Swedish non profit sector contribution of GNP is about 5.3% in 2002 as the research Third Sector’s role in public service transformation, published in 2008, reveals. The economic importance of the third sector in terms of GNP is as great as countries like US, UK and Germany. Though there is no national public registry for non-profit organisations, the European Cross-Border Giving Database (www.givingineurope.org) estimates that there are between 160,000 and 180,000 Swedish non-profit organisations.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) research considers that the Swedish social economy is composed as follows (see table):
– 27,194 associations
– 230 mutual societies
– 18,770 cooperatives (agricultural, consumer, housing and other kinds of cooperatives)
– 4,218 foundations, according to the European Economic and Social Committee; approximately 25,000 are instead the foundations according to the 2003 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Report Philanthropic Foundations and Development Cooperation (2001 data);
– 400-500 social enterprises (KMU Forschung Austria – Austrian Institute for SME Research, Study on Practices and Policies in the Social Enterprise Sector in Europe – Country Fiches, 2007).
As far as foundations are concerned, Sweden has several large foundations, some of which also control large industrial groups. The government has the power to elect one board member in some of these foundations in an effort at transparency and greater social accountability (source: www.givingineurope.org; for the legislation about foundations in Sweden: http://www.efc.be/ftp/public/eu/CountryProfiles/sweden.pdf).
THE SOCIAL ECONOMY IN SWEDEN
|
Cooperatives and other similar accepted forms |
Mutual Societies and other similar accepted forms |
Associations, foundations and other similar accepted forms |
|
– Agricultural Cooperatives (2005: 23.500 jobs; 200 enterprises) – Consumer Cooperatives (2005: 33.000 jobs; 500 enterprises) – Housing Cooperatives (2005: 7.000 jobs; 14.070 enterprises) – Others (p.e. Tourism, Education) (2005: 36.000 jobs; 4.000 enterprises) |
Mutual Societies (2005: 11.000 jobs; 230 enterprises) |
– Foundations (2004: 23.135 jobs; 4.218 entities) – Associations: (2004: 72.062 jobs; 27.194 entities) |
|
99.500 jobs; 18.770 enterprises |
11.000 jobs
|
95.197 jobs; 31.412 entities |
Source: Jan Olsson (for cooperatives and Mutuals) & Lisa Frobel (Serus)
According to the 2007 Report The Social Economy in the European Union committed by the EESC (written by Rafael Chaves Ávila and José Luis Monzón Campos of the International Centre of Research and Information on the Collective Economy – CIRIEC; 2002 data), Sweden is, with France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Belgium and Ireland, one of the European countries with the greatest acceptance of the concept of the Social Economy. This is the result delivered by a semi-open questionnaire about the level of recognition of the concept of Social Economy that was sent to three privileged witnesses across the different countries, namely public authorities, social economy companies and the academic/scientific world.
According to the European Cross-Border Giving Database, third sector organizations are mostly active in the areas of culture and advocacy.
As far as the delivering of social services is concerned, the research Third Sector’s role in public service transformation, published in 2008, revealed that the Swedish third sector’s role in delivering social services is characterized by a strong relationship with 290 Swedish local municipalities, which are the principal public authorities with responsibility for contracting out social services. Each of these municipalities organizes on average 31,665 inhabitants, collects income tax and has a great level of autonomy from the central governments. The manner in which these municipalities employ private operators to perform public services varies between municipalities. However, it is possible to recognize three ways for municipalities to employ private operators:
– through public granting permission for the establishment of new, private services, which are then paid according to the number of users. This model is used for the provision of childcare and education services in general;
– through the contracting out. This model is specially used for areas where individual services are very costly, such as health care and institutional elderly care;
– a third way used by municipalities to contact Third sector organizations for providing social services is often used for projects that aim to reach social goals, such as drugs treatments.
Yet, the new Law on Freedom of Choice, which came into force in January 2009, creates a new legal framework for contracting out social services.
Sources of income
According to the Giving in Europe – European Cross-Border Giving Database, non-profit organizations generate the majority of their income by their own activities. Nearly half of their income comes from membership fees. Private contributions and gifts account for more than 10%. Government financial support amounts to about 30% of the funding for non-profit organisations.
The Global Civil Society – An Overview, a Report published in 2003 by the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project (written by Lester M. Salamon, S. Wojciech Sokolowski, Regina List, with 1995 data), confirms these data, delivering more precise figures. According to this Report, the sources of civil society organization revenue without considering volunteers are in fact the following:
– 28.7% from the government;
– 9.1% from philanthropy;
– 62.3% from fees and charges for the services that these organizations provide and the related commercial income they receive from investments and other commercial sources, including dues.
According to the same Report, the respective percentage as far as the third sector with volunteers is concerned are instead the following:
– 14.6% from the government;
– 53.7% from philanthropy;
– 31.7% from fees.
