On 1 December, the first meeting of the Benefit Corporations Community of practice was held at Unione Industriali, dedicated to the theme “Social Procurement: creating value together with communities and local areas”.
Raffaella Scalisi (Torino Social Impact) opened the session by outlining the principles, approaches and opportunities of social-impact purchasing, referring to the main regulatory frameworks that support its application in the public sector — where it is already more established — as well as in the private sector.
She highlighted how the spread of social procurement practices can strengthen local community cohesion, increase territorial attractiveness and foster collaboration between for-profit companies and social enterprises, generating innovation. This approach can also become a true “diffused incubator” for social entrepreneurship, thanks to the strong innovative capacity often found in non-profit organisations.
Scalisi also recalled the findings of the Torino Social Impact survey on private-sector social procurement, which revealed several persistent challenges: limited knowledge of social enterprises, confusion with charitable activities, and low awareness of the benefits for businesses. On the supply side, issues such as limited commercial capacity, uneven managerial maturity, non-competitive pricing and low digitalisation still emerge.
She then illustrated TSI’s work on the topic — including context analysis, tools, partnerships and promotional activities — presenting current initiatives such as the European PROSECO project and the Buy Social platform.
The Ascensori Rossini case
The meeting continued with the experience of Ascensori Rossini, a Benefit Corporation that has chosen to integrate social criteria into its supply chain by collaborating with local social enterprises.
Founded in 1963 and converted into a Benefit Corporation in 2022, the company first launched an internal programme focused on employee wellbeing — from health check-ups to team-building activities — and then expanded its commitment to initiatives blending creativity, inclusion and sustainability:
- art-building workshops using recovered elevator materials;
- a sensory branding project that led to the creation of a corporate fragrance;
- healthy eating initiatives in partnership with Cascina Pensolato, a social agriculture cooperative from which employees can purchase fresh produce while supporting the social economy.
A team-building activity organised with the Giolitti Hospitality Institute also kick-started a collaboration with Fondazione Cucine Colte, which supports students and former students, including young people with disabilities or facing disadvantage. This experience later led to a partnership with Lavanderia Senza Macchia, which now provides a dedicated laundry service for company employees.
The NODES research on Benefit Corporations
Nadia Lambiase (Mercato Circolare) presented insights from the research carried out within the NODES project, coordinated by the University of Turin, showing how the shift toward integral sustainability transforms a company’s overall posture.
The study analysed Benefit Corporations as hybrid models that, while pursuing profit, integrate common-benefit goals into their statutes, transforming production processes and supply chains.
The cases of Vanni, Sargomma, Torrefazione Costadoro, Biova, Dual Sanitaly and Reynaldi were presented, highlighting the changes and experiments already underway.
The workshop
The meeting concluded with a hands-on workshop involving 24 participants from 21 organisations. The activity offered a concrete exploration of what it means to orient procurement policies toward social impact, prompting reflection on supplier-selection criteria, resource management and the energy used in processes.
