Position of the non-profit sector in the regional economic system

Currently Russia’s regions are actively forming the non-profit sector, which is a network of non-profit and non-governmental organizations with a wide range of activities focused on the needs of people and contributing significantly to socio-economic development of territories. The aim of this work is to determine the place of non-profit organizations in the formation of a mixed economy of the region. In the first part of article with the use of the method of analysis of statistical information we show the role of the non-profit sector in the economy and social sphere at the federal and regional level. We use parameters such as the proportion of non-governmental associations in GDP, number of employees, types of activities and the number of social services. In the second part of the article we use theoretical methods for the interpretation, analysis and generalization of approaches to the definition of “region”. We consider two related approaches: administrative-territorial (V.N. Leksin, A.N. Shvetsov, G.V. Gutman, V.G. Ignatov, V I. Butov and others) and system approach (A.G. Granberg, A.S. Marshalova, A. S. Novoselov, T. V. Uskova, etc.). From the point of view of system approach we consider the structure of the region and the main components of its subsystem. It is revealed that, despite the increasing role of the non-profit sector in territory development, its place in the existing decompositions of the region at the moment is not defined, which, respectively, determines the relevance and scientific novelty of this article. Thus, in the concluding part we point out that the non-profit sector plays a significant role in the region and is its structural element, representing an independent subsystem. In this regard, it is proposed to take into account the activity of non-profit institutions when working out territorial development strategies and state programs. In the future, with a focus on the point of view presented in the paper, it is planned to develop and test a methodology for assessing the capacity of non-profit organizations in the regional economic system.