encourages new initiatives for social cooperatives.

The Cgm cooperative group

In 2005 Cgm has decided to create trademark companies for its consolidated activities in order to increase the know-how accuminated by Cgm during the last decade. These companies manage specialized and consolidated activities according to a strong entrepreneurial logic. They are:

ACCORDI (AGREEMENTS): for labour inclusion, particularly in the environmental area

CGM FINANCE (FINANCE CGM): intergroup financial company

COMUNITA’ SOLIDALI (SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES): care (elderly, disabilities, mental health)

LUOGHI PER CRESCERE (SPACES TO GROW): education (childhood, minors, education)

MESTIERI (EMPLOYMENT): labour mediation, guidance and training

SOLIDARETE: internationalisation of social enterprise

CONNECTING PEOPLE: migration

WELFARE ITALIA: welfare and services for families

What is social business for the European Commision

MilanoVia Marco Aurelio, 8tel. +39 02 36579650

RomePalazzo della Cooperazione Via Torino, 146

Representation Bruxelles Square de Meeus 18

[email protected]

CONFCOOPERATIVE FEDERSOLIDARIETA’

Documents

The Social cooperation in Italy and the CGM consortium experience