Governance and Accountability Weaknesses in French Nonprofit Organizations: Are They a National Exception?

ABSTRACT

This article studies French grassroots volunteer organizations, their governance and their accountability. The sample is composed of French major GVOs, in terms of reputation and resources. Their reports and declarations are analyzed. Using multiple regressions, the study shows the relevance of intervention areas, legal statuses and action domains and types when explaining governance mechanisms. Accountability practices are poorly influenced by structural characteristics, but this study points out many weaknesses in both GVOs’ governance and accountability. This research underlines the inapplicability of current literature and the necessity to build a research specific to French GVOs. They are not subject to the same structural influences as other NPOs.

KEYWORDS:

• Governance
• accountability
• grassroots volunteer organizations
• associations
• French law of 1901

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Pascal Barneto and Elisabeth Bertin, his supervisors, for their support; and Alpa Dhanani and Ciaran Connolly for their advice and for agreeing to forward their checklist tool.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Raw data were generated at IDEAS. Derived data supporting the findings of this study are available from the author on request. https://ideas.asso.fr/

Notes

1. In France, the “associative project” is the basis defining the values, missions and objectives of the GVO. It can be a written document or a tradition, formulated for the first time by the founders and possibly revised by their successors.

2. Their names vary between the published article and the tool transmitted.

3. The four types of accountability and their categories are developed in Figure 1. For more details on the items used, see the checklist built by Dhanani and Connolly (2012).

4. It is for this reason that the ADI is relevant even in France: researchers can indeed remove the non-applicable items and possibly add some if necessary.

5. Conférence permanente des coordinations associatives (2012), « Gouvernance, se conformer ou inventer ? », La vie associative, n°17, March

Additional information

Funding

The author was supported by a thesis scholarship from the French Ministère de l'enseignement supérieur de la recherche et de l'innovation.