The Soria Moria declaration, which is a common political platform for the red-green government from 2005, has contributed to strengthen voluntary sector identity by putting «A new and integrated policy for the voluntary sector» on the agenda. When it comes to voluntary organizations performing welfare services, the stated goal is: “The voluntary sector still should have good conditions for performing non-commercial services». For a long time, changes in administration and governance of health, education and social services has been the object of political debate. The main divide is whether or not welfare services should be subject to private competition. Consequently, the non-commercial organizations have become a blind spot in policymaking processes.

The size of nonprofit welfare services is small in Western European and Nordic comparison. Nonprofit organizations have just 6 percent of the employment on the welfare field. Only Sweden with 4 percent has a smaller share. Although there has been growth in employment from 1997 to 2004, the voluntary sector is not able to keep up with the welfare sector growth. In areas where the non-commercial organizations per-form similar services as public and market-based providers, there are only three areas where they make a sizeable contribution. That is in kindergartens, alcohol and drug treatment, and juvenile institutions. There is also substantial employment in rehabilitation services, but on the health area in total, the non-commercial organizations only have about 5 percent of the employment. In education the shares vary from 2 percent of the pupils in primary schools 6 percent in upper secondary schools and 14 percent of the students in higher education. Kindergartens and higher education are the only areas with strong growth in recent years.
Many organizations feel that they are not given opportunities to develop independence and strengths as non-commercial providers. The public sector often transfers risks for variation in needs for service to the organizations. In some areas there have been rapid and unpredictable changes in operation contracts and negotiation structure. The conclusion must be that we only have reached halfway to Soria Moria for non-commercial welfare services. To establish better conditions, it may seem necessary for the public sector and the nonprofit organizations to negotiate an agreement to promote interplay between their distinct but complementary roles, similarly to England and Denmark. That could contribute to the establishing the non-commercial organizations as important and lasting contributors on the welfare field, and ensuring their independence and distinctiveness. It should also underline the organizations’ obligations to integrity, transparency and accountability in relation to funders and users, and to be a communication link between users and the public sector. The agreement could work as a common point of reference for establishing contracts between public funders and voluntary organizations.