Assessing the impact of the third sector in Europe: Concepts and evidence Brussels, November 9th 2016 Karl Henrik Sivesind

Assessing the impact of the third sector in Europe: Concepts and evidence What is Third Sector Impact? Impacts analysed by the TSI-project: Individuals Society Organizations The context-dependency of third sector impact: Different Third Sector models in European regions Does the European third sector make a socio-economic impact?

What is Third Sector Impact? Activity of volunteers or third sector organizations Direct or indirect, medium to long-term consequences Effect on individuals or the community ranging from neighborhoods to society in general. Impact goes beyond and above the outcome that would have happened without the third sector activity

Impact Value Chain Input All resources (financial and human resources, products etc.), invested in the activities of an organisation. Activities Specific actions, tasks and work carried out by the organisation to achieve its objectives. Output Tangible products and services that result from the organisation’s activities that can be measured directly. Outcome Specific changes in attitudes, behaviors, knowledge, skills etc. that result from organization’s activities. Deadweight The extent to which the outcomes would have happened anyway is called ‘deadweight’ Impact The portion of the total outcome above and beyond would have happened anyway.

Impact areas 12 TSI working papers review research and present new evidence: Well-being and quality of life Innovation Civic engagement, empowerment, advocacy and community building Economic impacts Human resources impacts

Impact on individuals People that choose to volunteer may already have characteristics assumed to be possible impacts of the third sector. Problem of self-selection Marginalized groups are less likely to become involved in voluntary organizations Analysis of volunteering in 23 European countries finds positive effects on political engagement Marginalized groups may have the greatest potential for impacts: Analysis of unemployed in 32 European countries shows effect on subjective well-being and mental health

Impact on society Societies with a larger share of employment in the third sector have higher levels of social trust The third sector is an important infrastructure. Civil society contributes to social capital In the transformation of the post-communist countries, the third sector organizations have tried to expand the public sphere and promote civic liberties Success depends on previous history but also on the present political openness towards civil society

Organizational impact Analysis of impact on the organizational level is often done as a response to requirements by funders to prove the impact of specific projects. Impacts that do not affect a particular stakeholder do not come into the calculation, such as environmental impacts There is need for further development of indicators of impact, in particular related to volunteering Ready-made concepts for organizational impact measurement may not have indicators for distinctive Third Sector impacts

The context-dependency of third sector impact Different socio-political conditions can explain the main differences between country clusters: Post-communist countries: Low TS welfare employment, low levels of volunteering Southern European countries in the middle range on TS welfare employment and low on volunteering Welfare partnership countries are very high on TS welfare employment and above the middle on volunteering Scandinavian countries are high on volunteering but low on TS welfare employment Countries with high share of employment in the welfare area and large public welfare expenditures, had faster employment growth in the third sector than in the rest of the economy through the financial crisis: Welfare partnership countries

Volunteering as share of total employment and welfare costs

Does the European third sector make a socio-economic impact? Third sector impact can be detected on individual, organizational, and on societal level However, systematic reviews of research do not support unconditional and general claims about improvement of health, wellbeing, innovation, social capital, empowerment, or economic development Only by using the best available sources of data and suitable methods, can we understand under which circumstance the third sector and volunteering can have positive impacts

How to promote the Third Sector’s socio-economic impact? By improving the frame conditions of the Third Sector, it is possible to promote distinctive impacts (civil society), volunteering, and employment growth (welfare services) This is important input to policymaking in each country and on the EU level More about this in the third panel about Barriers for TSOs