Joint interprofessional funds: how Italian SMEs can finance training and digital consulting

Every month your company pays INPS the mandatory contribution of 0.30% of its total payroll. Part of that money can come back to the company in the form of funded training, consulting and internal skills development. Most Italian SMEs don't know this, or know it but don't use it.

Joint interprofessional funds have existed since 2000 (Law no. 388), were recently updated with the new ministerial Guidelines of May 2026, and are one of the most accessible and least bureaucratic financing tools available to Italian companies. In this article we explain how they work, which activities they cover, and how they can be used concretely to finance digital transformation programmes, training on project management tools and business consulting.

What joint interprofessional funds are

Joint interprofessional funds are associative bodies, jointly promoted by the main employer and trade union organisations, that finance training plans for the employees of member companies. They were established by article 118 of Law 388/2000 and are today governed by the new Guidelines of the Ministry of Labour (Directorial Decree no. 227 of 11 May 2026).

The mechanism is simple: every month, when paying INPS contributions for its employees, a company can choose to allocate the 0.30% share to an interprofessional fund instead of the generic INPS fund. Those resources build up over time and can be used to finance training and skills-development activities, up to 100% of the costs for many of the fund's internal calls.

The main funds Italian SMEs can join are:

• Fondimpresa: the largest fund in Italy, open to companies of every sector and size, backed by Confindustria, CGIL, CISL and UIL.
• Fondirigenti: dedicated to management training and the development of executive skills.
• Fondo For.Te: for companies in the tertiary, retail, tourism and services sectors.
• Fondartigianato: for craft businesses.
• FFAPI (Fondo Formazione PMI): specifically dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises.

What can be financed: training, consulting and digital transformation

This is the point that surprises the companies we work with the most: interprofessional funds don't only finance standard courses. They cover a very wide range of activities, as long as they're structured as certifiable training plans.

• Training on digital tools and PM tools: programmes on project management tools such as Wrike, collaboration platforms, automation tools (Make, Zapier) and business intelligence suites, especially when tied to an organisational or digital innovation project.
• Consulting and hands-on support for digital transformation: consulting activities can be included in training plans when they have a component of transferring skills to internal staff.
• Development of managerial and project management skills: professional certifications (PRINCE2, PMP), middle management development, agile methodologies and change management.
• Organisational innovation and change management: programmes that support the team in adopting new operating models and redefining business processes.

How the mechanism works: the Training Account and training plans

The operational mechanism varies from fund to fund, but in most cases companies can access resources through two main channels.

Training Account: the resources paid in by the company build up in a dedicated account, usable at any time for tailored training plans, without waiting for calls or deadlines. It's the most flexible tool.

Public calls: the funds periodically publish calls that companies can apply to in order to obtain financing on top of the resources accumulated in the account, with specific deadlines and evaluation criteria.

Unlike the New Skills Fund (Fondo Nuove Competenze), interprofessional funds don't require formal union agreements for most activities and let SMEs proceed with greater autonomy and more predictable timing.

How to access them: the 5 practical steps

• Check which fund the company is enrolled in: the membership code is in the INPS tax drawer or in the monthly UNIEMENS filing.
• Check the balance of the Training Account in the fund's reserved area.
• Define the training need: which skills the team must develop and which digital transformation activities are planned.
• Structure the training plan with objectives, contents, duration, methodology and result indicators.
• Submit the plan, deliver the activities and manage the final reporting.

How the funds connect to a digitalisation project with Wrike

A concrete example: a company decides to implement Wrike to manage its internal projects. The technical part (platform configuration, template setup, integration with other systems) is borne by the company as a direct investment. The training part (contextual training sessions, post go-live support, internal skills development) can be structured as a training plan financed through the company's interprofessional fund.

This way the overall cost of the project drops significantly: the training component, which in our projects is typically worth between 30% and 50% of the total value, is covered by the fund. This approach works because the method we use to train teams on Wrike is already structured into documentable phases (contextual training, hands-on support, adoption measurement) that match the requirements of a certifiable training plan.

What changes with the new 2026 Guidelines

Directorial Decree no. 227 of 11 May 2026 updated the operating rules of interprofessional funds, introducing more uniform criteria for activation, management and oversight. The main changes concern the standardisation of reporting procedures across the different funds, greater control over the quality of training interventions and a clearer definition of eligible activities.

For SMEs, the most relevant change is the greater clarity on eligibility criteria: this makes structuring training plans more predictable and reduces the risk of disputed reporting. In practice, planning a training programme today is simpler and safer than in previous years.