About the The Barometer of Opinions on the Civil Society (BOSC)

The Barometer of Opinions on the Civil Society is a research program initiated by the Civil Society Development Foundation in 2010, which follows the evolution of public perceptions of civil society and non-governmental organizations in Romania in 2010, 2016, 2023 and 2025. The BOSC analyzes over time the trust, attitudes, roles assigned to NGOs, forms of association and civic involvement of the population. The database and the questionnaire used are public and can be accessed on the FDSC website: https://www.fdsc.ro/en/products/#reports.

The BOSC 2025 edition is carried out within the Social Change Accelerator program, an initiative aimed at helping civil society organizations in Romania to become more efficient, more sustainable and more prepared to generate positive changes in the communities in which they operate. The program is a collaborative effort of Civil Society Development Foundation (FDSC) and Asociația pentru Relații Comunitare (ARC) and is supported by OMV Petrom and Iulian Stanciu.

Methodology of the 2025 edition

The Barometer of Opinions on the Civil Society, BOSC 2025 was conducted between October 15–25, 2025, on a nationally representative sample of 1,017 adults, through telephone interviews (CATI), by the CC SAS institute. The sample was selected using the Random Digit Dialing (RDD) method and weighted by gender, age, education level, environment and region, based on INS data. The maximum margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points.

Note: The authors emphasize that, in the case of civic behaviors, the data should be interpreted with caution, due to the effect of social desirability.

Through the periodic studies published, FDSC aims to constantly provide a multidimensional assessment of the evolution of the non-governmental sector in Romania.

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For further details, please contact:

• Viorelia Manda, Program manager (viorelia.manda@fdsc.ro)
• Natalia Şeremet, Communication Coordinator (natalia.seremet@fdsc.ro

The NGO sector has developed significantly in the last decades. If in 1994 (the year of the founding of the CSDF) Romania had just over 10,000 established organizations, last year the NGO sector consisted of about 127,000 organizations. In 2022, they had around 127,000 employees and total revenues of RON 21 billion (about 1.51% of GDP), according to data from the report “Romania 2024. The non-governmental sector. Profile, Trends, Challenges” by CSDF.

“The biggest challenge we had in 1994 was to lead Romania on a Euro-Atlantic path and to defend the incipient democracy. Looking back, our main achievement is that we became a significant player at local, regional and European level. We have managed, through funding, capacity building and outreach, to hold the NGO sector in solidarity and we will continue to do so through our areas of action – networking, advocacy, funding, capacity building & research – to create a fairer country in line with European values, a country where every person is respected and represented. We know that today we are a hub of civil society, which we have developed NGO by NGO, person by person. It is essential that we continue our mission to connect organizations and resources, because this is how we will have a strong society and keep Romania on a democratic and European path, in a context where we are increasingly confronted with populism, illiberalism or nationalism, both locally and in Europe”, said Ionuț Sibian, Executive Director of the Civil Society Development Foundation (CSDF).

The people who have helped build CSDF in these 30 years, over 200 employees and collaborators, currently form the most valuable community on which CSDF relies in pursuing its mission. CSDF has been, and continues to be, a talent platform, having consolidated important careers in national and international organizations, public institutions and companies in Romania and abroad.

As the organization marks its 30th anniversary, CSDF is adapting its vision and mission to the local and international context.

The organization’s new vision is: “A democratic society, in line with European values, where every person is respected and represented.”

The mission has  also changed to “Mobilizing organizations and resources and working for a strong and relevant civil society at national and European level.”

These changes also meant updating the organization’s visual identity. CSDF has a new logo and website. The new logo uses the initials of the name CSDF and progressively increases through the repetition of the letters, thus illustrating the distribution and amplification of the resources managed by the Foundation.

CSDF is an independent non-governmental organization, founded in 1994 as a regional initiative of the European Commission. CSDF has created an ecosystem for social transformation, contributing to private and public funding programmes, advocacy campaigns. It establishes partnerships between civil society entities, the business sector, the public sector, academia and the media, and develops innovative solutions for communities. Through regular published studies, CSDF aims to provide a multidimensional assessment of the evolution of the non-governmental sector in Romania.

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For more information, please contact: iulia.vizi@fdsc.ro / 0747 416 280

The Civil Society Development Foundation launched  the Bridging Communities: An Exploratory Study on Labor Immigration in Romania report, coordinated by Anatolie Coșciug, together with co-authors Andriana Cosciug, Alexandra Porumbescu, Viktoriia Kyrychenko, Andreea Mercea and Alexandra Adamescu from the Center for Comparative Migration Studies in Cluj-Napoca.

This exploratory study provides an analysis of the challenges and opportunities that labor immigration presents for Romania, with a special focus on workers from South Asia, as the country faces a growing labor shortage.

Key study recommendations:

Improving workers’ legal protection: Human rights-centered immigration policies should be adopted to ensure that workers are fully protected, both in the workplace and in their social life. These measures must include clear mechanisms to sanction employers who violate workers’ rights.

Improved access to social and public services: The report emphasizes the need for a better integration of the migrants into health and social protection systems. It recommends designing  programs for information and assistance in several languages and simplifying administrative procedures to ensure rapid access to basic services.

Better monitoring of recruitment and selection agencies: Recruitment/selection agencies play a crucial role in bringing migrant workers both in their country of origin and in Romania. The study recommends more rigorous monitoring of these agencies and  imposing strict standards of transparency and accountability.

 

Highlights of the report:

Rising immigration from South Asia: The study highlights a significant change in the Romanian immigration landscape, with an increasing flow of workers from countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. These workers play a critical role in industries such as construction, retail and hospitality, contributing to Romania’s economic development at a time when the country is facing labor shortages. For example, in 2023 alone, labor immigration contributed more than 1% to Romania’s GDP.

Working conditions and vulnerabilities: While Romania offers multiple economic opportunities for migrant workers, the study also highlights the vulnerabilities they face. Unpaid overtime, abusive employment contracts and inadequate housing, as well as other bureaucratic barriers are among the problems reported by those interviewed.

Limited access to social and public services: Migrants in Romania face difficulties in accessing public health and other social services. Many of these problems are caused by a lack of information on both sides, as well as language barriers that make it difficult to interact with public authorities.

The role of the state and private actors: The study draws attention to a trend of “privatization” of labor migration governance, with private companies and agencies taking over a significant share of the critical responsibilities for monitoring and enforcing migrant workers’ rights legislation. This sometimes creates an imbalance in labor relations and comes with a challenge in protecting their rights.

Conclusions:

The Bridging Communities study points out that while labor immigration brings considerable economic benefits to Romania, it also raises potential problems in terms of respect for the fundamental rights of migrant workers. In order to ensure a balance between economic needs and human rights obligations, it is essential to reform immigration policies and adopt protection measures that are fair and accessible to all.

 

For more information please contact us at iulia.vizi[at]fdsc.ro or by phone – 0747416280.

The Civil Society Development Foundation is excited to announce the launch of a new study fundamental to understanding discrimination in Romania. Under the umbrella of the #InStareDeDeBine program, supported by Kaufland Romania, the research entitled “Intersectionality between concept and practice. How the concept of intersectionality is understood and implemented among Romanian non-governmental organizations“.

The study, by Claudia Petrescu and Emanuela Ignatoiu-Sora, is the first large-scale national study to explore intersectionality and provides a detailed picture of how Romanians face discrimination based on a number of factors, such as age, income, occupation and gender.

What Is Intersectionality?

The concept of intersectionality refers to the intersection and overlapping of multiple forms of discrimination and inequality, such as those based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation or other characteristics. This approach emphasizes that individuals are not affected by just one form of oppression, but by a combination of them, generating multiple vulnerabilities.

Study Findings

The study brings to the fore essential data on how discrimination is perceived and experienced in Romania, providing a solid basis for future actions and strategies to combat this phenomenon. Here are some of the relevant findings:

 

• One in seven Romanians reported having been the victim of at least one instance of discrimination, either at work, during a job interview or at school.
• 25% of Romanians said they felt discriminated against on the basis of age.
• The most common context in which discrimination occurs is job interviews (14%), followed by the workplace (13%) and educational background (13%).
• Age (23%), income (18%), occupation (14%) and gender (13%) are the main reasons for discrimination.

 

Impact of the Study

The research highlights the major challenges both Romanians and non-governmental organizations face in combating discrimination and social vulnerabilities. In this sense, the study becomes an essential tool for all those working in the field of human rights and equal opportunities, providing concrete and relevant data on the realities of discrimination in Romania.

The study emphasizes the importance of an intersectional approach in the formulation of public policies and in projects implemented by NGOs in order to combat inequalities and provide adequate support to the most vulnerable social groups.

 

Read the full study

To explore the findings and recommendations of this landmark study in more detail, access the full document here and find out more about the complexity of discrimination in Romania and the steps needed to combat it effectively.

#InStareDeBine #InvolvementMakesDifference #KauflandRomania #FDSC

How many NGOs are there in Romania

In January this year, 127,053 active NGOs were registered in the National NGO Register while 8,003 are known to be deregistered, dissolved or in liquidation.

Of the 127,000 registered NGOs, 106,433 are associations, 19,046 – foundations, 1,529 – federations, 759 – unions, 37 – branches of organizations outside Romania.

Thus, Romania has a rate of about 6.7 entities per 1,000 inhabitants, below the EU average of 9.41 and below countries such as Hungary (13.8), Slovakia (7.2), or Germany (7.6). But we are at the same level as Portugal (6.7) and above Poland (3.8), Greece (0.4) or Ireland (5.2).

Over the last three years, there has been a rate of around 4,200-4,300 registrations per year in the National NGO Register.

The most NGOs are in Harghita, Cluj, Bucharest, and the fewest in Vaslui and Ialomița, in relation to population size. Charitable NGOs predominate.

Relative to population size, the most organizations are in Bucharest and the North-West area. Thus, there are 10.6 organizations per 1,000 inhabitants in Harghita, followed by Cluj (10.4), Bucharest (10.0), Sibiu (9.6), Maramureș (7.6), Bihor (7.2), Arad (6.9). At the opposite pole, the fewest are in Moldova and Southern Romania, more precisely in Vaslui (2.1 NGOs per 1,000 inhabitants), Ialomița (2.4), Călărași and Olt (2.6 both).

In terms of fields of activity, most NGOs are in the social-charitable area (about 42,000, a third of all NGOs in the National Register), followed by civic, cultural, education, business/professional, sports.

Economic dimension: Sector revenues contribute 1.51% to Romania’s GDP.

NGOs derive income from public and private funding, donations or sponsorship and less from trading goods and services. Approximately 11% of organizations have income from economic activities, covering up to 18% of total income at sector level.

The three most common sources of income in 2023 were 3.5% of income tax, sponsorship and individual donations. In this context, 2.4 million individuals applied for the 3.5% mechanism to direct 375 million lei, with 30,200 organizations benefiting from this amount. Also, 88,544 companies (compared to 34,811 in 2015) sponsored the field with 2,468 million lei.

Thus, the total revenues earned by NGOs amounted to over RON 21 billion at the end of 2022 – about 1.51% of Romania’s Gross Domestic Product, slightly decreasing compared to 2015 (1.59%). Domain revenues are increasing compared to 2020-2021, but decreasing compared to 2019. Compared to 2015, NGO revenues were almost twice as high.

Around 26% of NGOs had no income at all in 2022. The majority of organizations (54%) recorded either revenues below 40,000 lei or below 200,000 lei. Only 20% of the organizations that filed balance sheets in 2022 had revenues above 200,000 lei.

In addition, 78% of respondents said that they had to select program beneficiaries in the last three years due to a lack of resources.

The problems of scarce or insufficient resources have been exacerbated in recent years by global threats, the most important of which are the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic recession.

“Given that some of the measures have made a significant contribution to the growth of the NGO sector have been restricted as of January 2024, the precariousness of this sector will be even more visible. Specifically, the 3.5% income tax redirection will only be applicable to income from salaries and salary-like income (foreign income eliminated), and the tax facilitation on sponsorship has been eliminated for micro-enterprises,” Ștefania Andersen, CSDF Operational Director.

 The non-governmental sector as an employer

Around 127,000 of Romania’s residents are employed in the non-governmental sector, although NGOs with paid staff represent a minority.

Most NGO employees are aged up to 44, and women predominate in most NGO fields, according to the Barometer of NGO Leaders 2023 (BLO 2023) – a survey part of the CSDF survey. The majority of employees also have a master’s or doctoral degree.

Over 80% of employees in the sector are satisfied and very satisfied with their lives and over 60% are satisfied with their income, according to the Barometer of NGO Members, Employees and Volunteers 2023 (BMO 2023) – a survey that is also part of the CSDF study. More than 70% of participants would like to spend the rest of their careers with their current organization.

Relative to the average net monthly net salary, NGO employees are at a lower level. Comparison with NSI data for 1994-2022 shows that between 2006-2012 NGO wages were above national averages, but economic growth led to average wages virtually equal to the national average in 2013, lower in 2014-2015, and since 2016 NGO wages have been ⅙ – ⅕ lower than the national average net national wage. The differences between domains are not very large, but there are three that systematically report lower salaries: sports, social/charitable, culture/art.

About 27% of respondents work 40 hours/week and 54% less than 40 hours. Over 50% of employees in the sector have two or more jobs given the specific nature of the work and the fact that most organizations work on a project basis.

Around 60% of employees say that they also work outside the NGO sector,  with many hours worked daily/weekly on low salaries, NGO employees are prone to burnout. In fact, 46% of employees said they experience a high or very high degree of burnout and 39% experience a moderate degree of burnout.

Citizen participation: 1 in 3 Romanians interact with an NGO.

1 in 4 Romanians donated to an NGO in 2023

Participation in associations in Romania has increased about 2.5 times in the last 30 years. The estimated figure for 1993 is 13%, and today around 30% of Romania’s population participate in associations.

 

The interaction between non-governmental organizations and the population has also increased, data from the Barometer of Opinions on Civil Society 2023 (BOSC 2023) – a survey part of the CSDF study that assesses the Romanian population’s attitudes towards the NGO sector – show. Last year, for example, the percentage of citizens who had benefited from the services of an NGO was double that of 2016.

 

Also, 24% of the population has made at least one donation to NGOs (up from 21% in 2016), with the most active donors being 18-49 year olds and those with higher education, according to BOSC 2023.

Wallachia and Moldova are the areas from which the least donations were made, although the percentage of those who benefited from NGO services in these areas was above the national average. Beyond direct support for non-governmental organizations, Romanians also donated to people in need (42% of respondents) or to other causes (17%), while 45% of the population donated at least once to the church. Also, 2% of the population donated in the last year to support a publication (newspaper, magazine, online publication)

The sector’s ability to influence the public agenda. Only 1 in 5 NGOs requested information or public debates.

A majority of organizations are not part of any national (60%) or European (80%) structure, which results in a reduced capacity of the field to influence public policy agendas and decisions. However, 80% of the respondents support the idea of creating a nationally representative form for associative structures.

On the other hand, half of the leaders of organizations stated that they have not collaborated in projects with public institutions (as beneficiaries or partners), and 82% have not used the two legal tools essential for civic engagement: requesting information (Law 544/2001) and requesting meetings for public debates on normative acts (Law 52/2003), according to the NGO Leaders Barometer 2023. The same survey shows that when an NGO works with a public institution it will use legal instruments more often.

About a quarter of organizations say they have initiated public policy proposals.

The very low participation in the formal decision-making process can also be seen from the fact that in 2022, only 20% of the normative acts put up for public debate by ministries received recommendations from civil society and only 12% were improved. At the local level, only 10% of the regulations put forward for debate received recommendations and only 5% included some recommendations in their final form.

At the same time, in 2022, NGOs have requested public debate meetings for only 1% of the normative acts initiated by the city halls of the county municipalities, and for only 4% of those initiated by ministries.

What Romanians think about NGOs and how much they trust them

Overall, the level of trust in NGOs has remained steady over the years at around 50%, according to BOSC 2023.

Young people are more trusting than the elderly: 18-29 year olds have a 73% level of trust, while over 60 year olds have only 36%. Confidence also increases with higher levels of education: higher education graduates are 66% and primary and secondary school graduates 43%.

The direct beneficiaries believe that NGOs have a positive influence, the rest are neutral.

Nearly half of the population believes that most NGOs work in the interests of their beneficiaries, i.e. the NGO sector, but at the same time one third of the population associates NGOs with the interests of political parties and politicians, i.e. businessmen.

What staff, members and volunteers say about their main challenges and the NGOs they represent

Members, employees and volunteers believe that the main difficulties for organizations in implementing projects are insufficient budget (69%) and insufficient human resources (61%), according to data from the Barometer of NGO Members, Employees and Volunteers (BMO 2023), a survey within the CSDF study. These difficulties are followed by legal barriers (32%), excessive demands from funders (28%), fiscal and administrative difficulties (24%), difficulties in working with beneficiaries (19%) and lack of trust from the public (17%).

In terms of personal challenges related to the way they work, 85% of employees said they experience burnout to some degree (moderate to very high), a worrying figure, but one which is also an acute problem in other countries, with a UK study citing growing insecurity in the sector amid the economic downturn.

Stress is another major challenge – over 30% of employees feel stressed all or most of the time, compared to just over 20% of members and volunteers.

Almost 70% of respondents believe that what they do makes a difference to people or society most of the time or always.

At the same time, 45% of employees believe that, considering all the efforts and achievements of their work, the job is not paid adequately. But half of them believe that the work gives them good prospects for career advancement (50%) and that the organization where they work motivates them in terms of performance (64%).

What are the main challenges for leaders

Attracting funding is the main challenge for leaders, with 94% of respondents believing that a great deal or very great deal of help is needed in this area. This is followed by getting useful information from the non-governmental sector with 86% of respondents. Another significant challenge is related to identifying, recruiting and mobilizing volunteers: 58% of respondents consider that they need help in this area to a very great or great extent. Organizational leaders also consider that they need support in terms of public communication (76% very much or very much), organizational assessment or digitalization (over 70%).

“We observe a complex picture of the challenges faced by non-governmental organizations in Romania. Financial and human resources or relevant information about the functioning, funding and cooperation between organizations in this sphere continue to be lacking. The lack of resources is visible both in the small number of full-time employees and in the inability to meet the needs of a high number of beneficiaries. At the same time, employees in the sector are working long hours, many of them suffer from burnout, and harassment by individuals or groups or deliberate or implicit harassment by public institutions continues, albeit at a lower level than seven years ago. However, for most of those working in the non-governmental sector, the workplace or organization where they work is a pleasant space where they feel supported by both leadership and colleagues,” explained Simona Constantinescu, Director of Development and Advocacy at CSDF.

 

Methodology

The data collected or prepared for this report are of two major types: administrative data, collected by public authorities and to which open access is available or to which access has been requested (National NGO Register, ANAF), and survey data, collected under the supervision of the project team. Twelve experts (sociologists, political scientists and members of civil society) with experience in the field of civic activism, the NGO sector and civil society are part of the research team.

 

The research team designed three separate surveys for this study:

• BOSC 2023: Barometer of Opinions on Civil Society – a survey conducted on a nationally representative sample of 1,200 respondents, which allows to assess the attitudes of the Romanian population about the NGO sector. BOSC is a telephone interview based survey (CATI), with data collection being conducted by Mercury Research in November 2023.
• BLO 2023: The NGO Leaders Barometer – a survey addressed to non-governmental organizations that collects mainly data about the organization and less about the people who run it. BLO is a survey of a large sample (803 respondents), as a questionnaire-based survey administered online (CAWI). Completion was carried out between November 2023 and January 2024.
• BMO 2023: Barometer of NGO Members, Employees and Volunteers – is a new tool in the context of the CSDF reports on the NGO sector, but uses some of the items that BLO 2016 included. 2028 responses were collected through a websurvey (CAWI) between December 2023 and January 2024.

 

About the study “Romania 2024. The non-governmental sector. Profile, trends, challenges”

Data on the Romanian NGO sector in Romania is very little publicly available, and it is rare that comprehensive studies on the sector appear. The Foundation for the Development of Civil Society (for 30 years in Romania) does it once every 5-7 years and remains the only organization that publicly presents the size and evolution of NGOs in Romania – the 2017 study is here.

The research method includes a variety of approaches, from collecting information from official sources to carrying out surveys addressed to NGOs, sector employees and citizens. Twelve researchers (sociologists, political scientists and members of civil society) with experience in civic activism, the NGO sector and civil society are part of the research team. The team proposes a new perspective in 2024, more detailed through a longitudinal and comparative analysis, with a focus on the perceptions and desires of the employees of the third sector – organized civil society. The 2024 report is HERE .

 

This material has been produced within the project “Building capacity for collective impact and knowledge on CSOs ecosystem” with the financial support of Active Citizens Fund Romania, a program funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through EEA Grants 2014-2021. The content of this material does not necessarily represent the official position of the EEA and Norwegian Grants 2014-2021; for more information go to www.eeagrants.org. Information about Active Citizens Fund Romania is available at www.activecitizensfund.ro