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A non-governmental organization ( NGO) is a typically nonprofit organization that operates partially independent of government control, though an NGO may get a significant percentage, or even all of its funding from government sources. NGOs often focus on humanitarian or social issues but can also include clubs and associations offering services to members. Some NGOs, like the World Economic Forum, may also act as lobby groups for corporations. Unlike international organizations (IOs), which directly interact with sovereign states and governments, NGOs are independent from them.
The term as it is used today was first introduced in Article 71 of the newly formed United Nations Charter in 1945. While there is no fixed or formal definition for what NGOs are, they are generally defined as nonprofit entities that are independent of governmental influence—although they may receive government funding.
According to the UN Department of Global Communications, an NGO is "a Not-for-Profit, Voluntary sector citizen's group that is organized on a local, national or international level to address issues in support of the public good". The term NGO is used inconsistently, and is sometimes used synonymously with civil society organization (CSO), which is any association founded by citizens."
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the United States" (fact sheet). 20 January 2017. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. U.S. Department of State. state.gov. Retrieved 21 September 2017. In some countries, NGOs are known as nonprofit organizations while Political party and are sometimes considered NGOs as well.
NGOs are classified by (1) orientation- entailing the type of activities an NGO undertakes, such as activities involving human rights, consumer protection, environmentalism, health, or development; and (2) level of operation, which indicates the scale at which an organization works: local, regional, national, or international.
Russia had about 277,000 NGOs in 2008. India is estimated to have had about 2 million NGOs in 2009 (approximately one per 600 Indians), many more than the number of the country's primary schools and health centers. The United States, by comparison, has approximately 1.5 million NGOs.
NGOs can be in the following ways;:
Some Romance languages use the synonymous abbreviation ONG; for example:
Other acronyms that are typically used to describe non-governmental organizations include:
NGOs also play a critical role in driving change by advocating for policies and practices that benefit disadvantaged communities. They often work in partnership with other organizations, including government agencies, to address complex challenges that require a collaborative approach. One of the key strengths of NGOs is their ability to work at the grassroots level and to connect with communities directly. This allows them to gain a deep understanding of the issues facing people and to tailor their services to meet the specific needs of each community.
NGOs vary by method; some are primarily , and others conduct programs and activities. Oxfam, concerned with poverty alleviation, may provide needy people with the equipment and skills to obtain food and drinking water; the Forum for Fact-finding Documentation and Advocacy (FFDA) helps provide legal assistance to victims of human-rights abuses. The Afghanistan Information Management Services provide specialized technical products and services to support development activities implemented on the ground by other organizations. Management techniques are crucial to project success. 100 LSE.ac.uk , 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 the London School of Economics. 2002, p. 11-13.
The World Bank classifies NGO activity into two general categories: World Bank Criteria defining NGO
NGOs may also conduct both activities: operational NGOs will use campaigning techniques if they face issues in the field, which could be remedied by policy change, and campaigning NGOs (such as human-rights organizations) often have programs which assist individual victims for whom they are trying to advocate.
Campaigning NGOs often deal with issues related to human rights, women's rights, and children's rights, and their primary purpose is to defend (or promote) a specific cause.
On average, employees in NGOs earn 11-12% less compared to employees of for-profit organizations and government workers with the same number of qualifications . However, in many cases NGOs employees receive more fringe benefits.
Funding sources include membership dues, the sale of goods and services, grants from international institutions or national governments, corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds and private donations. Although the term "non-governmental organization" implies independence from governments, many NGOs depend on government funding; one-fourth of Oxfam's US$162 million 1998 income was donated by the British government and the EU, and World Vision United States collected $55 million worth of goods in 1998 from the American government. Several EU grants provide funds accessible to NGOs.
Government funding of NGOs is controversial, since "the whole point of humanitarian intervention was precise that NGOs and civil society had both a right and an obligation to respond with acts of aid and solidarity to people in need or being subjected to repression or want by the forces that controlled them, whatever the governments concerned might think about the matter." Some NGOs, such as Greenpeace, do not accept funding from governments or intergovernmental organizations. The 1999 budget of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) was over $540 million.
In America, government funding of NGOs relating to immigration is common, and is one of the stated methods the Office of Refugee Resettlement uses to help integrate immigrants to America. Government funding sometimes accounts for the vast majority of overall funding for these NGOs, for example Global Refuge received 180 million dollars of its 207 million dollar budget from federal funding. In recent years, government contracts to non-profits have exploded both in number and size. The Budget for the Office of Refugee Resettlement has increased from 1.8 billion in 2018 to 6.3 billion in 2022. Critics point to the million-dollar salaries of CEOS and the use of funds for "music therapy" and "pet therapy" as a worrying sign that the money might not be appropriated to help the migrant crisis, but rather as a political move to keep wealthy backers loyal.
A sole focus on overhead, however, can be counterproductive. Research published by the Urban Institute and Stanford University's Center for Social Innovation have shown that rating agencies create incentives for NGOs to lower (and hide) overhead costs, which may reduce organizational effectiveness by starving organizations of infrastructure to deliver services. An alternative rating system would provide, in addition to financial data, a qualitative evaluation of an organization's transparency and governance:
Large corporations have increased their corporate social responsibility departments to preempt NGO campaigns against corporate practices. Collaboration between corporations and NGOs risks co-option of the weaker partner, typically the NGO.
In December 2007, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs S. Ward Casscells established an International Health Division of Force Health Protection & Readiness. Part of International Health's mission is to communicate with NGOs about areas of mutual interest. Department of Defense Directive 3000.05, in 2005, required the US Defense Department to regard stability-enhancing activities as equally important as combat. In compliance with international law, the department has developed a capacity to improve essential services in areas of conflict (such as Iraq) where customary lead agencies like the State Department and USAID have difficulty operating. International Health cultivates collaborative, arm's-length relationships with NGOs, recognizing their independence, expertise, and honest-broker status.
The term became popular with the 1945 founding of the United Nations in 1945; Article 71 in Chapter X of its charter stipulated consultative status for organizations which are neither governments nor member states. An international NGO was first defined in resolution 288 (X) of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on February 27, 1950, as "any international organization that is not founded by an international treaty". The role of NGOs and other "major groups" in sustainable development was recognized in Chapter 27 of Agenda 21. The rise and fall of international NGOs matches contemporary events, waxing in periods of growth and waning in times of crisis.Boli, J. and Thomas, G. M. (1997) World Culture in the World Polity: A century of International Non-Governmental Organization. American Sociological Review. pp. 177 The United Nations gave non-governmental organizations observer status at its assemblies and some meetings. According to the UN, an NGO is a private, not-for-profit organization which is independent of government control and is not merely an opposition political party. An observer has access to most meetings and relevant documentation.
The rapid development of the non-governmental sector occurred in Western countries as a result of the restructuring of the welfare state. Globalization of that process occurred after the fall of the communist system, and was an important part of the Washington Consensus.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, Warsaw (2006)
Twentieth-century globalization increased the importance of NGOs. Treaty and organizations, such as the World Trade Organization, focused on Capitalism interests. To counterbalance this trend, NGOs emphasize Humanitarianism, development aid, and sustainable development. An example is the World Social Forum, a rival convention of the World Economic Forum held each January in Davos, Switzerland. The fifth World Social Forum, in Porto Alegre, Brazil in January 2005, was attended by representatives of over 1,000 NGOs. The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, attended by about 2,400 representatives, was the first to demonstrate the power of international NGOs in environmental issues and sustainable development. Transnational NGO networking has become extensive.
The Council of Europe drafted the European Convention on the Recognition of the Legal Personality of International Non-Governmental Organisations in Strasbourg in 1986, creating a common legal basis for European NGOs. Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to associate, which is fundamental for NGOs.
Specifically, even when the government is the key investor, ownership by an NGO is optimal if and only if the NGO has a larger valuation of the project than the government. However, the general validity of this argument has been questioned by follow-up research. In particular, ownership by the party with the larger valuation need not be optimal when the public good is partially excludable, when both NGO and government may be indispensable, or when the NGO and the government have different bargaining powers. Moreover, the investment technology can matter for the optimal ownership structure when there are bargaining frictions, when the parties interact repeatedly or when the parties are asymmetrically informed.
Advocacy and public-education NGOs aim to modify behavior and ideas through communication, crafting messages to promote social, political, or environmental changes (and as news organisations have cut foreign bureaux, many NGOs have begun to expand into news reporting). Movement NGOs mobilize the public and coordinate large-scale collective activities to advance an activist agenda. (2025). 9781137263162, Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137263162
Since the end of the Cold War, more NGOs in developed countries have pursued international outreach. By being involved in local and national social resistance, they have influenced domestic policy change in the developing world.{Keck, Margaret, and Kathryn Sikkink, 1998. Activists beyond borders: Advocacy networks in international politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.} Specialized NGOs have forged partnerships, built networks, and found policy niches.
NGOs often work in complex environments, where multiple stakeholders have different interests and goals. Diplomacy allows NGOs to navigate these complex environments and engage in constructive dialogue with different actors to promote understanding, build consensus, and facilitate cooperation.
Effective NGO diplomacy involves building trust, fostering dialogue, and promoting transparency and accountability. NGOs may engage in diplomacy through various means such as including advocacy, lobbying, partnerships, and negotiations. By working collaboratively with other organizations and stakeholders, NGOs can achieve greater impact and reach their goals more effectively.
In his study of NGO involvement in Mozambique, James Pfeiffer addresses their negative effects on the country's health. According to Pfeiffer, NGOs in Mozambique have "fragmented the local health system, undermined local control of health programs, and contributed to growing local social inequality". They can be uncoordinated, creating parallel projects which divert health-service workers from their normal duties to instead serve the NGOs. This undermines local primary-healthcare efforts, and removes the government's ability to maintain agency over its health sector. Pfeiffer suggested a collaborative model of the NGO and the DPS (the Mozambique Provincial Health Directorate); the NGO should be "formally held to standard and adherence within the host country", reduce "showcase" projects and unsustainable parallel programs.
In her 1997 Foreign Affairs article, Jessica Mathews wrote: "For all their strengths, NGOs are special interests. The best of them ... often suffer from tunnel vision, judging every public act by how it affects their particular interest". NGOs are unencumbered by policy trade-offs.Bond, M. (2000) "The Backlash against NGOs". Prospect.
According to Vijay Prashad, since the 1970s "the World Bank, under Robert McNamara, championed the NGO as an alternative to the state, leaving intact global and regional relations of power and production.", Vijay Prashad, Australian Marxist Review, No. 40 August 1998
They have been questioned as "too much of a good thing". Eric Werker and Faisal Ahmed made three critiques of NGOs in developing nations. Too many NGOs in a nation (particularly one ruled by a warlord) reduces an NGO's influence, since it can easily be replaced by another NGO. Resource allocation and outsourcing to local organizations in international-development projects incurs expenses for an NGO, lessening the resources and money available to the intended beneficiaries. NGO missions tend to be paternalistic, as well as expensive.
The tax-exempt status of NGOs can result in the unintended consequence of negative value for society.
They have been accused of being designed by, and used as extensions of, the foreign-policy instruments of some Western countries and groups of countries. Russian president Vladimir Putin made that accusation at the 43rd Munich Security Conference in 2007, saying that NGOs "are formally independent but they are purposefully financed and therefore under control".
According to Michael Bond, "Most large NGOs, such as Oxfam, the Red Cross, Cafod and ActionAid, are striving to make their aid provision more sustainable. But some, mostly in the US, are still exporting the ideologies of their backers."Bond, Michael. "The Backlash against NGOs". Prospect, April 2000, pp.321. Print.
NGOs have been challenged as not representing the needs of the developing world, diminishing the "Southern voice" and preserving the North–South divide.Lindenberg, M. and Bryant, C. (2001) Going Global: Transforming Relief and Development NGOs. Bloomfield: Kumarian Press. The equality of relationships between northern and southern parts of an NGO, and between southern and northern NGOs working in partnership, has been questioned; the north may lead in advocacy and resource mobilization, and the south delivers services in the developing world. The needs of the developing world may not be addressed appropriately, as northern NGOs do not consult (or participate in) partnerships or assign unrepresentative priorities., Jenkins, R. (2001) "Corporate Codes of Conduct: Self-Regulation in a Global Economy". Technology, Business and Society Programme Paper Number 2. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. NGOs have been accused of damaging the public sector in target countries, such as mismanagement resulting in the breakdown of public healthcare systems.
An NGO's funding affects its legitimacy, and they have become increasingly dependent on a limited number of donors.Edwards, M. and Hulme, D. (1996) Too Close for comfort? The impact of official aid on Non-Governmental Organisations. "World Development." 24(6), pp. 961–973. Competition for funds has increased, in addition to the expectations of donors who may add conditions threatening an NGO's independence.Ebrahim, A. (2003) "Accountability in practice: Mechanisms for NGOs". World Development 31(5), pp. 813–829. Dependence on official aid may dilute "the willingness of NGOs to speak out on issues which are unpopular with governments", and changes in NGO funding sources have altered their function.
The scale and variety of activities in which NGOs participate have grown rapidly since 1980, and particularly since 1990.Avina, J. (1993) The Evolutionary Life Cycles if Non-Governmental Development Organisations. "Public Administration and Development." 13(5), pp. 453–474. NGOs need to balance centralization and decentralization. Centralizing NGOs, particularly at the international level, can assign a common theme or set of goals. It may also be advantageous to decentralize an NGO, increasing its chances of responding flexibly and effectively to local issues by implementing projects which are modest in scale, easily monitored, produce immediate benefits, and where all involved know that corruption would be punished.Anheier, H. and Themudo, N. (2002) Organisational forms of global civil society: Implications of going global. In: Anheier, H. Glasius, M. Kaldor, M, ed 2002.
Embezzlement, fraud and financial mismanagement reduce credibility of NGOs.
Referring to the NGO culture in Germany in 2025, with many NGO receiving government funding while at the same time pretending to be independent, Ben Krischke wrote in Cicero, the transcription as "Near-Governmental-Organisaton" would be more appropriate. He pointed out, that the concept developed over time under the Angela Merkel administration, with the parties in government beeing unable to use taxpayer money for partisan activities, directly or via subsidaries, the number of such activities, for which Krischke gave the example of several "Reporting point"-projects for "incidents below the criminal threshold", somehow rose. A transparency initiative, trying to unravel the path of taxpayer money to various NGOs, is consequently facing substantial opposition by NGO activists from the left.
Foreign influence
NGOs have been accused of preserving imperialism Abahlali baseMjondolo, "Rethinking Public Participation from below" , Critical Dialogue (2006) (sometimes operating in a Racialization manner in Third World countries), with a function similar to that of the clergy during the colonial era. Political philosopher Peter Hallward has called them an aristocratic form of politics, noting that ActionAid and Christian Aid "effectively condoned the 2004 coup" against an elected government in Haiti and are the "humanitarian face of imperialism"." Peter Hallward responds to BBC Radio 4 program on Haiti", Tanbou, 11 January 2011. Movements in the Global South (such as South Africa's Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign) have refused to work with NGOs, concerned that doing so would compromise their autonomy." Building unity in diversity: Social movement activism in the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign", Sophie Oldfield and Kristian Stokke, 2004. NGOs have been accused of weakening people by allowing their funders to prioritize stability over social justice.
Spreading misinformation
NGOs have been accused of using misinformation in their campaigns out of self-interest. According to Doug Parr of Greenpeace, there had been "a tendency among our critics to say that science is the only decision-making tool ... but political and commercial interests are using science as a cover for getting their way." Former policy-maker for the German branch of Friends of the Earth Jens Katjek said, "If NGOs want the best for the environment, they have to learn to compromise."
Challenges to legitimacy
Legitimacy, an important asset of an NGO, is its perception as an "independent voice".Edwards, M. and Hulme, D. (2002) NGO Performance and Accountability: Introduction and Overview. "In Edwards, M. and Hulme, D., ed. 2002." The Earthscan Reader on NGO Management. UK: Earthscan Publications Ltd. Chapter 11. Neera Chandhoke wrote in a Journal of World-Systems Research article, "To put the point starkly: are the citizens of countries of the South and their needs represented in global civil society, or are citizens as well as their needs constructed by practices of representation? And when we realize that INGOs hardly ever come face to face with the people whose interests and problems they represent, or that they are not accountable to the people they represent, matters become even more troublesome."
See also
Further reading
(2025). 9780415454308, Routledge. ISBN 9780415454308
(2025). 9780230228719, Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780230228719
External links
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