This paper focuses on the attributes of the Israeli Third Sector and its evolution over the past two and a half decades. The analysis of the Third Sector provides yet another angle from which to assess the changes and trends that Israeli society underwent during this period.
Based on data collected from a variety of sources by the Israeli Center for Third Sector Research, it is apparent that the Third Sector has two major societal functions:
- To complement and supplement the Welfare State by providing services deemed important by the State, which it cannot or is not interested in providing itself. Third Sector organizations that offer such services in the areas of health, education, welfare, etc., are partially funded by public funds. This has been a traditional function of the Sector, dating back to the period immediately following independence.
- To provide a conceptual and legal framework for the development of civil society. The principle of freedom of association as expressed by the Law of Amutot (Associations) as well as other legal arrangements "produces", on the average, 1700 new Amutot every year. These are mostly citizens' groups formed by individuals who are interested in promoting issues of importance to them.
This paper focuses on these two dimensions of the Sector and provides data on their evolution.
Concerning the first dimension, it shows how the policy of retrenchment of the Welfare State has had a particular impact on the level of public support of the Third Sector, as well as on the forms of this support. When these data are combined with policies of allocations developed in the past decade, it clearly demonstrates that the State narrowed its involvement in and support of society to areas where it is required to do so by law.
Regarding the second dimension, this paper presents data on the patterns of association over time and focuses on (1) the issues around which Israelis associate; (2) the patterns of association of specific populations and (3) the spatial distribution of registered Amutot. The average number of new Amutot registered every year as well as the rates of activity in the different areas of service (education, culture, the environment, etc.), changed very little during the period under study. However, there have been changes both in the proportions of different populations who register new Amutot (an increase in Arab registration and a decrease in Haredi registration), and in their spatial distribution (an increase in registered Amutot in the peripheral areas and a decrease in the central areas).
The combined analysis of the two dimensions of the Third Sector in Israel raises questions regarding the changing role of the Third Sector in society – from being primarily an arm of implementation of government in the provision of specific services to becoming a vibrant and heterogeneous entity with different agendas and modes of operation.