India once had more NGOs than primary schools, roughly one per 600 people
Around 2009 India was estimated to host about 2 million non-governmental organisations, far more than its primary schools and health centres. The United States has roughly 1.5 million, one for every 227 residents, and Russia counted around 277,000 in 2008. Yet nobody has ever settled on a formal definition of what an NGO is.
The label in its current sense comes from Article 71 of the United Nations Charter of 1945. Broadly, an NGO is any body outside government, and it can even be profit-making, though the term usually means a non-profit working at least partly free of state control. Surprisingly, some receive most or all of their money from governments. The UN's communications department calls them voluntary citizens' groups working locally, nationally or internationally for the public good.
Usage is loose. The term overlaps with civil society organisation, meaning any association founded by citizens, and in some countries political parties and trade unions count too. Some, such as the World Economic Forum, even lobby for corporations. Unlike intergovernmental bodies that deal directly with states, NGOs stand apart from them.
Analysts sort NGOs along two axes: what they do, such as human rights, consumer protection, environment, health or development, and the scale they work at, from local to international. They also differ in style. Charity groups tend to work top-down with little input from those they help. Service organisations deliver healthcare, including family planning, and education. Participatory projects ask communities to contribute money, tools, land or labour, while empowerment groups act as facilitators helping poor people understand the forces shaping their lives.
The category stretches wider than most people expect. Associations built around shared interests, such as FIFA or the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, qualify. So do chambers of commerce, community groups that help the urban poor claim services, national bodies like the YMCA and YWCA, and international agencies ranging from secular Save the Children to religious charities, many of which fund local partners.
Source: Non-governmental organization
