Over the last few years the not for profit sector has experienced rapid growth; there are more than 300,000 organisations in Spain and each year about 10,000 associations and foundations are set up. This development, which coincides with a diversification of the areas of activity of the not for profit organisations, has been helped by a more active rôle played by the general community, financing through government funding and improved tax advantages established by law.
Also, Spanish business, following the Anglo-Saxon example, has begun to query its contribution to society and to position itself strategically using pro-active policies and social responsibility. More and more Spanish companies are directly, or in conjunction with NPOs, trying to play a more active part in society in order to ensure their own sustainability.
In spite of the growth experienced by the not for profit sector and the increasing support of business towards the general community, Spanish NPOs currently face important challenges which will require them to change the current positioning of not for profit organisations; they are:
*Cut back in European funding as from 2007-07-28
*Globalisation and concentration of economic sectors
*Consequent loss of partners
Also, Spanish business, following the Anglo-Saxon example, has begun to query its contribution to society and to position itself strategically using pro-active policies and social responsibility. More and more Spanish companies are directly, or in conjunction with NPOs, trying to play a more active part in society in order to ensure their own sustainability.
In spite of the growth experienced by the not for profit sector and the increasing support of business towards the general community, Spanish NPOs currently face important challenges which will require them to change the current positioning of not for profit organisations; they are:
*Cut back in European funding as from 2007-07-28
*Globalisation and concentration of economic sectors
*Consequent loss of partners
It is a priority to develop long-term financing plans which will tap into alternative sources of revenue. Also we must define the areas of activity of the public sector and the part to be played in the community by profit and not for profit organisations.
Spacexchange These topics seem to be well described and documented on the Spacexchange, website, which is a site given over to information, investigation and exchange of views aimed at not profit organisations and anyone who would like to help them become more professional. Spacexchange is a SIGMA initiative, a consultancy specialising in not for profit organisations and which last May organised the first IESE-SIGMA meeting on Strategy for obtaining resources, precisely to discuss these issues.
Iwith.org took part in this meeting and at the same time came to an agreement with SIGMA on collaboration. We also took part in the survey that IESE carried out to find out how not for profit organisations were placed as regards getting hold of funds.
Outcome of the meeting
40 chief executives, directors and executives of NPOs took the opportunity to share experiences and learn about fresh new ideas for broadening the net for gathering resources. Also, at the meeting we presented the study Getting rid of the deadweight of dependency: towards a strategy of sustainability. 201 Spanish organisations took part in this study, 46.7% from the “social” sector, 26.4% from the business sector, 22.3% to do with education/culture and 4.6% with the environment.
The study shows the high dependency that the not for profit organizations have on government funding and their difficulty in attracting sufficient resources to ensure their future development within a changing environment where everyday more organizations are competing for a share of public money. In practice, the study shows, 30.8% of not for profit organizations have an annual budget of less than 100,000 and only 10% of their workers are full time, 88% being volunteers.
The success of this first meeting has encouraged the organisers to propose a second one which will probably again take place in IESE in 2008 when the business school celebrates its 50th. anniversary.
Related Information of Interest
• The programme for the 7th. Fundraising Congress in which Iwith.org is taking part, is now ready
We remind you that the Seventh Fundraising Congress takes place on 17th. and 18th. September in the offices of ICAI-ICADE of Madrid. Iwith.org will be leading the workshop: “The Internet and transparency…..
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10/07/2007
