IT is seen as the means to develop healthcare and social welfare ser- vices for citizens and to improve the quality of medical and social welfare data. This is deemed to require better IT cooperation between organizations. My re- search investigates the formation of voluntary inter-organizational IT govern- ance in healthcare and social welfare IT engaging over 100 organizations. At- tention is placed especially on the perceived benefits of IT governance. Results suggest that concrete benefits are necessary for the formation of inter- organizational IT governance arrangements. The anticipated benefits of patient data improvement and short-term benefits were evaluated more important than the expected long-term improvements of healthcare and social welfare reforms.