Abstract
This chapter addresses the socioeconomic impact of the third sector in Europe. Overall, the available empirical results based on existing data remain inconclusive, mainly due to the poor quality of available data about the third sector and volunteering in Europe. Third sector impact (TSI) means direct or indirect, medium- to long-term consequences of the distinctive features of volunteering or of the third sector organizations (TSOs) on individuals or on the community, ranging from neighborhoods to society in general. Through an exhaustive review of existing empirical research, a series of domains of impact are investigated, including well-being and quality of life, innovation, civic engagement, empowerment, advocacy and community building, and human resource development. To be sure, there is evidence that political engagement increases because of volunteering. In addition, volunteers appear to have better health and a greater sense of well-being than nonvolunteers do, but it seems more likely that persons with these attributes are more likely to volunteer than that volunteering fosters health and wellbeing. Among the unemployed, volunteering improves mental health and well-being, but only when there are generous welfare benefits. Important questions about the impact of the third sector remain, however, and the chapter concludes with a call for a more systematic empirical effort to assess these impacts.
Highlights
The development of social enterprises, social investment, social finance and new philanthropy (Salamon 2014a, b; Nicholls et al 2010) has triggered an increasing focus on the measurement of the social value and social impact of the programs, operations and organizations of the third sector
Most of the scholarly literature relative to the roles and functions of TSOs is related to the evaluation of impact at the organizational level, and is primarily concerned with the service function of TSOs
We seek to fill this gap, to shift the focus of impact assessment from the organizational level to the macro-sectoral level, to the third sector as a whole, asking, “What difference does the third sector make for society?” In doing so, we focus our attention not on the service functions of the sector but on certain distinctive functions of TSOs and volunteering compared to government, corporations and households
Summary
The TSE sector has some characteristics that make it different from other parts of society consisting of corporations, the government and households. TSOs provide both goods and services, and organize expressive activities in the domains of sport, culture, arts and so on They mobilize voluntary resources—voluntary work and donations—that are more difficult to mobilize, if not impossible, for other organizational forms. Being a space of associational life, TSOs have the capacity to promote and sustain norms and values of public interests and practices of civic engagement They have the potential to organize different types of identities and interests and to play a mediating and representative role in interacting with other societal spheres such as the state, the market or the family, influencing policies and attitudes.
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