Abstract

Non-profit organizations providing social services play an important role in the Italian welfare system. Though their relevance is restated in the 2017 Third sector reform law, the social services domain is merely included in a broader list of «activities of general interest» to be provided by TS organizations. Based on the empirical evidence offered by the 2017 Inapp "Survey on social services provided by non-profit organizations", the article intends to investigate this not well-known segment with a two-fold objective: a) providing a state-of-the art overview prior to the enactment of the reform legislation, and b) identifying some reform shortcomings concerning the social services which may have a negative impact on the welfare system.