Swedish civil society pushes back on ‘state dependency’ narrative

Civil society in Sweden is far less reliant on government funding than public debate often assumes, says a new report from a coalition of Swedish organisations.

The report, Staten, kapitalet eller medborgaren – vem finansierar civilsamhället? (The state, capital or the citizen – who funds civil society?), is the twelfth in an annual series.

It was launched at Almedalen, Sweden’s annual cross-party political festival, by Charlotte Rydh, secretary general of EFA member Giva Sverige. The report was co-produced by Giva Sverige and six other civil society organisations: Fremia, Ideell Arena, Ideell Kulturallians, Ideella Sverige, Studieförbunden i samverkan and Sveriges Föreningar.

It shows that around 80% of funding for the sector comes from private sources such as membership fees, donations, corporate giving, foundations and investments.

This figure rises further to 84% (up from 82% in 2017) once two specific sectors — education and research, and unemployment funds — are removed. The report says these areas account for nearly two-thirds of public funding to the nonprofit sector, and notes that while some of them do receive most of their funding from government, this is far from true of the vast majority of Swedish nonprofits.

Rydh comments:

“There’s a perception in the public debate that civil society is mainly dependent on public funding. It’s important for many organisations, but it’s only part of the financing.”

The report also notes that state support to civil society organisations, excluding unemployment funds, is at its lowest level in real terms in a decade.

The short version of the report ends with four conclusions and recommendations.

1. Being mainly privately financed “entails both risks and opportunities” for the civil society sector. One risk is that it becomes harder for less affluent groups to participate in their work, and another is that organisations’ activities are overly influenced by the demands or interests of donors.
2. Demographic change is reshaping resources and activity, with the 6–20 age group due to shrink by 230,000 (out of a total population of less than 11m) in the next decade, while the number of those aged 70+ will grow by nearly a fifth.
3. There is a growing number of nonprofit associations, but membership income is not increasing at the same level. Had membership fees remained the same proportion of disposable income as they were in 2013, the sector would have received around SEK13bn (€1.2bn) extra in 2024 alone.
4. State funding is shifting — it has fallen in areas like culture and international aid, but risen in areas like defence and criminal justice.

Earlier this year, Fundraising Europe shared findings from Giva Sverige research showing a growing gap between voters for the centre-right and nationalist parties in the country’s governing coalition, and supporters of opposition parties. Supporters of government parties were far less likely to give money to charity, it found.