The research programme Finnish Local Government 2004 was a joint programme launched by the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, universities and research centres. It was funded by Finnish municipalities and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities. The project engaged in a systematic and comparable analysis of the development of the municipal sector in 1995-2004. The 47 municipalities participating in the programme were representative of the Finnish local government sector.
The study programme comprised of 14 research modules. For most modules, data were collected through mail surveys. The data may be used for cross-sectional or time series analysis.
In this study, the activities of various non-governmental and voluntary organisations (third sector organisations) were surveyed. The topics included their financing, members, means of influencing, and forms of activity.
First, the respondents were asked about their organisations' area of operation, membership in a nationwide union or association, cooperation with other organisations and central organisations, motive for action, and focus of activity. Some questions concentrated on the members in the organisations and their number and nature (i.e. whether they were individuals or communities), their age and sex distribution, and changes in their number and activity. The respondents were also asked about the number of full-time and part-time employees working in the organisation, as well as the number of employees hired with the help of employment subsidies. In addition, the respondents evaluated the distribution of work load among the employees.
Further questions covered the economy of the organisations. The respondents gave their views on their organisations' expenditure, sources of income, and financial and non-financial support. They were also asked whether their organisations owned a company, foundation, premises, or other properties or shares, and whether their organisations had received facilities at their disposal for free or under the market price.
The respondents gave their opinions on their organisations' interaction and intra-action. Questions focused on the organisations' elected officials, means of influencing municipal decision-making, and relations with municipal decision-makers. The respondents were also asked to evaluate how many issues their organisations and the organisations in their municipality strive to influence in a year, as well as how successful these ambitions had been in the past. Views on cooperation with other organisations and parties were also probed.
In relation to service provision, the respondents were asked about their organisations' cooperation with municipality as regards service provision, competition, and service quality control. Further questions focused on voluntary activities. The organisations' participation in joint ventures and its role/roles in society were queried. Lastly, the respondents were presented with a set of statements relating to their organisations' activities as service and voluntary activity providers.
Background variables included size of municipality, and the organisation's language and classification.
The municipalities in the Finnish Local Government 2004 research project were selected separately from those with less than 10,000 inhabitants (28 municipalities) and from those with more than 10,000 inhabitants (19 municipalities). The selection aimed to be representative within both groups in relation to all municipalities with the same population size. Large municipalities were over-represented because 70% of the Finnish population lives in large municipalities. Representativeness criteria included regional location, age and education of the population, industry structure, municipal economy parameters, political situation and variables related to municipal policy. The selected municipalities form a small scale model of all Finnish municipalities. The Åland Islands municipalities were excluded because of special features resulting from Åland's autonomy.
The questionnaire was sent to all registered organisations in the selected municipalities. 2,686 organisations responded.