As the first phase of the Hopkins study, on which ISF and the LOS centre (later the Rokkan centre) collaborated on, the project team composed an overview over local level associations in the county of Hordaland in 1998. The county was chosen because similar projects were carried out there in 1980 and 1990, something which allowed for analysing changes in the civil society sector.

The voluntary organisations’ economy has lately been in focus, partly due to the Storting report on the voluntary sector, VAT-compensation and the distribution of lottery revenue. Politicians, the ministries and the organisations themselves have all raised important questions which would have been more easily answered if there was a national committee of local level associations.

Thus, in order to identify changes compiling a new overview over local level associations in all municipalities in Hordaland would be advantageous. It would additionally be beneficial to draw a stratified random sample of municipalities to study. In 1980 two other municipalities were surveyed, in addition to Hordaland. We want however to identify if and how Hordaland differs from a national municipality sample. It will take several years before the official register of voluntary organisations is sufficiently comprehensive for a representative sample to be drawn from there. Whether all sizes and types of local level associations choose register is also uncertain. Compiling an overview of all local level associations in selected municipalities will nonetheless be necessary.

According to KOSTRA (municipality state reporting), approximately 15.000 Norwegian associations and clubs receive municipal financial support. The municipalities will thus have most associations’ addresses. How comprehensive that list is depends on the attractiveness of the municipalities’ support schemes. Large, national organisations will also have lists of their local branches and will therefore be additional useful sources. It will furthermore be necessary to make use of key persons with extensive knowledge of clubs and associations which are not part of national organisations or which do not receive municipal support. Such informants could be found in municipal administrations, volunteer centres or in key positions in the voluntary sector. Parts of the survey from 1998 should be continued. It could also be necessary to compose a more detailed overview of the economy than was done at that time.

The data collected in this project will be useful for all three key research areas as described above.