As in other contexts, Portugal developed over centuries through forms of collective organisation that long preceded modern concepts of the social economy. Understanding the trajectory of the nonprofit sector in Portugal requires going back to medieval rural communities, traversing the reformist movements of the nineteenth century, confronting decades of dictatorship, and arriving at the democratic construction that began in 1974. 

The History of the Nonprofit Sector in Portugal

Pre-Modern Roots of Cooperation and Reciprocity

In medieval rural communities, neighbourhood councils collectively managed common lands, pastures, water sources and shared ovens. Some of these practices survived until the twentieth century in remote villages such as Vilarinho das Furnas or Rio de Onor, where much of the territory remained communal, administered by assemblies in which each family had a voice. Community management already included the mutualisation of risks, such as the loss of livestock, which provided the impetus for the first voluntary associations based on reciprocity in the eighteenth century. 

From the twelfth century onwards, religious confraternities flourished, numbering more than eight thousand across Portuguese territory by 1861. Although acts of worship constituted their ostensible function, these institutions performed crucial social functions: assistance in poverty, care during illness, and the guarantee of a dignified funeral. The charter of the Confraternity of the Good Men of Beja, dated 1297, established that if any member became infirm, aged, or fell into great poverty, the remaining brethren would sustain him amongst themselves. 

Trade guilds completed this picture in urban centres, regulating access to professions and providing assistance to artisans in difficulty. In fishing communities, specific forms of solidarity developed from the twelfth century: collective funds to aid the shipwrecked, widows and orphans, credit for vessel repairs, and contributions proportional to the earnings of the fishing crews. 

In Vilarinho das Furnas, representatives of the families met once a week in general assemblies, which they called Juntas or Ajuntas, and, among them, elected a group of six men, appointed by the Six of the Agreement, nominating among all the married voters, marriage order. There was also an elected judge, the janitor. 

Read the full article about the history of the nonprofit sector in Portugal at Alliance Magazine.