Politics and the development of the Hungarian non-profit sector

One of the important developments in post-Communist Hungary has been the growth of the voluntary or non-profit sector. Under the Communist regime, voluntary associations were controlled and independent organisations were largely suppressed. During the 1980s, advocacy groups and independent associations emerged to challenge the Communist monopoly on organisation. These challenges were instrumental in laying the foundation for the post-Communist non-profit sector, providing models of organisation and experienced activists. After the creation of a new legal framework in 1989 and 1990, the growth of the non-profit sector was dramatic. Two types of non-profit organisations have developed in democratic Hungary: associations predominate in membership activities, while foundations are active in fields requiring fund-raising. Attempts by the Hungarian Democratic Forum-led government to shape the non-profit sector to meet its goals were met with political pressure from professionals in the non-profit sector. The result was the beginnings of a contract-for-service regime and increased organisation of a contract-for-service regime and increased organisation of interests within the non-profit sector itself. This is a revised version of a paper presented at the 1994 Annual Conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), Berkeley, California, October 1994. The author gratefully acknowledges support from the Program on Nonprofit Organizations (PONPO), Yale University. Helpful comments were provided by David Bronkema, éva Kuti, Debra Minkoff, Suzanne Morrah and members of the PONPO Colloquium.