In France，the public subvention granted to social groups and organizations manifests various kinds of non-obligatory support from government departments or public institutions. Its goal is to serve the public welfare and only the social groups with the legal person status are qualified to apply for it. Offering public subvention to social organizations is firstly the manifestation of the state’s responsibility for supporting social groups，and meanwhile the public welfare achieved through the public subvention granted to the social organizations is the outcome of the convention between government and social organizations，as well as that of the governmental purchase of service from social groups with public subvention. The public subvention constitutes an important form for the government to purchase service from social organizations，by which the two parties develop two types of cooperative relationships：directional and semi-directional. As one of the important forms for the government to purchase service from social organizations，the public subvention system is of greater significance than governmental procurement（commande publique）for encouraging social innovations. The public subvention helps to mobilize more social resources by financing commonweal activities carried out by social groups. In addition，government is able to discover potential social needs through social groups and organizations，thereby proposing plans inspired by folk wisdom in response to social problems. In this way，the category and scale of social service assumed by the government are expanded and new ideas are provided for the reforms of social policy. In recent years，the proportion of governmental procurement has been increasing in the governmental practice of service purchase from social groups and organizations，which reflects some new changes in the cooperation mechanism between the two，however，the public subvention keeps playing an essential and positive role in conducting social organizations to provide social services and to participate in social governance.