02 October 2007

Bonn, Germany: The nonprofit sector, including volunteering, is a significant economic force, accounting for an average 5% of Gross Domestic Product in eight countries for which data is available, according to a new report just released in Bonn. 

This contribution exceeds that of the electricity, gas and water supply sector and is much larger than previously understood.  In Japan, for example, nonprofit institutions account for 5.2% of GDP, whereas the financial and banking sector account for 6.7%. 

“What is not counted, often does not count,” said UNV Executive Coordinator Ad de Raad.  “A growing number of developing countries are embarking on establishing volunteer infrastructures to harness the enormous reservoir that volunteerism represents to meet the major challenges they face.  They need regularized systems for collecting and disseminating data on volunteerism and its contributions.”

Dr. Hafiz Pasha, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, said in his statement, “As demonstrated around the world, volunteers have a unique and important role to play as active participants in the development process.  Individual volunteers, volunteering organizations, and volunteer networks are important resources that need to be properly recognized as legitimate development partners.  Harnessing the energies and creativity of millions of people worldwide who want, as volunteers, to make distinctive contributions to development and peace will be critical in the years ahead.”

The report on “Measuring Civil Society and Volunteering:  Initial Findings from Implementation of the UN Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions” was released by Johns Hopkins University during the “Global Assembly on Measuring Civil Society and Volunteering”, held at the United Nations offices in Bonn and convened by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies in cooperation with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the United Nations Statistics Division.

It was the first-ever event of its kind to assess progress being made in measuring contributions by civil society, volunteering and philanthropy through the implementation of the United Nations Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions in the System of National Accounts. 

Twenty-eight countries have so far committed to implement the NPI Handbook, and eight countries have already produced the NPI “satellite accounts” called for in the Handbook.  These countries are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Japan, New Zealand and the United States.

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The full text of the Johns Hopkins report, “Measuring Civil Society and Volunteering: Initial Findings from Implementation of the UN Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions,” is available online at www.jhu.edu/ccss.