NGO may be defined as an association having a definite cultural, educational, economical, religious or social program registered with the Central Government. It is also useful to consider what not-for-profit actually means. Many non-commercial organizations may make a profit in basic financial terms on their business transactions. School fees may cover costs and allow a margin of ‘profit’. However, the concept of not-for-profit is related to the organization’s overall orientation and long -term goals. The school may use the margin of profit to develop its facilities and enhance educational quality levels while a golf club which makes a profit on its membership fees may use the proceeds to benefit its members by providing a subsidized bar and social events.
Ngo as “private organizations that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake community development. NGOs include an array of groups and institutions that are entirely or largely independent of government, and characterized primarily by humanitarian or cooperative, rather than commercial objectives”. A World Bank key document, ‘Working with NGOs’ adds: In wider usage, the term NGO can be applied to any non-profit organization, which is entirely or largely independent from government and exists to serve humanitarian, social or cultural interests, either of their memberships or of society as a whole. NGOs are typically value-based organizations, which depend, wholly or in part, on charitable donations and voluntary service. Although the NGO sector has become increasingly professionalized over the last two decades, principles of altruism and voluntarism remain key defining characteristics.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are now recognized as key third sector actors on the landscapes of development, human rights, humanitarian action, environment, and many other areas of public action, from the post-2004 tsunami reconstruction efforts in Indonesia, India, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, to the 2005 Make Poverty History campaign for aid and trade reform and developing country debt cancellation. As these two examples illustrate, NGOs are best-known for two different, but often interrelated, types of activity – the delivery of services to people in need, and the organization of policy advocacy, and public campaigns in pursuit of social transformation. NGOs are also active in a wide range of other specialized roles such as democracy building, conflict resolution, human rights work, cultural preservation, environmental activism, policy analysis, research, and information provision. This chapter mainly confines itself to a discussion of NGOs in the international development context, but much of its argument also applies to NGOs more widely. According to the UN, any kind of private organization that is independent from government control can be termed an “NGO”, provided it is not-profit, non-criminal and not simply an opposition political party.Professor Peter Willetts ( University of London) defines an NGO as “an independent voluntary association of people acting together on a continuous basis for some common purpose other than achieving government office, making money or illegal activities”.
