What is föreningsliv in Sweden?
Föreningsliv – association or club life – is a central part of Sweden's social fabric. Rather than socialising in bars, cafés or on the streets, a big chunk of Swedish social life has historically taken place around things like football clubs, weaving circles, tango dancing groups and the like.
More than half the population in Sweden is involved in running some sort of voluntary organisation or club, and of those that are involved, half are involved in running two or more.
And Swedes are proud of the rather formal way clubs and associations are organised. Most have a board led by a chair, normally with a deputy chair, secretary, treasurer, and other board members. Swedes see this level of organisation life as a "school for democracy", the fundamental building block of an effective system for reaching consensus that reaches all the way to the national parliament.
So for foreigners, getting involved in föreningsliv is a quick and effective way to get more integrated, helping them not only to meet Swedes but also to understand how they think and what makes the country tick.
What do you need to start a förening in Sweden?
There's nothing to stop you just getting together with some people with similar interests and just starting a club or association without registering it anywhere at all.
Freedom of association, or föreningsfrihet, is one of Sweden's fundamental constitutional rights, going right back to the 1600s, and that freedom includes the right to run your club however you see fit, without needing to register it with any government agency.
You also do not need to have stadgar (rules), a styrelse (board), or any officers. But Swedes would generally want to have this structure in place, whether or not they decide to register the club formally.
If you want your club or association to outlast you, want to have a shared bank account, or want to be able to apply for and receive grants, it can be worth registering as a voluntary organisation or ideell förening.
How do you start a förening?
To establish a new club formally takes three clear steps:
- You need to meet (or communicate online) to decide what sort of club or association you want to start, what the name will be, and sketch out what you will do. The people at this meeting can call themselves the interimstyrelse, or interim board, but no such formalities are necessary.
- You need to draw up a list of stadgar or club statutes. These should include a description of the association's name, its aims and goals, and how decisions will be made. The Swedish Sports Confederation has a helpful template for a new organisation's statutes here, which covers most of questions you need to agree on.
- You need to hold a meeting where the association is formally established and its board chosen.
What needs to happen in the meeting establishing an association in Sweden?
Protocols are taken very seriously in Swedish föreningsliv, so the establishing meeting will typically be announced in advance on social media or with a leaflet posted somewhere where those likely to be interested might see it.
The meeting should be open to people unknown to the founding members, and the issues to be discussed should be laid out in an agenda sent out in advance.
The meeting will normally follow a standard agenda, which will run something like this:
- Register of all those present
- Selection of chair for the meeting
- Selection of secretary for the meeting
- Selection of two justerare. The job of a justerare is to check that the record of the meeting made by the secretary is accurate.
- Determination of the agenda for the meeting
- Vote on whether the association should be established
- Discussion and vote on whether the statutes put forward should be accepted
- Discussion and vote on the name of the association
- Decision on whether there should be a membership fee (and if so, how much)
- Decision on a board, with a chair and at least two board members, who will stay in place until the first annual meeting
- Decision on date for first annual meeting
The stadgar will normally state that the call out to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) must take place at least two weeks before it happens, so the next stage is to call an AGM inviting everyone you expect to want to take part in the club. At this meeting, a new board is voted in with the acceptance of all members in attendance.
How to register a förening
If you want your club or association to have a bank account, be able to hire premises, apply for grants or work with companies or the municipality, you need to register it with the Swedish Tax Agency.
You can apply for an organisation number through filling in this form here and sending it to the Swedish Tax Agency together with your organisation's statutes and the protocol from the meeting establishing it.
What next?
It can be helpful for sports clubs to be part of an umbrella organisation for their sport, which is perhaps best done through this form on the website of the Swedish Sports Confederation, which will direct clubs to the right organisation.
You can also apply for grants from your local municipality to help run your club or association, with applications in Stockholm made on this page here, in Gothenburg here, and in Malmö here.
Good luck!
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