ASSIF launches three new initiatives as Italy’s fiscal vote turns 20

As Italy’s fiscal vote turns twenty, ASSIF, the Italian fundraising association, has launched three initiatives: a permanent Observatory, a European comparative study, and a landmark conference at the Italian Parliament.

Italy’s system of “percentage philanthropy” allows taxpayers to allocate a small share of their income tax to a cause of their choice, at no additional cost. Three separate instruments coexist: the 5×1000, dedicated to non-profit organisations and, more broadly, to social and welfare activities — including those run by municipalities; the 2×1000, which taxpayers can direct to political parties; and the 8×1000, reserved for religious denominations. Together, they form one of the most distinctive and closely watched fiscal-subsidiarity systems in Europe. This year, ASSIF — the Italian Fundraising Association — is marking a significant moment with three initiatives converging around research and advocacy.

A permanent Observatory for Italy’s fiscal-subsidiarity instruments

ASSIF has formally launched the Osservatorio ASSIF sul 5, 2 e 8 per mille (ASSIF Observatory on 5, 2 and 8×1000) https://5×1000.assif.it/, presented publicly in Genoa in May 2026. The Observatory turns a decade of informal monitoring work (ASSIF’s “Tavolo 5×1000”, active since 2017) into a permanent institutional structure, sitting within ASSIF’s Advisory Board and working alongside its Governing Board.

Its mandate rests on four pillars:

• Continuous data analysis and annual reporting
• A comparative European outlook
• The combined use of human expertise and AI-assisted tools for data interpretation
• Advocacy toward policymakers

The Observatory has also opened a public open-data platform, making historical data on all three instruments searchable by researchers, journalists, fundraisers and citizens alike — data that until now has been public in principle but rarely accessible in practice.

Alongside the platform, the Observatory is putting forward five concrete policy proposals: removing the spending cap that currently prevents part of the 5×1000 funds taxpayers allocate from actually reaching beneficiaries; greater transparency in the relationship between donors and recipient organisations, within privacy rules; the stable reintroduction of the 2×1000 for culture, trialled intermittently since 2016; opening fiscal subsidiarity to companies, as already happens in Spain, Slovakia and elsewhere in Europe; and stronger public support for fundraising capacity within beneficiary organisations, over 13% of which currently receive no allocations at all.

A European comparative study on percentage philanthropy

Building on this Italian groundwork, ASSIF is launching a comparative research project on percentage philanthropy systems across Europe. A structured questionnaire has been developed and circulated to other European fundraising associations (EFA members and non-members), covering the legal basis of each national instrument, eligible beneficiaries, taxpayer participation, funds distributed, privacy arrangements and an overall qualitative assessment. This allows, for the first time, a systematic side-by-side reading of how these mechanisms work (and don’t work) across the European countries that have adopted them.

The findings will be shared with contributing national associations and publicly once consolidated — offering a shared evidence base for countries considering the introduction, extension or reform of similar instruments.

“Il voto fiscale degli italiani”: a conference at the Italian Parliament

The advocacy work converges on 13 October 2026, when ASSIF and the Observatory will bring these findings to the Italian Parliament with the conference “Il voto fiscale degli italiani” (“Italians’ fiscal vote”), held at the Camera dei Deputati in Rome.

The date marks two anniversaries: twenty years of the 5×1000 and twelve years of the 2×1000 — two instruments that have progressively reshaped the relationship between citizens, the Third Sector and politics. In 2025, over 18.4 million taxpayers (43.1% of the total) allocated a share of their income tax to non-profit organisations through the 5×1000, for a combined value exceeding €602 million — the highest figure on record — while the 2×1000 involved over 2.2 million taxpayers and channelled €32.5 million to political parties.

Drawing on Observatory data, the conference will present historical trends, the territorial distribution of funds, and — for the first time in this setting — the European research described above. The programme also includes a preview of the annual Ipsos-DOXA survey on public awareness and take-up of the 5×1000 and 2×1000, and a shared basis for reforming proposals.

For more information on the Observatory, the European comparative research, or the 13 October conference, contact ASSIF at presidenza@assif.it and osservatorio@assif.it