non-governmental organization

Dictionary: NGO

abbr.

nongovernmental organization

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Encyclopedia of Public Health: United States Nongovernmental Organizations

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Societies and their institutions are commonly divided into three sectors: public or governmental, for-profit or corporate, and nonprofit or independent. This number is sometimes reduced to two— public and private. The public sector includes governmental institutions, while the private includes both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Institutions within the nonprofit or independent sector are often referred to as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). This term is somewhat misleading, since it suggests a broader scope—that is, everything outside the governmental sector—than is usually intended. In general, the term refers only to nonprofits and does not include any organizations in the corporate sector.

Broadly speaking, NGOs include charitable organizations such as hospitals, museums, and orchestras; voluntary health agencies such as the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association; foundations or grant-making institutions such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; social welfare organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids; and professional and trade organizations such as chambers of commerce and business leagues. Certain types of NGOs are also called voluntary organizations, development agencies, civil society organizations, membership organizations, mutual aid societies, advocacy organizations, and grassroots organizations.

NGOs are committed to addressing social needs and improving the human condition. In addition to this broad mandate, many NGOs share a number of other characteristics. They recruit and engage volunteers for many of their activities and are usually led by volunteer boards; they place mission before profits; and they engage in activities, such as grassroots advocacy campaigns, that would be difficult or impossible for other organizations. By focusing on a specific mission and drawing on the passionate support of local communities and loyal volunteers, NGOs are able to address issues that organizations in other sectors cannot or will not. Perhaps most important, NGOs enjoy a unique independence in their service to the public. Unlike organizations in the public sector, which are often subject to constant political pressure and regulation, and those in the corporate sector, which are beholden to their owners and shareholders, NGOs are accountable primarily to the public's trust.

With the rise of the modern nation state, social development has increasingly been viewed as the responsibility of government. The growth of social democracies and the welfare state during the twentieth century clearly reflects this belief. However, despite massive investment in social programs, governments have never been able to address fully the many needs of their citizens, nor are these needs often met by the corporate sector. NGOs have emerged in large part to bridge the gap between what governments and corporations can do and what society needs or expects.

The unique history and culture of the United States has played an important role in the growth of NGOs and their precursors, which include a range of disparate associations from volunteer fire departments, church groups, and missions to public and voluntary associations. Alexis de Tocqueville, the nineteenth-century French observer of American democracy and customs, was one of the first to comment on the unusual inclination of Americans to volunteer for community-based efforts. What he saw in America was the embodiment of modern longing for a fresh beginning and a fair start for all amid infinite possibilities. Everything American seemed limitless: its space, its resources, its energy, its pioneering spirit. These Americans are curious, he said. There is present an unusual neighbor-helping-neighbor philosophy. No sooner would someone's barn burn down than the entire community would pitch in to raise a new one. This, he said, was uniquely American. It is only since the 1850s, however, that NGOs in the modern sense have emerged and have begun to influence U.S. society on a broad scale. By the year 2000, the nonprofit sector within the United States included more than a million organizations, about 6 percent of all organizations in the country. Together these organizations allocated and dispensed more than $500 billion a year and employed one in fifteen Americans.

Present-day NGOs are often legal corporations with full-time staffs and governing boards and in the United States are categorized by the Internal Revenue Service as 501 (c)(3)s, (c)(4)s, and (c)(6)s. Their organizational structures are more formal and complex, and their operations are more strategic and businesslike. In fact, although NGOs are commonly defined in opposition to government and for-profit organizations, they frequently display characteristics of both. Many NGOs receive support from the government and for-profit corporations, and they often work in collaboration with these groups, each bringing their particular competencies to bear on a common issue. Such collaborations, especially those with the corporate sector, have often led to an increased professionalism and efficiency in NGOs. In fact, many choose to refer to themselves as notfor-profits, rather that nonprofits, indicating that although they are not in the business of making a profit, they are by no means averse to raising more funds for their work. Of course, unlike for-profit corporations, which distribute earnings and dividends to their shareholders, NGOs roll their surplus revenues into ongoing activities or hold them in reserve to cover future needs.

An important subset of NGOs is involved directly in public health issues and education. International NGOs, such as CARE, Oxfam, and Doctors without Borders, often focus on economic development and disaster relief, seeking to address crisis situations and broad infrastructural issues in order to improve the overall health and well-being of a community. Domestic NGOs provide similar services to low-income areas in the United States in addition to deploying resources and manpower during natural disasters. NGOs that focus on educational and occupational issues may indirectly address public health issues by empowering individuals with new skills and competencies, thereby improving their overall standard of living.

Voluntary health agencies (VHAs) are more directly involved in public health issues, often focusing on a particular disease or risk factor. They were among the earliest nongovernmental organizations established in the United States, with several dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century. Some of the larger and more well known VHAs are the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the March of Dimes, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National Easter Seal Society, the American Lung Association, and the Arthritis Foundation. VHAs are involved in a wide variety of activities including research, advocacy, public education, and patient services. Through experience and recruitment, they have acquired broad expertise in the practice of public health and have become critical to the pursuit and achievement of certain public health principles, such as universal access to health care.

Although it does not focus on a single disease or risk factor, the American Red Cross is viewed by some as an early prototype for the modern voluntary health agency. In October 1863, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement was created in Geneva, Switzerland, to provide nonpartisan care to the wounded and sick in times of war. The American Association of the Red Cross was founded shortly thereafter in 1881. Initially, the organization was led by its president, Clara Barton, and an executive board comprised of eleven members. Shortly after its founding, the Red Cross was called into action to provide aid to the victims of a string of disasters, including war, fires, floods, famine, and hurricanes. To do so, the organization sought out volunteer support and public contributions. Since then, volunteer involvement has been an essential element of its organizational structure. As the organization expanded throughout the country, it began to establish local chapters, creating a model for local involvement that is still used today. Each chapter is responsible for local activities, subject to the policies and regulations of the national organization, and local revenues are generally shared with the parent organization. Over the next two decades, the Red Cross quickly established its place in society, and as the organization entered the twentieth century, its humanitarian efforts were well known and respected among the general public.

The model established by the Red Cross was soon duplicated by a number of other groups established to combat leading causes of death. In 1892, Lawrence F. Flick, a former field hand and tuberculosis patient, founded the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, the first American association of lay and medical professionals dedicated to the conquest of a single disease. In 1904, a national association was established, which quickly developed wide public support. Americans joined the association by the thousands, boosting the number of local affiliates from 23 in 1904 to 431 in 1910. With their support, the association helped accelerate the decline in mortality from tuberculosis through a variety of public health education efforts. The association also developed an early and innovative fundraising campaign, the Christmas seals program. Over the years, the control of tuberculosis has been so successful that the association has refocused its efforts and is now known as the American Lung Association.

The American Cancer Society was another pioneer in the voluntary health movement. In 1913, fifteen prominent physicians and business leaders gathered in New York City to found the American Society for the Control of Cancer (ASCC). Their mission was to disseminate knowledge concerning the symptoms, treatments, and the prevention of cancer; to investigate conditions under which cancer is found; and to compile statistics in regard thereto. The society soon began to establish chapters throughout the country. For many years, however, the majority of its members were concentrated on the East Coast, and consequently, much of its work was focused there. Then, in 1936, Marjorie G. Illig, an ASCC field representative and chair of the General Federation of Women's Clubs Committee on Public Health, established the Women's Field Army, one of the most successful volunteer recruitment structures ever created. Members of the Field Army donned khaki uniforms, complete with insignia of rank and achievement, and went out into the streets to raise money and help educate the public. Clarence Little, the ASCC's managing director at the time, wrote that, "In 1935 there were fifteen thousand people active in cancer control throughout the United States. At the close of 1938, there were ten times that number." In 1945, the ASCC was reorganized as the American Cancer Society. A year later, New York philanthropist Mary Lasker helped raise over $4 million dollars for the society, $1 million of which was used to establish and fund the Society's research program. In the year 2000, the American Cancer Society was the largest voluntary health agency in the world, with over 18 million volunteers and donors, a staff of eight thousand, and $600 million dollars in annual revenue.

No history of voluntary health agencies would be complete without mentioning the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (March of Dimes). In 1938, the foundation began collecting dimes to fund polio research. Seventeen years later, on April 12, 1955, the Salk vaccine became available to the public. Without the foundation's support, this achievement might have been delayed for many years. Indeed, in some ways, the story of the foundation exemplifies the power and possibility of the independent sector: polio was vanquished in large part through the voluntary actions of everyday Americans.

During this period, the foundation was led by Basil O'Connor, a Wall Street lawyer. O'Connor not only directed one of the most successful public health campaigns in history but also reinvigorated the voluntary health movement by applying modern marketing techniques to fundraising and simultaneously inspiring a legion of devoted volunteers to his cause. O'Connor's March of Dimes campaign was enormously successful. In 1938, O'Connor enlisted some of the nation's shrewdest advertising and public relations experts to help develop and implement the inaugural campaign. For weeks, the public was inundated with polio information. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in free advertising was devoted to the cause, and celebrities from Edgar Guest to Walt Disney to Shirley Temple donated their time. The campaign culminated with an on-air appeal from Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, and others, urging listeners to send their dimes to the White House. The public response was enormous. Nearly $2 million was raised during that first campaign and future efforts proved equally successful. Although far more people were affected by cancer and heart disease than polio in 1938, O'Connor was able to capture the public's attention, propelling the National Infantile Paralysis to the forefront of the voluntary health movement.

Since these first organizations came into prominence, many more NGOs have been established. Some are small organizations with only a handful of staff and volunteers. Others operate on a global scale. Whatever the case, NGOs continue to play a critical role in U.S. society. In the future, success will lead to obsolescence for some NGOs, but others will evolve to address unresolved issues and emerging threats, improving the health and wellbeing of the public.

Bibliography

Carter, R. (1992). The Gentle Legions. New Brunswick, NJ: Transition.

Fernando, J. L., and Heston, A. W., eds. (1997). "Introduction: NGOs Between States, Markets, and Civil Society." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 554:46–65.

Green, A., and Matthias, A. (1997). Non-Governmental Organizations and Health in Developing Countries. New York: St. Martin's Press.

— JOHN R. SEFFRIN

Political Dictionary: non-governmental organization

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NGO

The term pressure group has increasingly been displaced by non-governmental organization (NGO). This trend has been encouraged by the groups themselves who regard it as having more favourable connotations. The term originated with the United Nations, which made provision in its charter to give such organizations consultative status. As their numbers grew, the UN redefined and clarified the relationship in Regulation 1966/31 which defined NGOs ‘as any international organization which is not established by a governmental entity or international agreement’. There are now about two thousand NGOs recognized by the UN including international, national, or subnational bodies. The UN definition covers sectional groups such as business organizations. The term has acquired a much wider application and is generally used to refer to various cause groups concerned with such issues as the environment, poverty, women's rights, racism, sexual minorities, and Third World debt. NGOs are prominent in the anti-globalization movement. Levels of public trust in NGOs and their campaigning has been shown to be high in a number of surveys. Global governance agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization have sought to derive greater legitimacy by developing a relationship with them. However, questions have been increasingly raised about their lack of internal democracy, their governance arrangements, and the credibility and representativeness of some of their statements. This may lead to the introduction of codes of conduct and the replication of the ‘insider-outsider’ distinction found in relation to more traditional pressure groups.

— Wyn Grant

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: nongovernmental organization

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Organization that is not part of any government. A key distinction is between not-for-profit groups and for-profit corporations; the vast majority of NGOs are not-for-profit. In some countries, particularly socialist ones, some NGOs are government-organized. The purposes of NGOs cover the entire range of human interests and may be domestic or international in scope. Many NGOs are key sources of information for governments on issues such as human rights abuses and environmental degradation. Some NGOs fulfill quasi-governmental functions for ethnic groups that lack a state of their own. NGOs may be financed by private donations, international organizations, governments, or a combination of these. In Britain, quasi-autonomous nongovernmental organizations, or "quangos," are organizations that have nonelected boards and receive public funds which they also disburse. See also Amnesty International; Greenpeace; World Wildlife Fund.

For more information on nongovernmental organization, visit Britannica.com.

Abbreviations: NGO

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is short for:

Meaning	Category
NG linker object file (NGML)	Computing->File Extensions
Nagoya, Japan	Regional->Airport Codes
Native Green Orange	Miscellaneous->Food
Next Generation Office	Governmental->US Government
Next Generation Online	Internet
Next Government Official	Governmental->US Government
No Good Organization	Business->Firms Miscellaneous->Funnies Business->General
Non Governmental Organization	Governmental->Military Governmental->United Nations Governmental->US Government
Non-Government Organization	Business->General Medical->Laboratory Governmental->State & Local
Organización No Gubernamental	International->Spanish

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Military Dictionary: nongovernmental organizations

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(DOD) Transnational organizations of private citizens that maintain a consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Nongovernmental organizations may be professional associations, foundations, multinational businesses, or simply groups with a common interest in humanitarian assistance activities (development and relief). "Nongovernmental organizations" is a term normally used by non-United States organizations. Also called NGOs.

Politics: NGOs

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An abbreviation for privately run, nongovernment organizations that strive for world betterment. They have frequent contact with various governments and often attempt to influence policy. Amnesty International and Greenpeace are examples of NGOs.

Wikipedia: Non-governmental organization

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"NGO" redirects here. For other uses, see NGO (disambiguation).

Non-governmental organization (NGO) is a term that has become widely accepted as referring to a legally constituted, non-governmental organization created by natural or legal persons with no participation or representation of any government. In the cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO maintains its non-governmental status and excludes government representatives from membership in the organization. Unlike the term intergovernmental organization, "non-governmental organization" is a term in general use but is not a legal definition. In many jurisdictions these types of organization are defined as "civil society organizations" or referred to by other names.

The number of internationally operating NGOs is estimated at 40,000.^[1] National numbers are even higher: Russia has 277,000 NGOs.^[2] India is estimated to have between 1 million and 2 million NGOs.^[3]

1 History
2 Types of NGOs
3 Methods
4 Staffing
5 Funding
6 Monitoring and control
7 Legal status
8 Citizen organization
9 See also
10 Notes and references
11 Further reading
12 External links

History

International non-governmental organizations have a history dating back to at least 1839.^[4] Rotary, later Rotary International, was founded in 1904. It has been estimated that by 1914 there were 1083 NGOs.^[5] International NGOs were important in the anti-slavery movement and the movement for women's suffrage, and reached a peak at the time of the World Disarmament Conference.^[6] However, the phrase "non-governmental organization" only came into popular use with the establishment of the United Nations Organization in 1945 with provisions in Article 71 of Chapter 10 of the United Nations Charter^[7] for a consultative role for organizations which are neither governments nor member states—see Consultative Status. The definition of "international NGO" (INGO) is first given in resolution 288 (X) of ECOSOC on February 27, 1950: it is defined as "any international organization that is not founded by an international treaty". The vital role of NGOs and other "major groups" in sustainable development was recognized in Chapter 27^[8] of Agenda 21, leading to intense arrangements for a consultative relationship between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.^[9]

Rapid development of the non-governmental sector occurred in western countries as a result of the processes of restructurization of the welfare state. Further globalisation of that process occurred after the fall of the communist system and was an important part of the Washington consensus ^[10].

Globalization during the 20th century gave rise to the importance of NGOs. Many problems could not be solved within a nation. International treaties and international organizations such as the World Trade Organization were perceived as being too centred on the interests of capitalist enterprises. Some argued that in an attempt to counterbalance this trend, NGOs have developed to emphasize humanitarian issues, developmental aid and sustainable development. A prominent example of this is the World Social Forum which is a rival convention to the World Economic Forum held annually in January in Davos, Switzerland. The fifth World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in January 2005 was attended by representatives from more than 1,000 NGOs.^{[citation needed]} Some have argued that in forums like these, NGOs take the place of what should belong to popular movements of the poor. Others argue that NGOs are often imperialist in nature, that they sometimes operate in a racialized manner in dominant countries, and that they fulfill a similar function to that of the clergy during the high colonial era. The philosopher Peter Hallward argues that they are an aristocratic form of politics. However, this philosophy would suggest that organizations of indigenous peoples are not represented, which is untrue. ^[11] Whatever the case, NGO transnational networking is now extensive.^[12]

Types of NGOs

Apart from "NGO", often alternative terms are used as for example: independent sector, volunteer sector, civil society, grassroots organizations, transnational social movement organizations, private voluntary organizations, self-help organizations and non-state actors (NSA's).

Non-governmental organizations are a heterogeneous group. A long list of acronyms has developed around the term "NGO".

These include:

BINGO is short for business-oriented international NGO, or big international NGO;
CSO, short for civil society organization;
DONGO: Donor Organized NGO;
ENGO: short for environmental NGO, such as Global 2000;
GONGOs are government-operated NGOs, which may have been set up by governments to look like NGOs in order to qualify for outside aid or promote the interests of the government in question;
INGO stands for international NGO; Education charter international is an international NGO
QUANGOs are quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). (The ISO is actually not purely an NGO, since its membership is by nation, and each nation is represented by what the ISO Council determines to be the 'most broadly representative' standardization body of a nation. That body might itself be a nongovernmental organization; for example, the United States is represented in ISO by the American National Standards Institute, which is independent of the federal government. However, other countries can be represented by national governmental agencies; this is the trend in Europe.)
TANGO: short for technical assistance NGO;
GSO: Grassroots Support Organization
MANGO: short for market advocacy NGO

There are also numerous classifications of NGOs. The typology the World Bank uses divides them into Operational and Advocacy:^[13]

The primary purpose of an operational NGO is the design and implementation of development-related projects. One frequently used categorization is the division into relief-oriented versus development-oriented organizations; they can also be classified according to whether they stress service delivery or participation; or whether they are religious or secular; and whether they are more public or private-oriented. Operational NGOs can be community-based, national or international.

The primary purpose of an Advocacy NGO is to defend or promote a specific cause. As opposed to operational project management, these organizations typically try to raise awareness, acceptance and knowledge by lobbying, press work and activist events.

USAID refers to NGOs as private voluntary organisations. However many scholars have argued that this definition is highly problematic as many NGOs are in fact state and corporate funded and managed projects with professional staff.^{[citation needed]} Furthermore it has often been argued that USAID is in fact a key arm of American imperialism and that it sets up and supports NGOs in order to further imperial agendas. ^[14]

NGOs exist for a variety of reasons, usually to further the political or social goals of their members or funders. Examples include improving the state of the natural environment, encouraging the observance of human rights, improving the welfare of the disadvantaged, or representing a corporate agenda. However, there are a huge number of such organizations and their goals cover a broad range of political and philosophical positions. This can also easily be applied to private schools and athletic organizations.

Methods

NGOs vary in their methods. Some act primarily as lobbyists, while others primarily conduct programs and activities. For instance, an NGO such as Oxfam, concerned with poverty alleviation, might provide needy people with the equipment and skills to find food and clean drinking water, whereas an NGO like the FFDA helps through investigation and documentation of human rights violations and provides legal assistance to victims of human rights abuses. Others, such as Afghanistan Information Management Services, provide specialized technical products and services to support development activities implemented on the ground by other organizations.

Public relations

Non-governmental organizations need healthy relationships with the public to meet their goals. Foundations and charities use sophisticated public relations campaigns to raise funds and employ standard lobbying techniques with governments. Interest groups may be of political importance because of their ability to influence social and political outcomes.

Consulting

Many international NGOs have a consultative status with United Nations agencies relevant to their area of work. As an example, the Third World Network has a consultative status with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). While in 1946, only 41 NGOs had consultative status with the ECOSOC, by 2003 this number had risen to 3,550.

Project management

There is an increasing awareness that management techniques are crucial to project success in non-governmental organizations.^[15] Generally, non-governmental organizations that are private have either a community or environmental focus. They address varieties of issues such as religion, emergency aid, or humanitarian affairs. They mobilize public support and voluntary contributions for aid; they often have strong links with community groups in developing countries, and they often work in areas where government-to-government aid is not possible. NGOs are accepted as a part of the international relations landscape, and while they influence national and multilateral policy-making, increasingly they are more directly involved in local action.

Staffing

Not all people working for non-governmental organizations are volunteers. The reasons people volunteer are not necessarily purely altruistic, and can provide immediate benefits for themselves as well as those they serve, including skills, experience, and contacts.

There is some dispute as to whether expatriates should be sent to developing countries. Frequently this type of personnel is employed to satisfy a donor who wants to see the supported project managed by someone from an industrialized country. However, the expertise these employees or volunteers may have can be counterbalanced by a number of factors: the cost of foreigners is typically higher, they have no grassroot connections in the country they are sent to, and local expertise is often undervalued.^[13]

The NGO sector is an important employer in terms of numbers.^{[citation needed]} For example, by the end of 1995, CONCERN worldwide, an international Northern NGO working against poverty, employed 174 expatriates and just over 5,000 national staff working in ten developing countries in Africa and Asia, and in Haiti.

Funding

Large NGOs may have annual budgets in the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. For instance, the budget of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) was over US$540 million in 1999.^[16] Funding such large budgets demands significant fundraising efforts on the part of most NGOs. Major sources of NGO funding include membership dues, the sale of goods and services, grants from international institutions or national governments, and private donations. Several EU-grants provide funds accessible to NGOs.

Even though the term "non-governmental organization" implies independence from governments, most NGOs depend heavily on governments for their funding^[10]. A quarter of the US$162 million income in 1998 of the famine-relief organization Oxfam was donated by the British government and the EU. The Christian relief and development organization World Vision collected US$55 million worth of goods in 1998 from the American government. Nobel Prize winner Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (known in the USA as Doctors Without Borders) gets 46% of its income from government sources.^[17]

Monitoring and control

In a March 2000 report on United Nations Reform priorities, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote in favor of international humanitarian intervention, arguing that the international community has a "right to protect" citizens of the world against ethnic cleansing, genocide, and crimes against humanity. On the heels of the report, the Canadian government launched the Responsibility to Protect R2PPDF (434 KiB) project, outlining the issue of humanitarian intervention. While the R2P doctrine has wide applications, among the more controversial has been the Canadian government's use of R2P to justify its intervention and support of the coup in Haiti.^{[citation needed]}

Years after R2P, the World Federalist Movement, an organization which supports "the creation of democratic global structures accountable to the citizens of the world and call for the division of international authority among separate agencies", has launched Responsibility to Protect - Engaging Civil Society (R2PCS). A collaboration between the WFM and the Canadian government, this project aims to bring NGOs into lockstep with the principles outlined under the original R2P project.

The governments of the countries an NGO works or is registered in may require reporting or other monitoring and oversight. Funders generally require reporting and assessment, such information is not necessarily publicly available. There may also be associations and watchdog organizations that research and publish details on the actions of NGOs working in particular geographic or program areas.^{[citation needed]}

In recent years, many large corporations have increased their corporate social responsibility departments in an attempt to preempt NGO campaigns against certain corporate practices. As the logic goes, if corporations work with NGOs, NGOs will not work against corporations.

In December 2007, The United States Department of Defense Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) [1] established an International Health Division under Force Health Protection & Readiness [2]. Part of International Health's mission is to communicate with NGOs in areas of mutual interest. Department of Defense Directive 3000.05 [3], in 2005, requires DoD to regard stability-enhancing activities as a mission of importance equal to warfighting. In compliance with international law, DoD has necessarily built a capacity to improve essential services in areas of conflict such as Iraq, where the customary lead agencies (State Department and USAID) find it difficult to operate. Unlike the "co-option" strategy described for corporations, the OASD(HA) recognizes the neutrality of health as an essential service. International Health cultivates collaborative relationships with NGOs, albeit at arms-length, recognizing their traditional independence, expertise and honest broker status. While the goals of DoD and NGOs may seem incongruent, the DoD's emphasis on stability and security to reduce and prevent conflict suggests, on careful analysis, important mutual interests.

Legal status

The legal form of NGOs is diverse and depends upon homegrown variations in each country's laws and practices. However, four main family groups of NGOs can be found worldwide:^[18]

Unincorporated and voluntary association
Trusts, charities and foundations
Companies not just for profit
Entities formed or registered under special NGO or nonprofit laws

NGOs are not subjects of international law, as states are. An exception is the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is subject to certain specific matters, mainly relating to the Geneva Convention.

The Council of Europe in Strasbourg drafted the European Convention on the Recognition of the Legal Personality of International Non-Governmental Organizations in 1986, which sets a common legal basis for the existence and work of NGOs in Europe. Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to freedom of association, which is also a fundamental norm for NGOs.

Citizen organization

There is a growing movement within the “non”-profit and “non”-government sector to define itself in a more constructive, accurate way. Instead of being defined by “non” words, organizations are suggesting new terminology to describe the sector. The term “civil society organization” (CSO) has been used by a growing number of organizations, such as the Center for the Study of Global Governance.^[19] The term “citizen sector organization” (CSO) has also been advocated to describe the sector — as one of citizens, for citizens.^[20] This labels and positions the sector as its own entity, without relying on language used for the government or business sectors. However some have argued that this is not particularly helpful given that most NGOs are in fact funded by governments and business and that some NGOs are clearly hostile to independently organized people's organizations.^[10]^[21]

Notes and references

^ (Anheier et al., "Global Civil Society 2001", 2001)
^ Hobbled NGOs wary of Medvedev - - chicagotribune.com
^ http://www.indianngos.com/ngosection/newcomers/whatisanngo.htm "What is an NGO?" January 5, 2007
^ The Rise and Fall of Transnational Civil Society: The Evolution of International Non-Governmental Organizations since 1839. By T. R. Davies City Universipawel is gayty London Working Paper
^ Subcontracting Peace - The Challenges of NGO Peacebuilding. Edited by: Richmond, Oliver P., and Carey, Henry F. Published by Ashgate, 2005. Page 21.
^ Davies, Thomas Richard (2007). The Possibilities of Transnational Activism: the Campaign for Disarmament between the Two World Wars. ISBN 978 9004162 58 7.
^ Charter Of The United Nations: Chapter X
^ Agenda 21 - Chapter 27: Strengthening the Role of Non-governmental Organizations: Partners for Sustainable Development, Earth Summit, 1992
^ 1996/31. Consultative relationship between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations
^ ^a ^b ^c Pawel Zaleski Global Non-governmental Administrative System: Geosociology of the Third Sector, [in:] Gawin, Dariusz & Glinski, Piotr [ed.]: "Civil Society in the Making", IFiS Publishers, Warszawa 2006
^ See his, Damming the Flood (Verso, London, 2007.)
^ Stone, Diane. "Transfer Agents and Global Networks in the ‘Transnationalisation’ of Policy", Journal of European Public Policy, 11(3) 2004: 545–66.
^ ^a ^b http://docs.lib.duke.edu/igo/guides/ngo/define.htm World Bank Criteria defining NGO
^ See William Robinson's Promoting Polyarchy (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996)
^ http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CCS/pdf/int-work-paper4.pdfPDF (100 KiB) Mukasa, Sarah. Are expatriate staff necessary in international development NGOs? A case study of an international NGO in Uganda. Publication of the Centre for Civil Society at London School of Economics. 2002, p. 11–13.
^ "Poll shows power of AIPAC drops slightly". Jewish News Weekly of Northern California. 1999-12-19. http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/12687/edition_id/245/format/html/displaystory.html. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
^ http://www.intractableconflict.org/m/role_ngo.jsp Intractable Conflict Knowledge Base Project of the Conflict Research Consortium at the University of Colorado.
^ Grant B. Stillman (2007), Global Standard NGOs, Geneva: Lulu, pp. 13-14.
^ Glasius, Marlies, Mary Kaldor and Helmut Anheier (eds.) "Global Civil Society 2006/7". London: Sage, 2005.
^ Drayton, W: "Words Matter". Alliance Magazine, Vol. 12/No.2, June 2007.
^ South African Grassroots Movements Rebel Against NGO Authoritarianism

External links

[http://www.WorldNGOs.org/ www.WorldNGOs.org] Platform between World Wide NGOs and its associates.
[http://www.fundsforngos.org/ www.fundsforngos.org] Grants, resources and sustainability for NGOs
A brief history of Non-Governmental Organizations
Duke University NGO Library
Global Policy Forum: The site includes articles on a wide range of aspects of NGOs.
London School of Economics International Working Paper Series on NGOs
What is a Non-Governmental Organization? City University, London
Global Forum on NGO Governance
100 Tips 100 Tools for Better Governed NGOs

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Main topics	Philanthropy · Alms · Tzedakah · Zakat · Tithe · Altruism · Gift · Donation · Alternative giving · Youth philanthropy · Volunteering · Noblesse oblige

Organization types	Voluntary association · Non-profit organization · Non-governmental organization · Registered charity, Charitable trust · Foundation · Private foundation · Charitable organization · Public-benefit nonprofit corporation · Mutual-benefit nonprofit corporation · Religious corporation

Additional topics	Charity Navigator · Charity badge · List of charitable foundations · List of wealthiest charitable foundations · Click-to-donate site · Halukka · Meshulach · Master of Nonprofit Organizations · Charity/thrift/op shop

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Translations: Ngo

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Dansk (Danish)
abbr. - Non-governmental organization, = græsrodsbevægelse

Français (French)
abbr. - (abrév = Non-Governmental Organization) ONG organisation non-gouvernementale

Deutsch (German)
abbr. - Nicht-Regierungs-Organisation

Ελληνική (Greek)
abbr. - μη κυβερνητικός φορέας

Italiano (Italian)
organismo non governativo

Português (Portuguese)
abbr. - ONG

Русский (Russian)
негосударственная организация

Español (Spanish)
abbr. - organización no gubernamental

Svenska (Swedish)
abbr. - Non-Governmental Organisation, ideell förening

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
非政府组织的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
abbr. - 非政府組織的

한국어 (Korean)
abbr. - non-governmental organization(비정치단체)

日本語 (Japanese)
abbr. - 非政府組織

עברית (Hebrew)
abbr. - ‮ארגון לא-ממשלתי (משפט בינלאומי)‬

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