The US JIGS 2 project is part of the JIGS 2 project led by Yutaka Tsujinaka of the University of Tsukuba (see below). In this project, we conducted surveys of civil society groups (including both nonprofit organizations and also neighborhood groups) in Seattle and Washington DC. I   am joined in this project by Steven Rathgeb Smith, Professor of Public Affairs and Director of the Nancy Bell Evans Center, Evans School of Public Affairs (UW). Partnering with community nonprofits is a central goal of the Seattle survey. We were fortunate to be supported by a distinguished Board of Advisors for the project.  We conducted the Seattle survey in 2009 (actually, King County registered groups). We received 1227 complete responses (30.8%) and 274 partial responses (6.9%) to an extensive questionnaire. The Urban Institute conducted the DC survey for us from January 2010 to July 2010. The Urban Institute team was led by Carol DeVita, and we worked closely with Elizabeth Boris. Steven Rathgeb Smith, Yutaka Tsujinaka, and I hosted a conference at Georgetown University on the topic of "Nonprofits and Advocacy," and organized panels on the theme at ARNOVA, APSA, and APPAM.

                     Steven Rathgeb Smith                             

The US JIGS 2 project stands on its own. However, it should also be appreciated in the context of the overall JIGS research project, which I'll introduce below through a few FAQs.

What is JIGS? JIGS is the acronym for a series of broad surveys of civil society organizations led by Yutaka Tsujinaka of the University of Tsukuba in Japan conducted in 10 countries since 1997.[1]  The scope of the survey is of a broad range of associations, including business associations, advocacy groups, social welfare groups, internationally-oriented groups, etc. The survey instrument is a detailed questionnaire with 39 questions and over 200 sub questions about organizational features, history, resources, objectives, scale, scope and relationship with political actors. Nearly 10,000 groups have completed the surveys in target countries, with impressive return rates in many countries (e.g. 38.5% in Japan and 47.4% in Russia). The only comparable surveys are the Johns Hopkins University Comparative Nonprofit Sector, but the JIGS surveys complement these surveys nicely in several ways. First, the JIGS methodology also surveys groups that do not have official government status. Second, the JIGS survey instrument provides more detailed information about the groups. Third, the JIGS survey results allow for more detailed statistical analysis, because scores across variables are associated with an identified group. Finally, funding has been secured for a second set of JIGS surveys which will provide important longitudinal data analysis possibilities.  

What is 10-10-10,000? The JIGS team has conducted surveys in 10 countries over a 10 year period and collected data from about 10,000 organizations.

                                         JIGS leader Yutaka Tsujinaka

Research/Theoretical Objectives: The JIGS research team aims to investigate civil society organizations and interest groups as independent and dependent variables across a range of research questions.

 JIGS so far: Surveys have been conducted in ten countries: Japan (1997), Korea (1997), USA (1999), Germany (2000), China (2001-02, and 2004-04), Turkey (2003-04), Russia (2003-04), the Philippines (2004-05), Brazil (2005-06), and Bangladesh (planned 2006-07). In each country, there were at least two survey sites, the capital city and another region (e.g. Tokyo and Ibaraki prefecture in Japan; Beijing, Xianju and Heilongjiang in China; Washington DC and North Carolina in the USA). Data has been collected from all these states (except Bangladesh), and analyzed for 7 of the countries.

 The collection of JIGS data is not an end in itself but a means to produce research results. The JIGS team members have a rich publishing history.  Several books and numerous articles and edited volume chapters have come out from the first wave of the JIGS project. The place to start is Tsujinaka, Yutaka, ed. 2002. Gendai nihon-no shimin shakai, rieki dantai (Modern Japanese Civil Society and Interest Groups), Tokyo: Bokutakusha, ISBN4-8332-2319. 辻中豊 編著 『現代日本の市民社会・利益団体』 木鐸社、2002年 The book has been translated into Korean. There is also a second volume on Korean civil society, co-edited by Tsujinaka and Jaeho Yeom. 辻中豊・廉載鎬 編著 『現代韓国の市民社会・利益団体――日韓比較による体制移行の研究』 木鐸社、 2004年. I also used JIGS data in my Japan's Dual Civil Society book.

 JIGS in the future: The Japanese version of the National Science Foundation, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, has granted the JIGS team led by Tsujinaka over US$2 million in funding for this third stage of the project from 2005-2010. The third stage will involve a second wave of JIGS surveys in Japan (3 surveys), Korea, the US, China, and Germany, with three cites for each nation this time.

For more details on this ambitious project, see the project website:

http://csc.social.tsukuba.ac.jp/top_intro_j.htm (Japanese)

http://csc.social.tsukuba.ac.jp/ (English)