French grassroots volunteer organizations and prospective: Challenges and avenues for nonprofit research

Abstract

This article explores the importance of prospective for practitioners in the sector of grassroots volunteer organizations (GVOs, as associations). Prospective can be defined as an attitude of studying the future that must lead to action. In this, in times of crisis, prospective seems crucial and the GVOs' point of view can open a research agenda. The French case of GVOs deserves more attention because of their characteristics (e.g., 90% of GVOs have no employees, 75% of them have an annual budget of less than 10,000 euros), their relationship with the public authorities and their strong social impact on the community. The scenarios of evolution of the GVOs sector proposed by La Fonda are analyzed and become filters for the reading of the French literature dedicated to GVOs. They lead to four lines of research (isomorphism; normalization and standardization; evaluation and impact; organizational capacities). Following this, a research agenda dedicated to French GVOs is proposed. This work has intrinsic implications, conducting a literature review and proposing a research agenda compared to international agendas. It highlights the challenges GVOs face and the differences between desirable research in France and international research agendas. It constitutes possible inspirations for GVOs leaders thanks to a synoptic table.