A central goal of the Third Sector Impact project is to institutionalize the capability of national statistical agencies to generate reliable empirical data on the third sector. After publishing a consensus definition of the third sector in Europe in December, an important prerequisite for statistical agencies to implement data gathering systems that capture third sector activity and impact, TSI and the Directorate General Research & Innovation of the European Commission now co-hosted the event “Putting the Third Sector on the Statistical Map of Europe” on 1st of June 2015 in Brussels.

Representatives of the European Economic and Social Council, the International Labour Organization, the directorates of the European Commission Education & Culture (EAC), Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion (EMPL) and Internal Market, Industry, Social Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW), the statistical institutes of nine European countries, and researchers from eight European universities or research institutes engaged in the TSI project attended this conference in Brussles on June 1st, 2015. The result exceeded all expectations: “A quiet revolution is underway in European statistical agencies with regard to the portrayal of the organizations and individual activity that comprise the third, or citizen, sector in Europe”, summarised TSI researcher Lester M. Salamon of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Bologna Center.

Indeed, a subterranian earthquake appears to be gathering force in European statistical agencies that seems poised to burst into view, exposing officially the surprising truth that the third sector is one of the largest “industries” in Europe. Find out more about the event, activities of statistical agencies across Europe and TSI’s contribution to making the third sector visible in Europe.