The size of nonprofit sector in Russian regions: differentiating factors
Nonprofit organizations are playing an increasingly important role in the modern world and becoming the object of many studies. Much of them are comparative works that explain both national and regional differences in the size of the nonprofit sector. Studies of the Russian nonprofit sector have repeatedly pointed to regional differences. However, the scale and factors of these differences have not been studied before and have not been explained by all the theoretical background accumulated in this area. Using Rosstat data for 2018, we tested the four most common groups of theories explaining regional differences in the size of the nonprofit sector in terms of the number of organizations, their labor, and financial resources. The tested theories include welfare theory, state failure theory, interdependence theory, and social capital theory. The study results show that the amount of state support and, to a somewhat lesser extent, social capital has a more significant influence on the size of the nonprofit sector in Russian regions. These data can speak of the extremely high importance of government funding for the size of the NPO sector in Russia and its regions and its dependence on budget revenues.