OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE NON-PROFITABLE SECTOR INVOLMENT TO PROVIDE SERVICES IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE
The main tendencies connected with invitation of non-commercial organizations to provide services to the population in the social sphere of modern Russia are analyzed. The main advantages of expanding the access of NGOs and socially oriented business to the market of social services, the status of the non-commercial sector and the processes of its institutionalization depending on the degree of social orientation are considered. The range of problems related to the expansion of the participation of non-commercial organizations in the provision of social services to the population is revealed: legal and organizational conflicts arising in connection with the emergence of new types of NGOs; unclear and non-binding criteria for assessing the performance of socially-oriented non-comercial organizations; lack of financing and excessive dependence on personal funds of organizations; information closeness. The thesis is formulated that the main goal - improving the quality of services and increasing the coverage of the population by social services through attracting new participants - can be achieved only through a consistent and thoughtful policy of state regulation aimed at overcoming existing problems and contradictions. On the one hand, this requires the implementation of a set of measures that facilitate the involvement of socially-oriented non-commercial organizations in the provision of services to the population at the regional and municipal levels. On the other hand, it prevents the weakening of the potential of state and municipal institutions of the social sphere, which remain full participant in the process.
Keywords: private sector, non-commercial organizations, social services, state support, socially useful activity, information openness.
Highlights:
The non-profit sector in Russia has faced serious quantitative and structural changes in recent years;
there is a new institutionalization of the non-commercial sector in connection with the expansion of the access of socially oriented non-commercial organizations (NGOs) to the provision of social services provided to the population;
the qualitative development indicators of NGOs to provide socially useful services do not correspond to the proper level, which leads to a disagreement in the ongoing institutional reforms in the country;
it is necessary to have a comprehensive government regulation and comprehensive financial support for the non-profit sector in order to ensure the required quantity and proper quality of social services provided to the population;
it is necessary to expand the range of social service providers to the account of NGOs and socially-oriented businesses, but not at the cost of the state refusing its direct obligations to the population to provide social services financed by taxes from business.
Margarita A. Vakhtina, Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Pro-rector for Educational Work and Public Relations. Volga region State University of Service.