Economic Problems of the Institutionalizing Non-Profit Organizations as Service Providers in the Social Sphere

About the authors:

Galina M. Zabolotnaya, Dr. Sci. (Soc.), Professor, Department of State and Municipal Administration, University of Tyumen; zab-galina@yandex.ru

Andrey V. Larionov, Cand. Sci. (Jur.), Head of the Department of State and Municipal Administration, University of Tyumen; larionov_a_v@mail.ru

Abstract:

The transition from direct public administration in the social sphere to regulation and, as a result, the reduction of government organizations in this sphere involves the formation of non-governmental providers of social services, in particular — non-profit organizations (NPOs). Yet, there are a number of economic and legal factors that prevent NPOs from becoming full-fledged actors in the emerging Russian social services market.

This paper aims to analyze the factors, on which this process depends, as well as the most typical problems that NPOS face when moving to providing social services. For this reason, the authors have analyzed the official information posted on the websites of federal ministries, the State Statistics Committee, state authorities of Russian regions (Tyumen Region, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Area — Yugra), and legal acts regulating the issues of accessing socially oriented (SO) NPOs to the provision of services and their support.

The results show that the (mostly regional) institutional arrangements do not fully account for the resource potential of NPOs, which prevents them from providing the population with social services and accessing the market-oriented mechanisms for the services transfer. In addition, the vulnerability of NPOs as service providers is due to their internal institutional nature, described by L. Salamon, S. Toepler, and H. Anheier as “philanthropic particularism”, “philanthropic paternalism”, “philanthropic insufficiency”, and “philanthropic amateurism”. The empirical material shows the relevance of government support measures for Russian SO NPOs to solving these problems and adapting to the emerging intersectoral competition in the social sector.

Without the implementation of regional and municipal programs of property and economic support, as well as the development of the personnel potential, the question of full participation of SO NPOs in the professional provision of social services remains open.

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