Does Government Financing have a Detrimental Effect on the Autonomy of Voluntary Associations? Evidence from German Sports Clubs

Abstract

At first glance, the answer to this question seems all too obvious: The greater the share of government finances the greater the loss of autonomy. But from a resource-dependency and institutional approach, three more influential factors come to mind: the association's counterinfluence, the calculations of the governmental agencies (their alternatives, costs and benefits); and cultural factors. The paper presents evidence from a German survey in which 397 registered associations of four widely differing types were investigated with the aid of a standardized questionnaire: sport clubs in comparison with philanthropic associations, interest associations and self-help groups. The findings support the importance of the perspective of the government agencies, whereas the association's counterinfluence seems to be to small to limit a loss of autonomy. Last but not least, the results support the reasonable assumption that cultural factors might be of importance which restrict governmental interference.