The survey is a national initiative. It responds directly to one of the key recommendations of the CNIS report "Knowledge of associations" published in December 2010. The medium-term opinion of the CNIS for the period 2014-2018 recommended that the survey on associations be carried out regularly (opinion no. 2 of the Companies and Market Strategies Commission), specified by the opinion resulting from the commission's meeting of 30 March 2016, which recommends a five-yearly rhythm. The 2019 survey is therefore directly in line with this schedule.

In accordance with the recommendations of the CNIS report, one of the objectives of the Associations survey is also to contribute to the construction of the national accounts, starting with the NPISH (non-profit institutions serving households) account. Until now, the NPISH account has used framework data from the survey Paysage associatif of the Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne, and one of the objectives of the INSEE survey is to take over in the field of public statistics. This development will be studied starting in the fall of 2018, when the "worksites" related to the next change in the basis of accounts are set up.

The results of the Associations survey are of interest to several ministerial statistical services (SSM), the Meos (Ministry of Youth and Sports), the Deps (Ministry of Culture), the Dares (Ministry of Labor) and the Drees (Ministry of Health).

Organized associations, researchers and elected officials are also users of these results.