Non-governmental organization
organization independent of any government, usually created to aid those in need
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an entity that is not part of the government. This can include non-profit and for-profit entities. An NGO may get a significant percentage or even all of its funding from government sources. An NGO typically is thought to be a nonprofit organization that operates partially independent of government control. Non-profit NGOs often focus on humanitarian or social issues but can also include clubs and associations offering services to members. Some non-profit NGOs, like the World Economic Forum, may also act as lobby groups for corporations. Unlike intergovernmental organizations, 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 non-profit entities that are independent of government management or direction—although they may receive government funding.
According to the UN Department of Global Communications, an NGO is "a not-for-profit, voluntary citizen's group that is organized on a local, national or international level to address issues in support of the public good".
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Non-governmental organization” as organization independent of any government, usually created to aid those in need. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as organization independent of any government, usually created to aid those in need. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q79913. The Library of Congress control number is sh86007360. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1945.
Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Non-governmental organization”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Non-governmental organization primary sources, Non-governmental organization archive and Non-governmental research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Non-governmental organization”?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Non-governmental organization” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.