Social enterprise and their eco-system: A European mapping report of Croatia

This fiche is part of the study “Social enterprises and their ecosystems in Europe” and it provides an overview of the social enterprise landscape in Norway based on available information as of December 2018.

This mapping update gives an overview of the background and roots, concepts, legal evolution, fiscal framework, legal forms, data and ecosystem of social enterprise in Croatia. It also reflects on current debate around social enterprise at the national level, provides an overview of the constraining factors and opportunities, and sketches trends and future challenges for social enterprise and its ecosystem in the country. The first section provides an historical analysis of the various traditions and roots that shaped the background of current Croatian social enterprises. It briefly describes the tradition of voluntary organisations, charity and philanthropy, as well as of the cooperative sector that dates back to the 19th century and frames the background influences of today’s social enterprises. This section describes historical transformation of some of the existing legal forms, such as associations and cooperatives. It also discusses the roles of church based organisations, mutual aid societies and formal and informal mutual financial initiatives. The section also reflects on recent influences that have shaped the present context around social enterprises in Croatia, in particular, the impact of donor communities on one side, and European Union (EU) integration on the other side…