The resilience of Slovenian NGOs

Purpose Along with other Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries that emerged from the socialist system, Slovenia went through a process of transforming its political, economic and welfare systems. The fact that, like in the preceding period, the public sector is today primarily responsible for the provision of social services influences non-governmental organisations (NGOs') development and funding. Noting that just 40% of the 27,000 NGOs in the country have annual total revenues higher than €5,000, the main goal was to evaluate how financially stable and resilient Slovenian NGOs are as well as their potential to develop. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents descriptive analysis of financial data, which is supported by results of a national research project. The financial data were obtained from the agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Public Legal Records and related services along with the Treasury Directorate at the Ministry of Finance. Findings Considerable differences exist in the NGO sector regarding core business and activities, as well as financing models. Institutes are largely service providers and market-oriented and employ more staff, compared to associations that are predominantly expressive organisations with a funding model involving more equally distributed sources. The results for year 2021 show that with an average of 70.0% of their revenue generated in the market and 76.2% of entities having an income concentration index above 0.75, Slovenian institutes are undoubtedly more financially vulnerable than associations. Originality/value Deep insights are provided concerning the financial stability and resilience of the NGO sector in Slovenia, a former socialist country that after three decades, is facing challenges linked to social disparities, environmental pressures and declining trust in institutions. In this context, NGOs represent agents of social coherence and transformation.