Profile of the Dutch nonprofit sector

1
Profile of the Dutch nonprofit sector

• B. Kuhry
• Social and Cultural Planning Office

2
Why does a private nonprofit sector exist?

• Market imperfections (other speakers)
• Public interest
• Responsibility of citizens
• Three modes of production

3
Matters of definition

• 2 definitions of nonprofit sector
• Private not-for-profit sector
• Including public sector
• 3 definitions of public sector
• Legal
• Financial
• Functional (quaternary sector)

4
Nonprofits in the Netherlands 2002
  Tabel 2.4 Kostena naar deelsector en
rechtsvorm, 2002
5
Trends 1 (share of organisation types)
6
Trends 2 (public funding in NL)
7
Performance public sector (1)
8
Performance public sector (2)
9
Performance public sector (3)

• Real costs per product relative cost price
• Interpretation of causes of increase?
• Frank Kalshoven in Volkskrant 23-1 Ten years
  of stagnating innovation in public sector over
  the years, citizens get less value for their
  money

10
Performance public sector (4)

• Probably several causes are involved
• Law of Baumol (type of service)
• Incomplete measurement of quality
• Absence of market incentives
• Nevertheless reality which has to be taken into
  account in planning of public services and public
  funding (!?)

11
Johns Hopkins comparative non-profit sector
project (35 countries)

• Two different types
• Service delivery (often public funds and public
  interests)
• Expressive organisations (often private funds,
  volunteers etc.)
• NL largest non-profitsector mainly due to service
  delivery organisations (education, health care,
  social services).

12
Johns Hopkins (2)

• Size of sector (as of economically active
  population)
• NL 14
• US and UK, 8-10
• Scandinavia, Germany 5-7
• S.Europe 4
• Central Europe 1
• Expressive non-profits ( total nonprofits)
• Scandinavia 55-75
• Central Europe around 50
• NL, Germany, UK 25-35
• US 20

13
Characteristics of the Dutch nonprofit sector
(2002)
14
Potential advantages nonprofits

• Mission (quality, accessibility, external
  effects)
• Professionals in charge instead of managers?
• Motivation workers?
• Trust
• Donated labour
• Gifts
• Civil society

15
Potential disadvantages nfps(publicly funded
organisations only)

• Less control by government than public
  organisations (complaints by Dutch Audit office,
  also extend to public quangos)
• Less innovation than for-profit organisations
  (hardly any empirical evidence, see e.g. Koning
  et al.)

16
Conclusions?

• Focus discussion in this seminar on publicly
  funded service delivery organisations dont
  generalise to the entire nonprofit sector.
• Do nonprofit organisations in health care and
  child care deserve the benefit of the doubt?
• For the moment, I will leave the discussion on
  market imperfections and possible remedies to the
  other speakers in this seminar.