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Description
The predefined project is a study with the aim to measure and highlight the contribution of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to the Greek economy at national and local level.
The evaluation of the civil society contribution involves the evaluation of the direct and indirect contribution in terms of GDP, employment and fiscal revenues, the evaluation of the financial value of public benefit goods and services provided by CSOs towards the state and society. Also the evaluation of the financial value of volunteerism and also the measurement/comparison of the cost of those goods and services when provided by the state and the CSOs.
Summary of project results
The Predifined Project 2 entitled "Study on the contribution of Civil Society to the Greek economy" aimed at measuring and highlighting the contribution of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to the Greek economy at national and local level. The assessment was carried out through a large-scale survey in collaboration with Datapower S.A. and the implementation of appropriate economic models. The project scope also included the assessment of the economic value of volunteering in Greece and the comparison of the cost of the goods and services provided by CSOs in relation to a government service.
The first year of implementation involved the research methodology and the website dedicated to the project was developed. The second quarter involved the implementation of the research both the opinion poll and the field research to CSOs. An opinion poll was organised based on the fact that the strength and importance of CSOs is the people''s perception of their work. The poll took place between May-June 2022. As part of the study, field research was carried out in CSOs. The purpose of the survey of the organisations was to capture key characteristics of the organisations (category, number of employees, beneficiaries) and to gather structural data for the estimation of their economic contribution, the value of volunteering, and the cost for the State under the hypothetical case that supplies the services providing now by the CSOs. The field research was concluded in September 2022. Through this process, an extended study, an executive summary and an infographic was produced both in Greek and in English with particularly interesting results.
In order to present the research and the particularly interesting results, a high-profile dissemination event took place on the 23rd of February last week, with approximately 180 attendees representing civil society organisation as well as public and academic institutions. The event was co -hosted with the Norwegian embassy. The Norwegian ambassador as well as the president of the Foundation gave the opening remarks, then the research findings and methodology was presented by IOBE and two guest speakers were also invited to give a European and Norwegian perspective. Specifically, Ms. Alexandrina Najmowich, Secretary General of the European Civic Forum presented (via zoom) the european perspective on how to foster civil society and gave examples of other eu countries and also Mr. Aage Borchgrevink, Senior Adivsor of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee talked about how civil society contributes to public trust in Norway. The event was recorded and is available to the Bodossaki Foundation platform BLOD.
The online website of the project was also officially launched. The website contains all the data as well as the executive summary and the full study and they are all available for anyone that wish to proceed with further research.
The study found that the activities of the CSOs offer significant support to the national economy. They support, directly or indirectly, the production of 1.6% of the country’s GDP and contribute with 1.9% of the employment in the country. In absolute terms, the contribution of the CSOs for 2021 is estimated at €3.0 billion in terms of GDP and at 88,400 jobs in employment terms. These figures do not include the economic value of volunteering, estimated at €357 million in 2021, which corresponds to about 0.2% of the country’s GDP.
In the hypothetical case that the services offered by the CSOs in Greece are provided by the State, their cost for 2021 is estimated in the range of €2.1-€3.2 billion. The size of activity of the CSOs depends crucially on public acceptance and support. In a primary survey of 2,000 people carried out for this study, 45.5% of the respondents stated that they had financially supported an organisation in the past 12 months.. The percentage of respondents who do not contribute to the organisations because they do not trust that their donation will be well managed is also relatively high (20.2% of valid responses).
Compared with other countries, based on international surveys compiled using a common methodology, Greece is placed relatively low in rankings based on donations and public trust in charities. In particular, Greece ranks in the penultimate place (125th) based on the CAF World Giving Index for the period 2009-2019. Correspondingly, it ranks 34th out of 50 countries with available data in the World Value Survey based on positive answers to the question of whether the survey respondents have donated to an organisation or a political campaign. Lastly, Greece ranks 37th out of 54 countries based on the percentage of people who said they trust charitable organisations.