Project Background
The internal democracy of the voluntary organisations is important both for the individual participant's experience and understanding of democracy, for the maintenance of a voluntary sector based on self-organisation and membership management, and for the social role of voluntary organisations. It is important that the organisations' internal democracy gives members the right to govern, access and participate in opinion formation and decision-making processes. It presupposes suitable organisational structure, but also that the social differences in governance and management, such as gender, age, education and finances, are not too great.
Project Aim
This project will analyse changes in both organisational structures and social inequality in governance and management in the voluntary organisations.
Research question
- What changes have taken place in the democratic structures and activities of voluntary organisations?
- What changes have taken place in the social background of leaders and board members of NGOs?
- What causal relationships explain changes in voluntary organisations' internal democracy? What measures could possibly be implemented to counteract unwanted changes?
Project Approach
The data are organisational studies by local and national volunteer organisations regarding changes in democratic structures and processes. In order to make better analyses of changes in social inequality, data on the social background of leaders and board members will be collected in organisations registered in the Volunteer Register by linking it to the "A-ordning scheme", a coordinated service used by employers to report information about income and employees to the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, Statistics Norway and the Norwegian Tax Administration. This is done by applying Statistics Norway's micro for lending microdata to put together an anonymised data set that is borrowed for analysis for a limited period.
Privacy Policy Guidance
This project utilizes personal data from individuals who are difficult to contact for the purpose of providing individual information. The data is processed for research purposes, and the legal basis for the processing is the public interest. The project involves the use of ordinary personal data and special categories of personal data, including data revealing political opnion, religious and/or philosophical beliefs and trade union membership. The data is obtained from the following sources: Statistics Norway (SSB). In collaborative research projects, datasets may also be shared with external project participants and their affiliated institutions.
The legality and privacy implications of the personal data processing have been assessed prior to the commencement of the project, which adheres to ethical guidelines for research. The Institute for Social Research is the data controller for the project.
Individuals who can be identified in the dataset have rights and may lodge complaints regarding the processing. Please feel free to contact our Data Protection Officer, the project manager, or the Norwegian Institute for Social Research if you have any questions or require guidance.
Publications
Sivesind, Karl Henrik; Thau, Mads; Enjolras, Bernard & Stoltenberg, Daniel (2025) Internal democracy and social impact of voluntary organizations: Women's and immigrants' shares of membership and board positions from 2009 to 2023. Centre for Research on Civil Society and Voluntary Sector. Report 2025:1. Full Text in Research Archive
