In this paper the author will define “Civil Society” and provide an in‐depth view of the reality of civil society within some countries in Latin America. The objective of the paper is to understand civil society organizations and take a closer look at their context to see if developing a Graduate program within those countries might help to strengthen them individually and as a sector and as a consequence to improve the social‐political‐economical impact they are addressing.
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INDEX
INTRODUCTION 3
CIVIL SOCIETY HISTORICAL CONTEXT 4
NONPROFIT, NONGOVERNMENTAL AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS 6
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS HISTORICAL AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 7
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS IN UNITED NATIONS, AN EXAMPLE OF THE COMPLEX REALITY 15
CIVIL SOCIETY IN LATIN AMERICA 17
1. Chile 19
2. Peru 21
3. Mexico 24
4. Colombia 26
5. Brazil 29
6. Argentina 30
THE NEED TO PROFESSIONALIZE THE CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS IN LATIN AMERICA 32
• The experience of public policy & administration degrees 32
• The experience of noncredit/degree‐seeking studies 34
• The possibility of civil society organization graduate study in Latin America 35
JESUIT UNIVERSITIES MISSION 37
BIBLIOGRAPHY 40
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CIVIL SOCIETY HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Citizens who are individually powerless
do not very clearly anticipate the strength
that they may acquire by uniting together
Alexis de Tocqueville (1840)
In the last thousands of years, and possibly before, human kind has developed itself as the most
complex specie on the earth. Its complexity is not only biological but also in the way it has
organized itself for along time. Between getting their needs fulfilled ‐for survival‐ and organizing as
a community many leaders, philosophers, politicians, writers, communities, governments have
looked for the best answer and are still looking for that answer.
Along our history, in specific moments, different communities have established as a better
solution to their organization that “strong” governments should make decisions and dictate what
should be done in their societies including economic decisions. Some communities tried to
establish that complete freedom of production without government intervention in the
economical aspects of the community would balance the concentration of power that government
had and as a consequence equality would come to every human being. Hundreds of books have
been written and hundreds of years have passed. Millions of people have lived the consequences
of these ideas and we still are looking for an answer.
We can look back to the origins of our occidental culture in the Ancient Greece with the
philosophy of Plato and Aristotle and see some of the citizen definitions we will arrive hundreds of
years later. We can review the Medieval Age and see how monarchies developed a firm repulsion
of the belief that some men are semi gods and find the reasons why we have come to the
conclusion that democracy might be a good way of organizing ourselves Liberté, Égalité,
Fraternité; three words that in an historic moment changed the organizing patterns of a country
and took history in to a different path, a path that brought the establishment of modern states,
and with them, the beginning of our actual way of organizing, the beginning of our actual culture
(Anaya, 2007); understanding by culture what Bernard Lonergan has defined in his Theology
Method: “a set of meanings and values that inform a collective style of life, and there are as many
cultures as different sets of meanings and values” (Lonergan, 2001, p. 292)
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Cultures all over the world have been experiencing this history and each of those countries started
testing and taking decisions from their experiences until we arrived in the last century to a
confrontation of two different conceptions of how things should be done; two different visions:
socialism and capitalism represented by the Soviet Union and the United States. The differences
were sustained for several years in the called “Cold War” as capitalism and socialism confronted
each other and started different actions that tried to impose ideological influence through
economical, political or military support (Kort, 2001). Those conflicts rely on the ideological
proposal of prioritize the Government over the Free market or vice versa as if they were different
sectors within our society. (Gadis, 1990)
This is how we arrive to the definition of two sectors in our society; two sectors that should
complement themselves but in their struggle for more power and control over the decisions they
ended many times in confrontation. In some, governments balance has been acquired, in others
one sector rules over the other. The first sector is normally understood as the government: the
most basic agreements that we, in our actual context, assume since we are born. It is normally
represented by the constitutions of a country and it establishes the rights and duties of the
members of that community. All members are supposed to be equal and are considered citizens.
They are free to decide upon their lives as long as they respect others’ lives, the constitutions and
laws. In democratic governments anyone can associate within themselves and develop groups that
look forward to represent themselves and their interests and eventually they might become
political parties. Members also develop groups that are more focused to provide goods and
services to the community looking for a profit and they look for complete freedom on their actions
as long as they get profit and provide goods and services developing as a consequence the
“second sector” that is normally understood as the economical or the “market”. (O’Donnell, 2000)
In United States historical context, both sectors were clear in their development and purposes as
we can see in the Federalist Papers and specifically in James Madison’s paper (1787) about The
Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection. At the same time we can see the
testimony from Alexis de Tocqueville that talks about the “immense assemblage of associations”
(Tocqueville, 1840); he was impressed about how the American people associate not only to make
commerce and manufacture goods –for profit focused– but also to entertain, to build inns, to
diffuse books, to found hospitals, prisons and schools and to succeed in proposing a common
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object and to induce themselves voluntarily to pursue it. Many analysts define this as the very
origin of the nonprofit or independent Sector in the United States. This is the kind of organizations
that cannot be defined neither government or private (e.g., like business). From this historical
point of view and considering the society as sectors this could be defined then as the Third Sector
meaning a different type of organization with a different objective or nature. In the next lines we
will go deep into the definition of this term.
NONPROFIT, NONGOVERNMENTAL AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS
In democratic countries
the science of association is the mother of science;
the progress of all the rest depends
upon the progress it has made.
Alexis de Tocqueville
One of the most important things de Tocqueville observed in his visits to the United States was
that in democratic nations, where citizens are independent, they “can do hardly anything by
themselves… therefore, become powerless if they do not learn voluntary to help one another”, they
realize that they depend one upon another. A second very important note is that “if they never
acquired the habit of forming associations in ordinary life, civilization itself would be endangered”
(Tocqueville, 1840) this will take to the conclusion that associations are the very schools of
democracy and the mother of action, studied and applied by all.
All over the world and along the history of humankind, several men and women have worked as a
community rather than only for themselves. De Tocqueville testimonies, religion books, cave
paintings and ancient Greece philosophers, among others, show how men historically have been
“invited” to go beyond the personal benefit of an action. During our history there are many
examples of people: “dedicating their lives to work for others without expecting a personal
benefit”; as an example we have the different historical religious groups as the “prophets”, within
the Catholic Church we have the Dominicans, Franciscans and the Jesuits. Even that some of those
groups are faith‐related, several of them are not, such as the Scouts, Green Peace, Medics Without
Borders, Amnesty International, Oxfam and thousands of groups in local communities all over the
world. These kinds of organizations might have existed for thousands of years but they are now
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legally known in the US as Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs) and they rely on the U.S. Internal
Revenue Service’s 501 (c) 3 y/tax exempt legal status.
From a different stand point the sociologist Jeffrey Alexander (1994), retaking the tradition of
Locke, Ferguson, Smith and de Tocqueville has defined Civil Society as “the arena where social
solidarity is defined in universalistic terms. It is the “we” from a national community… the feeling of
connection towards each member of the community, that goes beyond the private compromises,
near loyalties and segment interests” and considers it as a collective consciousness recovering the
idea of community within the society in a complete opposition of the capitalism idea that tried to
eliminate the social links and understood citizens as individualistic selfish consumers. (Cancino &
Ortiz, 1997)
Complementing Alexander’s definition, we can consider Cohen and Arato’s overview that,
following Jürgen Habermas tradition, rebuilt Civil Society with the impulse of the “new” social
movements and the “discursive ethic.” They consider Civil Society as part of the public sphere and
as an autonomous arena from the liberal market and as a place that criticizes the established
order within society and, in the name of inclusion, pushes towards equal economical ends. (Cohen
& Arato, 1994) The supposed autonomy from government and the market makes one consider
Civil Society as a “Third Sector.” It shouldn’t be forgotten that they also consider the solidarity as a
key factor and the social movements as the greatest expression of it in accordance with the Italian
sociologist Alberto Melucci.
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS HISTORICAL AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
In the next part of the paper the research will show the different perspectives and from different
authors the historical and international development the civil society has shown in the last four
decades. In order to manage some statistics we will specifically consider these kinds of
organizations with the five characteristics established by Salamon and Anheier (1997):
1. Organized
2. Private
3. Self – Governing
4. Non – Profit distributing
5. Voluntary
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organizations that are present in two countries numbers might be considerably superior. It is
impressive how they have developed during the last 40 years and the economic weight and
political importance they have achieved as a consequence. We can also see in figure 2 the
composition of Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) Aid to Developing Countries and how the
official grants started going down in the nineties and how private donations have increased
considerably towards those countries.
Figure 3. Growth in INGO Membership, 1990 – 2000, by Region (Union of International Associations, 1990,
2000)
Analyzing Figures 3 and 4 we realize the growth by region and by country income group
respectively. We can see how the Central and Eastern Europe had an important growth from 1990
to 2000 of more than 300%, followed by East Asia and Pacific and having a world final growth of
more than 60%. It is important also to consider the same period by the Income Group. We see that
the Middle Income groups including East Asia, central and eastern Europe and specifically Latin
America had a little less than 100% increase followed by the low income countries and leaving in
the last place the high income countries.
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Figure 4. Growth in INGO Membership, 1990 – 2000 by Country Income Group (Union of International
associations 1990, 2000)
Peter Dobkin Hall realized that over 90 percent of NPOs as we know them now, were created since
1950 (Hall, 2005) and that worldwide most NGOs have come to being even later in time becoming
the most rapidly growing types of organizations globally. Several academics explain this as:
• an answer to the crisis of the political parties in the modern democracies that are having
serious difficulties representing social interests
• a redefinition on the role of the state and modern societies with the emerging of new
actors and social movements
• a lack of efficiency in the government traditional procedures and the extension of
corruption among most of them all over the world.
The crisis of the welfare states and the fall of the communist countries have been other important
factors that have contributed to this growth. (Gellner, 1996)
Helmut K. Anheier and Nuno Themudo (2005) have also studied this phenomenon and considering
the established characteristics considered by Salamon, they arrive to some important conclusions
about the factors that have been favoring internationalization of these entities. One of them is the
political environment that considers them as agents of development. They are considered:
• more effective
• flexible
• more innovative than any government
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• a counterpart balancing the state power
• bring pluralism
• democratization actor
• promote social change
• address inequalities of power even in relation with the market and government
• supportive of social movements
In this context Michael Edwards has suggested the sector as the “magic bullet” (Edwards & Hulme,
1995) or as the “big idea on everyone’s lips” (2004) because it seems to bring together thinkers
from left and right as a solution to any problem of the society, finding balance between an
authoritarian state or the tyrannical market.
Figure 6. Civil Society organization employment in context, 35 countries (Salamon, L. M., Sokolowski, S.W., &
List R., 2003)
Lester Salamon, (2003) from the Johns Hopkins University, developed a very important research of
35 countries divided in three economical levels: 16 advanced industrial, 14 developing countries
and 5 transitional countries from central and eastern Europe. The amazing results attended only to
those 35 countries that lead to think Civil Society is an even broader reality. There were three
important considerations that are pertinent to this research:
15
• Paid vs. volunteer workforce. Of the 39.5 million FTE civil society workers,
approximately 16.8 million, or 43 percent, are volunteers and 22.7 million, or
57 percent, are paid workers (Figure 2).17 This demonstrates the ability of civil
society organizations to mobilize sizable amounts of volunteer effort. In fact,
the actual number of people involved in the civil society sector exceeds even
these numbers since most volunteers work only a few hours a week and even
many paid employees work part-time. The actual number of people volunteer-
ing for civil society organizations in these 35 countries, for example, exceeds
190 million. This represents over 20 percent of the adult population in these countries.
2. Great variations among countries
While the civil society sector is a sizable force in a wide range of countries, there
are considerable differences among countries.
• Overall variation. In the first place, countries vary greatly in the overall scale
of their civil society workforce. Thus, as Figure 3 makes clear, the civil society
sector workforce—volunteer and paid—varies from a high of 14 percent of the
economically active population in the Netherlands to a low of 0.4 percent in
Mexico.18
40
4 4
8
33
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Civil Society
Organizations
Utilities Textile Industry Food
Manufacturing
Transportation/
Communications
Numberofemployees(millions)
Figure 1 Civil society organization employment in context, 35 countries
Source: Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project
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1. Civil Society is a major economic force
Civil Society is a $1.3 trillion industry and manages a greater Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than
countries as Italy, Brazil, Russia, Spain or Canada. It would be considered the world’s seventh
largest economy with a total workforce of 39.5 million full‐time equivalent workers and 190
million people volunteering
2. Civil Society has great variations among countries
The figure 5 we analyzed show the difference between developed countries and developing ones
where developed is three times bigger in the workforce. In the volunteering level differences are
deeper from an under 10% in Egypt to a high 75% in Sweden.
3. Civil Society is more than service provider
Civil Society is not only a service provider but also a multi function role; they are a way of social
expression of the needs, they innovate in areas where neither government nor market does,
deliver services with an extraordinary quality and specially serve those in greatest need. Over 40%
of the workforce of the Civil Society is engaged with education and Social services.
Figure 7. Distribution of Civil Society sector workforce, by field and type of activity (Salamon, et al., 2003)
23
in empowerment activities along with some portion of the workers in other serv-
ice fields.
• Volunteer and paid staff roles differ markedly. Volunteers and paid staff play
markedly different roles in the operation of the civil society sector internationally.
- In the first place, although both volunteers and paid staff are primarily
Culture
19%
Development
8%Health
14%
Social Svcs
19%
Education
23%
Professional
7%
Civic /
Advocacy
4%
Environment
2%
Foundations
1%
International
1%
Other
2%
Service fields (64%)
Expressive fields (32%)
* 32-country unweighted averages.
Figure 6 Distribution of civil society sector workforce, by field and type of
activity*
Source: Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project
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Figure 8. Distribution of Civil Society Organization paid and volunteer workforce (Salamon, et al., 2003)
Many people believe that the most important source of income is philanthropy but it is not. The
study showed that fees are 53% of the income and governments are the second largest
contributors with a 35%, leaving only a 12%
to philanthropy.
The growth the sector has showed and the
characteristics of the socio‐cultural context
from the development make us consider
the challenges for these organizations in the
immediate and long term challenges:
1. Professionalization
2. Internationalization
3. Remain accountable
of all volunteer effort is devoted to organizations providing social services,
and 10 percent to organizations primarily engaged in development. The
comparable figures for paid staff are 18 percent and 7 percent, respectively.
In fact, nearly half of all the work effort in these two fields is supplied by
volunteers. Volunteers thus play an especially important role not only in
maintaining the nonprofit sector’s advocacy functions, but also in helping it
maintain its long-standing commitment to social justice and development.
2%
1%
3%
42%
3%
7%
6%
25%
52%
10%
8%
27%
8%
1%
1%
2%
24%
2%
3%
7%
13%
72%
7%
17%
18%
30%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Foundations
International
Other
Total expressive
Environment
Civic / Advocacy
Professional
Culture
Total service
Development
Health
Social Svcs
Education
Percent of total
Paid staff
Volunteers
Service fields
Expressive fields
Other
* 32-country unweighted averages.
Figure 7 Distribution of civil society organization paid and volunteer
workforce, by field*
Source: Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project
Figure 9. Distribution of Civil Society Organization paid
and volunteer workforce (Salamon, et al., 2003)
29
income is not fees and charges but public sector support. In the case of
health organizations, government alone provides over half of the funds.
Among social service organizations, government accounts for 44 percent of
the funding, fees for 37 percent, and private philanthropy for 19 percent.
Philanthropy
12%
Government
35%
Fees
53%
* 32-country unweighted averages.
Figure 9 Sources of civil society organization revenue*
Source: Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project
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4. To be effective in specific national frameworks
5. Keep the tension between effective decision making and democratic life and participation
(keep the sense of schools of democracy)
6. Keep the core mission and solidarity sense
7. Keep legitimacy
8. Keep government and market accountable
9. Keep generating the economical, social and cultural impact
10. Ensure technology as a key tool
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS IN UNITED NATIONS, AN EXAMPLE OF THE COMPLEX REALITY
In trying to understand the definition of Civil Society and how it is applied in international
organizations it was important to look the United Nations (UN) as an important place where
several interesting ideas have surfaced. The research has shown that in June of 2004 the Secretary
General of the United Nations Kofi A. Annan presented to the General Assembly a report that
intended to strengthen Civil Society in the United Nations system. The report1
was specifically
about the relations between the United Nations and the “Civil Society”. This report was made by
twelve eminent persons from all over the world and tried to reflect how these organizations
participate in the UN deliberations and processes and tried “to identify ways of making it easier for
civil society actors from developing countries to participate fully in United Nations activities; and to
review how the Secretariat is organized to facilitate, manage and evaluate the relationships of the
United Nations with civil society and to learn from experience gained in different parts of the
system” (Annan, 2004)
The UN has now four important instances and one is suspended:
1. General Assembly
2. Security Counsel
3. Economical and Social Council
4. International Court of Justice
5. Trusteeship Council (will meet when required)
1
Known as “Cardoso Report” for Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the former president of Brazil in 2003 who chaired the
report
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4. The system should not be subject to any fundamental restructuring through adoption of
functionalist or neocorporatist ideas.
5. It would benefit from a variety of reforms to strengthen democratic pluralism and increase
the density of interactions in global civil society” (Willetts,2006, p. 16)
These conclusions agree with some of the ideas of the present research about as a democratic
entities, the need for support for a more important impact, the needed development of the sector
in developing countries and finally how they allow to bring a deeper social, economical and
political development.
In the next section of the research we will address some specific countries in Latin America and
will consider national statistics of the sector in order to find possible paths we need to take in
order to address the needs of the sector.
CIVIL SOCIETY IN LATIN AMERICA
When democracy is
deteriorated and weakened
it is displaced by oligarchy
Aristotle (1997)
After reviewing the global context of Civil Society and discussing its reality in the UN, the next step
in the research is to deeply understand the Civil Society and its context in some of the countries in
Latin America in order to know their strengths, weaknesses and the possible paths to follow for
strengthening the sector and as a consequence strengthening the democracy in each one of those
countries and the region as a whole. The main source of information was the Johns Hopkins
Comparative Nonprofit Project developed by the Center for Civil Society Studies from Baltimore,
Maryland. Three reasons were considered in order to choose the source of information:
• It is the most recent source of information even though it is ten years old
• It is the only research of the sector with a common ground and methodology
• Most of the countries in the region do not have any viable source of information
Most of the countries in Latin America are considered in an economic developing situation and
consolidating their democracy systems. The US and the European Union (EU), as we have seen
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before in Figure 2, have developed several projects in those countries and most of the
International NGOs (INGOs) have dramatically increased donations. Figure 3 showed how the
INGOs have increased by approximately 50% in Latin America and Caribbean and in Figure 4 we
realized how the countries with a middle income increased the number of associations
approaching 100% growth. Latin American Civil Society accomplishes most of the conditions for
having a noticeably increase in its development. How can we address this expansion? What are
the most impacting actions that will increase its effectiveness?
We will analyze Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru as the most significant
examples of the region and will consider
• their economic impact
• the workforce they represent in comparison with private or government areas
• and its’ source of income with a comparison with the region and other countries.
The reality these organizations function in takes into consideration that poverty reaches almost
50% of the population ‐meaning 211 million of people‐ and around 20% are indigenous, (CEPAL,
2001)2
It is a fact that these conditions have increased but also the civil society sector has.
Figure 10. Poverty and extreme poverty population in Latin America (CEPAL, 2001)
2
These data is from the same years of the CIVIL SOCIETY table we will analyze.
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1. CHILE
Nonprofit organizations in Chile represent an important workforce in the country. They almost
reach the 5% of the economically active population and it is the relatively bigger representative in
Latin America. They have a largermayor force than Spain, as a sector, and it’s the first
development country on the list of the study applied to 36 countries by the Johns Hopkins
Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project in 2004 (Irarrazaval, et al., 2004).
Figure 11. Nonprofit Organizations in Chile (Irarrazaval, et al., 2004)
The nonprofit sector represents six times the force of Cencosud, the largest private
entrepreneurial group in the country, with 304,000 employees as we can see in the figures 11 and
12. These numbers consider the volunteers that represent 47% of the total workforce. It is the
major volunteer force in Latin America that reaches 32% as we can see in the figure 13. Two thirds
of the workforce is concentrated in four areas: education, health, social services and community
development. Referring to the distribution of the income it is important to consider that 44% of
the total income belongs to Education institutions and referring to the volunteer work there are
three issues that depend mostly on volunteer work: culture, community development and
environmental institutions due to 75% of the work is done by volunteers.
Figure 12. Total Employment in NPOs in context (Irarrázaval, et al., 2004)
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Figure 13. Volunteer as share of NPOs total employment (Irarrázaval, et al., 2004)
The development of the sector and the size of it might also be explained because, difference from
the rest of the Latin American countries, Chile reaches 46% of income from the government
sharing this statistic with the European countries (see figure 14 and 15). This income from
government is mainly focused on educational institutions. This characteristic has given an impulse
to the sector but at the same time is starting to be “captured” by the state becoming only a service
provider and giving the possibility of loosing their missions. A well defined legal status is needed
and a clear difference between the organizations that provide services to the state and the
independent ones will be a key issue to solve in the future.
An important challenge in Chile is to
find different paths to keep and
increase the volunteer force it has
achieved until now, especially
considering that volunteers currently
demand a more professional
distribution of their time, and
achievements in order to be more
effective and valuable. At the same
time the organization’s expectations
from volunteers are a continuous and more systematic approach that implies a better distribution
of the functions inside the organization and a more professionalized management of those
resources.
Figure 14. Sources of Civil Society Organization revenue in
Chile (Irarrázaval, et al., 2004)
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the sector because the invasion of the catholic church that developed different social activities,
the mutual aid societies and especially to the “Sociedades de beneficiencia” promoted by the
upper classes during the 19th
century that currently has been acquired by the formation of
corporate foundations (Sanborn et al., 1999)
Figure 17. Peruan nonprofit sector with and without volunteers as percentage of… (Sanborn, et al., 1995)
The distribution of the employment is very similar to Chile: 75% of nonprofit employment is on the
education area and near 15% is located in the development area, followed by health and culture
with a 4% as we can see in figure 17.
It has the largest sector in
development and education in Latin
America and the rest of the studied
countries. The education number is
explained because all the primary
education institutions in the country
that had to be under the nonprofit
status and the development ones
that might be supported in an
important way by the Catholic
Church that looked for many years to
increase community development
and organizing.
· Contribución de los voluntarios. Aun así, estos datos no reflejan
por sí solos toda la extensión del sector no lucrativo del
Perú, ya que también atrae un importante volumen de trabajo
voluntario.Las 49.430 organizaciones analizadas en el presente
estudio también emplean a 26.400 voluntarios EJC,aproxima-
damente. Esta cifra aumenta el número total de empleados
del sector a más de 150.000, o casi el 3% del total de empleo
del país (véase la figura XXIII.1).
Además, otra información recopilada por el equipo de inves-
tigación que no es directamente comparable con los datos de
ámbito nacional utilizados previamente, sugiere que el núme-
FIGURA XXIII.1
El sector no lucrativo peruano, con y sin voluntarios,
1995, como porcentaje de...
16,5%
3,2%
2,4%
2,0%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
2,0%
2,9%
3,9%
20,0%
PIB
Empleo total*
Empleo sector
servicios
Empleo sector
público
* No agrario
Empleados remunerados
Voluntarios
Figure 18. Nonprofit sector composition in comparison with
Latin America and 22 other countries (Sanborn, et al., 1999) · Notable cuota de empleo en el área de desarrollo. La siguiente
mayor cuota de empleo no lucrativo en el Perú la absorbe el
área de desarrollo, constituyendo el 14,5% del empleo del
sector no lucrativo, el doble de promedio que los países lati-
noamericanos (7,0%) y más del doble que en los 22 países
aquí analizados (5,8%) 7. Esta área está ampliamente poblada
por las denominadas organizaciones no gubernamentales
(ONGs), que facilitan financiación y formación a las activida-
des de desarrollo de base comunitaria.
544 La sociedad civil global: Las dimensiones del sector no lucrativo
FIGURA XXIII.4
Composición del sector no lucrativo, Perú,
Latinoamérica, y promedio de los 22 países, 1995
30,2%
19,6%
18,3%
14,4%
6,5%
5,8%
3,1%
2,2%
44,4%
12,2%
10,3%
10,6%
12,4%
7,0%
1,2%
1,9%
74,5%
4,2%
1,2%
4,0%
14,5%
1,4%
0,1%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
0,0%
Otras áreas
Medio ambiente/
asesoramiento legal
Desarrollo
Asociaciones profesionales
Cultura
Servicios sociales
Sanidad
Educación
% de empleo no lucrativo
Perú
Promedio Latinoamérica
Promedio de los 22 países
7 Si se incluye el empleo remunerado en las fundaciones y las asociaciones profe-
sionales, la cuota correspondiente al área de desarrollo es del 13,8%. Esta cifra si-
23. The Civil Society in Latin‐American reality: a possible path for strengthening the sector from the Jesuit Universities
Regis University ‐ Master in Nonprofit Management Page 23
Peru’s income sources are completely different than
Chile. As we can see in figure 18, Peru’s major source of
income is the fee for services reaching a 67.8% of the
total income. Public funding is the second source with a
19.3% and philanthropy has a 12.9% and even that these
two are lower in the country they represent a higher
percentage in comparison to Latin‐American countries or
the studied countries as we can see in figure 19.
It is evident that the government income all over Latin America is very low especially in
comparison to the other 22 countries that reach a 40% of income.
It is important to notice that the international aid reaches a total of 20% of the total income
bringing down the national government and the national philanthropy income to 6.2% and 5.9%
respectively. This international aid is mainly focused to environmental, development and housing
and to the defense of civil rights. These organizations depend completely of this income to
continue their job.
It is well known that the sector
needs recognition from
academics, politics and the
general public. It is a sector that
needs to build bridges for
developing research and
collaborations with other
actors. A key factor to develop
is a clear law and fiscal rules
that enable the sector to make
private philanthropy to grow
and the government support to be activated. Volunteerism is another issue to consider bringing
more professional and material resources to the organizations. The growth of the sector won’t be
possible if the sector does not develop actors that might lead the sector in to this path.
Figure 20. Income sources in Nonprofit sector from Peru, Latin
America and 22 other countries (Sanborn, et al., 1999)
bastante considerable. Así, como se indica en la figu-
ra XXIII.8,aunque las cuotas y los pagos por servicios son el
elemento predominante de la base financiera del sector no
lucrativo en términos globales, su predominio está conside-
rablemente menos acentuado que en el Perú (67,8% del to-
tal de los ingresos en el Perú frente al 49,4% en términos
globales). Por el contrario, los pagos procedentes del sector
público generalmente constituyen una cuota de ingresos
considerablemente mayor en estos otros países (40,1%
frente al 19,3% en el Perú).
· Importante financiación procedente de fuentes internacionales. La
ayuda internacional constituye una notable fuente de financia-
ción del sector no lucrativo en el Perú, contribuyendo con el
550 La sociedad civil global: Las dimensiones del sector no lucrativo
FIGURA XXIII.8
Fuentes de ingresos en efectivo del sector no
lucrativo, Perú, Latinoamérica, y promedio de los 22
países, 1995
19,3%
12,9%
67,8%
15,5%
10,4%
74,0%
40,1%
10,5%
49,4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Sector público Filantropía Cuotas
Perú
Promedio Latinoamérica
Promedio de los 22 países
Figure 19. Income sources in Nonprofit
sector from Peru (Sanborn, et al., 1999)
madamente dos terceras partes, o el 67,8%, del total de los
ingresos del sector no lucrativo en el Perú.
· Limitada financiación procedente de la filantropía y del sector pú-
blico. Por el contrario, la financiación procedente de la filan-
tropía privada y del sector público (nacional e internacional)
FIGURA XXIII.6
Fuentes de ingresos del sector no lucrativo en el
Perú, 1995
Cuotas, pagos
por servicios
67,8%
Sector público
19,3%
Filantropía
12,9%
24. The Civil Society in Latin‐American reality: a possible path for strengthening the sector from the Jesuit Universities
Regis University ‐ Master in Nonprofit Management Page 24
3. MEXICO
Historically, the nonprofit sector in Mexico has had difficulties to develop itself because of the
political environment. The 20th
century, the most important for the sector, was marked by a one
Government party that didn’t develop laws or incentives for the sector. The research done by
Verduzco, List & Salamon (1999) affirms
that it is the least developed sector in
Latin America and all the 22 studied
countries. It does not represent an
important economical force having only
the .5% of the GDP and 93,809 paid
employees.
Mexico was below the Latin‐American
average of employment not even reaching
one fifth.
The historic context of the sector and its
link to the Catholic Church determined its
development. Mexico shares a similar
history with Peru, Chile, Colombia and all
the Central American countries but in
Mexico in 1821 the state took all the
possessions of the church and the Church never
developed autonomous organizations giving an
important damage to the sector. Later at the
beginning of the 20th
century the state had a very
important development and provided all the services
and discouraged the attempts of having autonomous
associations. At the end of the century other political
parties started to gain the lower and upper cameras
and change started to bring an important numbers
of associations.
Figure 22. Mexican nonprofit sector with and without
volunteers as percentage of… (Verduzco, et al., 1999) 2. El sector no lucrativo más reducido de
Latinoamérica
El sector no lucrativo mexicano no sólo es reducido en rela-
ción con su economía global, sino también en comparación con
sus homólogos en Latinoamérica y en el resto del mundo.
· Significativamente por debajo de la media internacional.Como se
observa en la figura XXII.2, el tamaño relativo del sector no
lucrativo varía ampliamente entre países, siendo la media glo-
bal de los 22 países incluidos en el estudio el 4,8%. Por tanto,
con una cuota de empleo del 0,4%,el sector no lucrativo me-
xicano no sólo se situaba muy por debajo del promedio glo-
bal,sino que en 1995 constituía el sector no lucrativo más re-
ducido de los 22 países incluidos en este estudio.
· Considerablemente por debajo de la media de los países de Lati-
noamérica. El empleo no lucrativo como porcentaje del total
de empleo es también considerablemente menor en México
que en el resto de los países de Latinoamérica analizados en
el presente estudio. Así, como se indica en la figura XXII.3, el
empleo EJC en las organizaciones no lucrativas de México,
con un 0,4% del total de empleo, constituye una cifra inferior
a la quinta parte del promedio de los países de Latinoamérica
(2,2%).
520 La sociedad civil global: Las dimensiones del sector no lucrativo
FIGURA XXII.1
El sector no lucrativo mexicano, con y sin voluntarios,
1995, como porcentaje de...
2,4%
1,2%
0,4%
0,5%
0% 1% 2% 3% 4%
0,5%
0,7%
1,8%
3,6%
PIB
Empleo total*
Empleo sector
servicios
Empleo sector
público
* No agrario
Empleados remunerados
Voluntarios
Figure 21. Nonprofit Sector in Mexico , 1995 (Verduzco, et
al., 1999)
llones de dólares (8.800 millones de pesos mexicanos), o el
0,5% del producto interior bruto del país, una cantidad bas-
tante reducida 3.
· Una modesta fuente de empleo. Detrás de estos gastos se en-
cuentra una fuerza laboral que incluye a 93.809 empleados
asalariados equivalentes a jornada completa (EJC). Esta cifra
constituye el 0,4% del total de trabajadores no agrícolas del
país,el 1,2% del empleo en el sector servicios y el equivalente
al 2,4% del personal empleado por el Estado en todos los ám-
bitos: federal, estatal y municipal (véase el cuadro XXII.1).
· Contribución de los voluntarios. Aun así, no queda reflejada toda
la extensión del sector no lucrativo en México, ya que tam-
bién atrae un importante volumen de trabajo voluntario. De
hecho,un 10% de la población mexicana manifiesta contribuir
con parte de su tiempo con las organizaciones no lucrativas.
Ello se traduce en un mínimo de 47.000 empleados EJC adi-
cionales 4, lo cual aumenta el número total de empleados EJC
de las organizaciones no lucrativas en México a 141.000, un
incremento de más del 50%,o el 0,7% del total de empleo del
país (véase la figura XXII.1).
CUADRO XXII.1
El sector no lucrativo en México, 1995
1.300 millones de dólares en gastos
— 0,5% del PIB
93.809 empleados remunerados
— 0,4% del total de empleo no agrícola
— 1,2% del empleo en el sector servicios
— 2,4% del empleo en el sector público
3 Técnicamente, la comparación más exacta es la que se establece entre la contri-
bución del sector al valor añadido y el producto interior bruto. Para el sector no lu-
crativo, valor añadido en términos económicos es, básicamente, igual a la suma de
los salarios y al valor imputado del tiempo aportado por los voluntarios. Sobre esta
base, el sector no lucrativo en México constituye el 0,3% del total del valor aña-
dido.
4 Dado que el equipo de investigación mexicano no ha podido realizar una encues-
ta de población sobre las donaciones y las actividades del voluntariado, y ha utiliza-
do el empleo no remunerado como variable sustitutiva, es muy probable que los
datos sobre el voluntariado no estén reflejados en toda su extensión.
Figure 23. Income sources in Nonprofit
sector from Mexico (Verduzco, et al., 1999)
lucrativas en México la constituyen las cuotas y los pagos por
servicios prestados. Como se indica en la figura XXII.6, sólo
esta fuente de ingresos aporta el 85,2% del total de ingresos
del sector no lucrativo en este país.
· Limitada financiación procedente de la filantropía y del sector pú-
blico. Por el contrario, la financiación procedente de la filan-
tropía privada y el sector público constituye unas cuotas mu-
cho menores de los ingresos totales.Así,como se observa en
la figura XXII.6, la filantropía privada –procedente de perso-
nas físicas, empresas y fundaciones, en conjunto– sólo consti-
tuye el 6,3% de los ingresos del sector no lucrativo en Méxi-
co, mientras que los pagos procedentes del sector público
aportan un mero 8,5%.
· Estructura de ingresos con los voluntarios. Este modelo de ingre-
sos del sector no lucrativo cambia significativamente cuando
se incluye el valor imputado de los voluntarios como un fac-
tor más. En efecto, como se observa en la figura XXII.7, la
cuota de ingresos procedente de la filantropía privada au-
menta considerablemente del 6,3 al 17,9%, superando, por
tanto,a la financiación procedente del sector público,que dis-
minuye del 8,5 al 7,5%. No obstante, las cuotas y los pagos
por servicios siguen constituyendo, por mucho, la fuente pre-
México 527
FIGURA XXII.6
Fuentes de ingresos del sector no lucrativo en
México, 1995
Cuotas, pagos
por servicios
85,2%
Sector público
8,5%
Filantropía
6,3%
25. The Civil Society in Latin‐American reality: a possible path for strengthening the sector from the Jesuit Universities
Regis University ‐ Master in Nonprofit Management Page 25
It is very important to consider that there are several academics that have realized that different
kinds of associations were always present but they never had the legal recognition from the state
nor from the church and as a consequence they were always operating without a legal structure.
Actually several legislative people still links the Nonprofit associations to extremist, left wings or
social movements. This history has marked the relations between the government and the
nonprofit sector. In the recent years a federal law was published; this law tries to encourage the
collaboration in specific issues between
the state and the Civil Society
Associations. The proposal establishes
that the government will provide a
specific amount of money and the
associations will have to provide the rest
of the money. This money will never be
used “for” the association but for the
indirect beneficiaries and even though
this affects the operation of the
organizations and, as a consequence,
the support is very limited, it is the first
time in history that the state recognizes
the importance of the work they do and
establishes a very small amount of
money for supporting their actions.
(Villa, 2006)
Different actions have also developed a
natural distrust of the sector: Several important politicians have used these kinds of organizations
to switch money for their personal purposes and many of the wealthiest people of the country are
using them to capitalize their enterprises by deducting taxes to the government.
In figure 22 we can see the consequences of these facts; the sector has relied upon the fees of the
services it provides with an 85.2% getting a very low income from government and philanthropy
with an 8.5% and 6.3% respectively.
Figure 24. Nonprofit sector composition in comparison
with Latin America and 22 other countries (Verduzco, et
al., 1999)
· Cuotas menores de empleo no lucrativo en las áreas de salud y
servicios sociales. Comparado con el promedio global de los
22 países analizados,las áreas de salud y servicios sociales ab-
sorben una cuota mucho menor de empleo no lucrativo en
México. Así, mientras estas dos áreas constituyen el 38% del
empleo no lucrativo en términos globales, como promedio,
en México sólo representan el 17% de dicho empleo. Ello re-
fleja, en gran medida, la amplia presencia del Estado en la
prestación de estos servicios,especialmente desde el estable-
cimiento del PRI. Por tanto, queda poco espacio para que las
organizaciones no estatales, no partidistas, puedan desarro-
llar actividades en estas áreas.
· Cierta presencia de empleo no lucrativo en la vida social. Otra
cuota modesta de empleo no lucrativo en México la constitu-
524 La sociedad civil global: Las dimensiones del sector no lucrativo
FIGURA XXII.4
Composición del sector no lucrativo, México,
Latinoamérica, y promedio de los 22 países, 1995
30,2%
19,6%
18,3%
14,4%
6,5%
5,8%
3,1%
2,2%
44,4%
12,2%
10,3%
10,6%
12,4%
7,0%
1,2%
1,9%
43,2%
8,1%
8,7%
7,7%
30,5%
0,5%
1,0%
0,3%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Otras áreas
Medio ambiente/
asesoramiento legal
Desarrollo
Asociaciones profesionales
Cultura
Servicios sociales
Sanidad
Educación
% de empleo no lucrativo
México
Promedio Latinoamérica
Promedio de los 22 países
26. The Civil Society in Latin‐American reality: a possible path for strengthening the sector from the Jesuit Universities
Regis University ‐ Master in Nonprofit Management Page 26
The most important area of development
in the country is also education with a
43.2% followed by professional
associations with a 30.5%, the highest in
Latin America and the other 22 countries.
It is surprising to realize that only the .5%
of the registered ones are referred to as
development and it is hard to believe it.
This is the path that didn’t fit with other
theories about the association level in
Mexico and are still researched.
In comparison with the rest of Latin America, Mexico is the country with more difficulties but at
the same time with the most promised future in the growth of the sector: Philanthropy will get
higher and especially the government will increase the budget to the sector; figure 25 will change
considerably now that the legal conditions have started to change. All this will happen if the sector
is able to professionalize its practices and brings more actors and recovers the important moral
capital that the sector relies upon.
4. COLOMBIA
Nonprofit organizations in Colombia are now an important economic force in the country. It
contains 1.7 billion dollars in expenditures representing 2.1% of the GDP as we can see in figure
26. Colombia shares the Mexican history about the church and the development of a recent
democratic process but Colombia has had a
more accelerated process of development. In
relation to its economy, Colombian Nonprofit
sector is larger than the Latin American
Average: Chile has a 1.4, Peru a 1.2 and Mexico
a 1.3 billion in expenditures.
Colombian population reaches an estimated
48% of people volunteering for some type of organization (Villar, R., List, R. & Salamon, L., 1999)
Figure 25. Income sources in Nonprofit sector from
Mexico, Latin America and 22 other countries
(Verduzco, et al., 1999)
Latinoamérica.Por tanto,como se indica en la figura XXII.8,las
FIGURA XXII.8
Fuentes de ingresos en efectivo del sector no
lucrativo, México, Latinoamérica, y promedio de los
22 países, 1995
8,5% 6,3%
85,2%
15,5%
10,4%
74,0%
40,1%
10,5%
49,4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Sector público Filantropía Cuotas
México
Promedio Latinoamérica
Promedio de los 22 países
Figure 26. Nonprofit Sector in Colombia , 1995
(Villar, et al., 1999)
ment in the country (see Figure 21.1). This number would undoubt-
edly be larger if churches and other places of religious worship were
included, but such data were unavailable for Colombia.
2. One of the larger nonprofit sectors in Latin America
The Colombian nonprofit sector, while modest in relation to the Colom-
bian economy, is larger than the Latin American average, though it still
falls short of the level of developed countries.
Colombia: A Diverse Nonprofit Sector 413
Table 21.1 The nonprofit sector in Colombia, 1995
$ 1.7 billion in expenditures
— 2.1 percent of GDP
286,900 paid employees
— 2.4 percent of total nonagricultural employment
— 14.9 percent of total service employment
— 30.7 percent of public employment
27. The Civil Society in Latin‐American reality: a possible path for strengthening the sector from the Jesuit Universities
Regis University ‐ Master in Nonprofit Management Page 27
equaling a total of 377,617 of full‐
time employees as we can see in
figure 27, but still doesn’t
represent a major workforce in
comparison to the 40% of the
public sector or the 18% of the
service employment but in
comparison to Latin America it is
above the average.
The composition of the sector in
the country is very diverse and it is the only example in the region with this characteristic. It shares
with the region the priority in educational institutions with a 26% and within that half is
distributed for elementary and secondary schools and half to higher education. Four areas share a
common percentage: Development
area, professional, social services
and health are among 17% and
13%. Development is way bigger
than the region almost doubling the
percentage. The only lower area,
besides education, is culture with
only a 1.2% difference.
If the volunteer factor is added to
the different areas, education goes
down to 20% and social services
and development reaches 18% and
health goes down from 17% to 15%.
As the rest of the countries,
Colombia is not the exception in the
income characteristics: the fees has
Figure 27. Nonprofit employment in Colombia, with and
without volunteers, 1995, as a % of… (Villar, et al., 1999)
included, but such data were unavailable for Colombia.
2. One of the larger nonprofit sectors in Latin America
The Colombian nonprofit sector, while modest in relation to the Colom-
bian economy, is larger than the Latin American average, though it still
falls short of the level of developed countries.
Figure 21.1 Nonprofit employment in Colombia, with and without volunteers,
1995, as a % of . . .
2.1
2.4
14.9%
30.7%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Paid employees
Volunteers
2.4%
* Nonagricultural
GDP
Total
Employment*
Service
Employment
Public Sector
Employment
3.1%
18.8%
40.4%
Figure 28. Composition of the Nonprofit Sector, Colombia,
Latin America and 22‐country average, 1995 (Villar, et al.,
1999)
clearly that Colombia’s nonprofit sector is more diverse than that else-
where in Latin America.
• Pattern shifts with volunteers. When volunteer inputs are factored in,
the composition of the nonprofit sector in Colombia changes notably,
though it remains balanced overall. In particular, as shown in Figure
21.5, with volunteers included, the margin of difference among the
418 GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY: DIMENSIONS OF THE NONPROFIT SECTOR
Figure 21.4 Composition of the nonprofit sector, Colombia, Latin America, and
22-country average, 1995
30.2%
19.6%
18.3%
14.4%
6.5%
5.8%
3.1%
2.2%
44.4%
12.2%
10.3%
10.6%
12.4%
7.0%
1.2%
1.9%
26.1%
17.5%
14.6%
9.4%
15.1%
13.1%
2.1%
2.2%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Education
Health
Social svcs
Culture
Professional
Development
Environ/
Advocacy
Other fields
% of nonprofit employment
Colombia
Latin American average
22-Country average
28. The Civil Society in Latin‐American reality: a possible path for strengthening the sector from the Jesuit Universities
Regis University ‐ Master in Nonprofit Management Page 28
a 70.2% of the income and the government and
philanthropy has a low portion with 14.2% and 17.8%
respectively. Even with these numbers Colombian nonprofit
income from fees are below the average by 4% sharing this
same percentage with an higher participation in
philanthropy.
As we can see in figure 30 is amazing to see how the 22
countries average in government support has a bigger
participation than Latin America going down from 40.1$ to
15.5% having a total difference of 25%.
The consulted research established that
the participation of the government in
Colombia has been active as a promoter
but not as a funder and it seems it has
specifically focused to the social
services and development areas where
also the volunteers are making a
difference and are reconfiguring the
characteristics of the sector in the
country.
An important conclusion of the research made by Villar et al. (1999) is that the sector needs to
develop capacity building through training and strengthening the infrastructure of the
organizations. Empowering new leaders to move from providing services to advocating for the
sector might be a key path to keep strengthening the sector. At the same time it will be necessary
to keep the strength of the voluntary force. It will be important to keep the clear distance among
the government and the nonprofit sector in order to keep the organizations independent. An
important difference between the Mexican sector and the Colombian is that even that the
Colombian looks in better shape, it will face difficult circumstances and Mexican seems to start a
“clear” road
Figure 29. Sources of Nonprofit
revenue in Colombia, 1995 (Villar,
et al., 1999)
most other countries. In particular:
• Fee income dominant. The overwhelmingly dominant source of in-
come of nonprofit organizations in Colombia is fees and charges for
the services that these organizations provide. As reflected in Figure
21.6, this source alone accounts for 70.2 percent of all nonprofit rev-
enue in Colombia.
Figure 21.6 Sources of nonprofit revenue in Colombia, 1995
Public Sector
Fees, Charges
Philanthropy
14.9%
14.9%
70.2%
Figure 30. Sources of Nonprofit cash revenue, Colombia,
Latin America and 22 country average 1995 (Villar, et al.,
1999)
(14.9 percent vs. 10.4 percent on average), due at least in part to the sig-
nificant support provided by corporations and corporate foundations.
• Deviation from the global average. While the revenue structure of the
Colombian nonprofit sector generally mirrors that elsewhere in Latin
America, it differs considerably from that evident elsewhere in the
world. Thus, as Figure 21.8 also shows, while fees and charges are the
dominant element in the financial base of the nonprofit sector glob-
ally, their dominance is considerably less pronounced than it is in
Colombia (49.4 percent of total revenue compared to 70.2 percent in
Colombia). By contrast, public sector payments comprise a consider-
ably larger share of nonprofit income in these other countries on aver-
age (40.1 percent vs. 14.9 percent in Colombia), but private giving is
weaker (10.5 percent vs. 14.9 percent in Colombia). Quite clearly, a dif-
ferent pattern of cooperation has taken shape between nonprofit orga-
nizations and the state in these other countries. In Colombia, govern-
ment has most often played the role of promoter rather than funder.
As noted previously, some of the most widespread nonprofit initiatives
have been developed as a result of government-sponsored programs.
422 GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY: DIMENSIONS OF THE NONPROFIT SECTOR
Figure 21.8 Sources of nonprofit cash revenue, Colombia, Latin America, and
22-country average, 1995
14.9% 14.9%
70.2%
15.5%
10.4%
74.0%
40.1%
10.5%
49.4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Public Sector Philanthropy Fees
Colombia
Latin America
22-Country average
29. The Civil Society in Latin‐American reality: a possible path for strengthening the sector from the Jesuit Universities
Regis University ‐ Master in Nonprofit Management Page 29
5. BRAZIL
As with the rest of the Latin American
Countries, the Nonprofit sector in Brazil is
also an important economic force with 10.6
billion dollars in expenditures and
represents a 1.5% of the GDP and a million
paid employees in the country. It has more
employees than the most important private
forprofit organization and with the
volunteer force it reaches near the
1.2 billion full time employees.
The distribution of the workforce is
concentrated in education with a
36.9%. The next three areas of
importance are health, social
services and culture with a 17.8%,
16.4% and a 17% respectively.
Culture seems to be a distinctive
element in Brazilian Nonprofit
sector due to the Latin American
average is 10.6%. Brazilian sector
follows Peru and Colombia with
2.2%of the total workforce. As in
Mexico the role of the church has
determined the sector’s growth historically. It is a sector
growing very fast and within the next years seems to
become in a greater force than it was several years ago.
The main income of the sector is also the fees with 73.8%
followed by the public sector with 15.5% and the
Figure 31. Nonprofit Sector in Brazil , 1995
(Landim, L., Beres, N., List, R., & Salamon, L.M.,
1999)
twice as fast as employment in the nation’s overall economy, which ex-
perienced only 20 percent growth.
• More employees than in the largest private firm. Put somewhat differ-
ently, nonprofit employment in Brazil easily outdistances the employ-
ment in the largest private business in the country, and does so by a
factor of 16. Thus, compared to the 1 million paid workers in Brazil’s
nonprofit organizations, Brazil’s largest private corporation, Brade-
sco, employs only 62,450 workers (see Figure 20.1).
• Volunteer inputs. Even this does not capture the full scope of the non-
profit sector in Brazil, for the sector also attracts a considerable
amount of volunteer effort. Indeed, an estimated 16 percent of the
Brazilian population reports contributing their time to nonprofit or-
ganizations. This translates into another 139,216 full-time equivalent
employees, which boosts the total number of full-time equivalent em-
ployees of nonprofit organizations in Brazil to nearly 1.2 million, or
2.5 percent of total employment in the country (see Figure 20.2).
• Religion. The inclusion of religion, moreover, would boost these to-
tals by another 93,837 paid employees and 195,882 FTE volunteers.
Brazil 395
Table 20.1 The nonprofit sector in Brazil, 1995
$10.6 billion in expenditures
— 1.5 percent of GDP
1.0 million paid employees
— 2.2 percent of total nonagricultural employment
— 7.8 percent of total service employment
— 19.4 percent of public sector employment
Figure 20.1 Employment in nonprofits vs. largest firm in Brazil, 1995
Figure 32. Composition of the Nonprofit Sector, Brazil,
Latin‐American and 22‐country average (Landim, et al,
1999)
tablished by other religious groups such as Kardecist spiritism and by
immigrants such as the Lebanese and Israelis. Notably, in the culture
and recreation field, sports organizations account for 95 percent of
employment.
Brazil 401
Figure 20.5 Composition of the nonprofit sector, Brazil, Latin America, and 22-
country average, 1995
30.2%
19.6%
18.3%
14.4%
6.5%
5.8%
3.1%
2.2%
44.4%
12.2%
10.3%
10.6%
12.4%
7.0%
1.2%
1.9%
36.9%
17.8%
16.4%
17.0%
9.6%
1.1%
0.9%
0.4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Education
Health
Social svcs
Culture
Professional
Development
Environ/
Advocacy
Other fields
% of nonprofit employment
Brazil
Latin American average
22-Country average
Figure 33. Sources of Nonprofit revenue
in Brazil, 1995 (Landim, et al, 1999)
404 GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY: DIMENSIONS OF THE NONPROFIT SECTOR
Figure 20.7 Sources of nonprofit revenue in Brazil, 1995
Public Sector
Fees, Charges
Philanthropy
15.5%
10.7%
73.8%
Public Sector
Philanthropy
14.5%
16.3%
30. The Civil Society in Latin‐American reality: a possible path for strengthening the sector from the Jesuit Universities
Regis University ‐ Master in Nonprofit Management Page 30
philanthropy with 10.7%. The distribution of
the income in Brazil fits almost completely to
the average in Latin American countries as
we can see in figure 34. The philanthropy
percentage fits with the 22 countries where
the study was applied, the difference is
marked by the fees and government
participation by a 25% difference.
The conclusions of the study showed that the
sector needed to gain visibility and developing collaborations between the government and the
nonprofits. It is necessary to develop leaders able to lobby, this will bring a better legal
atmosphere and as a consequence the sector will grow.
6. ARGENTINA
Argentina Nonprofit sector is the second largest in
Latin America. It has 12 billion dollars in
expenditures and represents 4.7% of the GDP of
the country. It is also a major workforce with 3.7%
full time employees of the total population. If the
volunteer force is included the GDP grows to 5.6%
and the full time employees to 6% doubling the
average percentage of Latin America. The main source of
income is the fees with 73% of income, 19.5% from
government support and 7.5% from philanthropy. The
distribution of the sector, as we can see in figure 36 is
lead by the education institution with a 41.3% of the
total workforce followed by culture, health and social
services with a 15.1%, 13.4% and 10.7%. Development
takes 5.7% the same that the 22 studied countries
represent.
Figure 34. Sources of Nonprofit cash revenue,
Colombia, Latin America and 22 country average
1995 (Landim, et al, 1999) nonprofit revenues. Evidently, the public sector’s relative disinterest
in the work of nonprofit institutions in Brazil has yielded a very differ-
ent pattern of nonprofit finance, one that is far more dependent on
private fees, charitable donations, and volunteering.
• Variations by subsector. Even this does not do full justice to the com-
plexities of nonprofit finance in Brazil, however. This is so because im-
portant differences exist in the finances of nonprofit organizations by
subsector. In fact, three quite distinct patterns of nonprofit finance
are evident among Brazilian nonprofits, as shown in Figure 20.11:
Fee-dominant fields. Fee income is the dominant source of income in
six of the nine fields of nonprofit action for which data were gathered
(professional, international, health, culture, education, and civic and
advocacy). This is understandable enough in the case of professional
associations and unions, as well as cultural and sports groups, where
membership dues and fees for the services they provide are the pri-
mary sources of income. Perhaps surprisingly, this is also the case for
international-oriented and civic and advocacy groups, which organize
as membership associations. Furthermore, as might be expected, edu-
cational and health institutions receive fees for the services they pro-
vide, though they also receive payments from the public sector.
406 GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY: DIMENSIONS OF THE NONPROFIT SECTOR
Figure 20.10 Sources of nonprofit cash revenue in Brazil, Latin America, and
22-country average, 1995
15.5%
10.7%
73.8%
15.5%
10.4%
74.0%
40.1%
10.5%
49.4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Public Sector Philanthropy Fees
Brazil
Latin America
22-Country average
Figure 35. Nonprofit Sector in Argentina , 1995
(Roitter, M., List R., & Salamon, L.M., 1999)
lion (about 12 billion Argentine pesos) in 1995, or 4.7 percent of the
country’s gross domestic product, a quite significant amount.3
• A major employer. Behind these expenditures lies a sizable workforce
that includes the equivalent of 395,000 full-time equivalent paid work-
ers. This represents 3.7 percent of all nonagricultural workers in the
country, 9.4 percent of service employment, and the equivalent of
nearly one-third as many people as work for government at all levels—
federal, provincial, and municipal (see Table 19.1).
• More employees than in the largest private firms. Put somewhat differ-
ently, nonprofit employment in Argentina easily outdistances the
employment in the largest private businesses in the country. Thus,
compared to the 395,000 paid workers in Argentina’s nonprofit orga-
nizations, Argentina’s 100 largest private corporations together em-
ploy approximately 280,000 workers (see Figure 19.1).
• Volunteer inputs. Even this does not capture the full scope of the non-
profit sector in Argentina, for this sector also attracts a considerable
amount of volunteer effort. Indeed, an estimated 20 percent of the
Argentina 375
Table 19.1 The nonprofit sector in Argentina, 1995
$12.0 billion in expenditures
— 4.7 percent of GDP
395,000 paid employees
— 3.7 percent of total nonagricultural employment
— 9.4 percent of total service employment
— 30.9 percent of public sector employment
Figure 19.1 Employment in nonprofits vs. largest private firms in Argentina,
1995
Figure 35. Sources of Nonprofit
revenue in Argentina, 1995 (Roitter, et
al 1999)
ability of development, advocacy, and social service organizations to at-
tract volunteers.
5. Most revenue from fees, not philanthropy or public sector
The Argentine nonprofit sector receives the bulk of its revenue not from
private philanthropy but from fees and charges, and does so to an even
greater extent than do nonprofit organizations in most other countries
outside of Latin America. In particular:
• Fee income dominant. The overwhelmingly dominant source of in-
come of nonprofit organizations in Argentina is fees and charges for
the services that these organizations provide. As reflected in Figure
19.7, this source alone accounts for nearly three-quarters, or 73.1 per-
cent, of all nonprofit revenue in Argentina.5
• Limited support from philanthropy and the public sector. In contrast,
private philanthropy and the public sector provide much smaller
shares of total revenues. Thus, as Figure 19.7 shows, private philan-
thropy—from individuals, corporations, and foundations combined—
accounts for only 7.5 percent of nonprofit income in Argentina, while
public sector payments, including compulsory payments to the obras
sociales which are used to finance health and related social welfare
benefits, account for 19.5 percent.
• Revenue structure with volunteers. This pattern of nonprofit revenue
changes significantly when volunteers are factored into the picture. In
Argentina 383
Figure 19.7 Sources of nonprofit revenue in Argentina, 1995
Public Sector
Fees, Charges
Philanthropy
19.5%
7.5%
73.1%