Editing Non-governmental organization (section)

== {{anchor|Corporate structure}}Structure ==

=== Staffing ===
Some NGOs rely on paid staff while others are based on [[Volunteering|volunteers]]. Although many NGOs use international staff in developing countries, others rely on local employees or volunteers. Foreign staff may satisfy a [[Donation|donor]] who wants to see the supported project managed by a person from an [[Developed country|industrialized country]]. The expertise of these employees (or volunteers) may be counterbalanced by several factors, such as; the cost of [[Alien (law)|foreigners]] is typically higher, they have no [[grassroots democracy|grassroots connections]] in the country, and local expertise may be undervalued.<ref name="definition" /> By the end of 1995, [[Concern Worldwide]] (an international anti-poverty NGO) employed 174 foreigners and just over 5,000 local staff in [[Haiti]] and ten developing countries in Africa and Asia.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

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 .<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Preston|first1=Anne E.|last2=Sacks|first2=Daniel W.|title=Nonprofit Wages: Theory and Evidence|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781849803526.00017|journal=Handbook of Research on Nonprofit Economics and Management|year=2010|doi=10.4337/9781849803526.00017|isbn=9781849803526|hdl=10419/161194|hdl-access=free}}</ref> However, in many cases NGOs employees receive more fringe benefits.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ben-Ner|first1=Avner|last2=Ren|first2=Ting|last3=Paulson|first3=Darla Flint|date=13 April 2010|title=A Sectoral Comparison of Wage Levels and Wage Inequality in Human Services Industries|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0899764010365012|journal=Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly|volume=40|issue=4|pages=608–633|doi=10.1177/0899764010365012|s2cid=1222873|issn=0899-7640}}</ref>

=== Funding ===
NGOs are usually funded by donations, but some avoid formal funding and are run by volunteers. NGOs may have [[Charitable organization|charitable status]], or may be [[tax-exempt]] in recognition of their social, political, religious, or other purposes. Since the end of [[World War II]], NGOs have had an increased role in [[international development]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Werker|first1=Eric|last2=Ahmed|first2=Faisal Z.|year=2008|title=What Do Nongovernmental Organizations Do?|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives|volume=22|issue=2|pages=74–75|doi=10.1257/jep.22.2.73|doi-access=free}}</ref> particularly in the fields of humanitarian assistance and poverty alleviation.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Werker|first1=Eric|last2=Ahmed|first2=Faisal Z.|year=2008|title=What Do Nongovernmental Organizations Do?|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives|volume=22|issue=2|page=74|doi=10.1257/jep.22.2.73|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Funding sources include membership dues, the sale of [[Product (business)|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;<ref name="global" /> 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.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

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."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tnr.com/article/world/75421/ng-uh-o |title=NG-Uh-O – The trouble with humanitarianism |author=David Rieff |date=10 June 2010 |newspaper=The New Republic |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405060147/https://newrepublic.com/article/75421/ng-uh-o |archive-date= Apr 5, 2023 }}</ref> Some NGOs, such as [[Greenpeace]], do not accept funding from governments or intergovernmental organizations.<ref name="HBS">{{cite web |author=Sarah Jane Gilbert |author2=Ramon Casadesus-Masanell |author3=Jordan Mitchell |url=http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5797.html |title= HBS Cases: The Value of Environmental Activists |publisher=Harvard Business School Working Knowledge |date=8 September 2008 |access-date=20 December 2011 |archive-date=10 October 2009 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091010181022/http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5797.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="GP Annual report 2008">{{cite web |url=http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/international-annualreport-2008.pdf |title=08 Annual Report |publisher=Greenpeace |access-date=24 December 2013 |archive-date=30 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091230012105/http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/international-annualreport-2008.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The 1999 budget of the American Association of Retired Persons ([[AARP]]) was over $540 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/12687/edition_id/245/format/html/displaystory.html|title=Poll shows power of AIPAC drops slightly|date=19 December 1999|publisher=Jewish News Weekly of Northern California|access-date=25 June 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930033138/http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/12687/edition_id/245/format/html/displaystory.html |archive-date= Sep 30, 2007 }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |title=GENERAL BACKGROUND |url=https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/grant-funding/division-refugee-services |website=OFFICE OF REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT |publisher=Administration for children and families. |access-date=15 May 2024}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lutheran Immigration And Refugee Service |url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/132574854/202312069349300221/full |website=ProPublica |date=9 May 2013 |access-date=15 May 2024}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Report claims nonprofits in Texas, Arizona are making billions off the migrant crisis |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/report-claims-nonprofits-in-texas-arizona-are-making-billions-off-the-migrant-crisis/ar-BB1mopq1 |website=MSN |access-date=15 May 2024}}</ref> 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.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

=== {{anchor|Overhead costs}}Overhead ===
[[Overhead (business)|Overhead]] is the amount of money spent on running an NGO, rather than on projects.<ref name=Overhead1>{{cite web |url= http://www.fundsforngos.org/budget-for-ngos/defining-terms-budget/ |title=Defining certain terms in a budget |publisher=Funds for NGOs |date=18 September 2011 |access-date= 24 December 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113151014/http://www.fundsforngos.org/budget-for-ngos/defining-terms-budget/ |archive-date= Jan 13, 2014 }}</ref> It includes office expenses,<ref name=Overhead1 /> salaries, and banking and bookkeeping costs. An NGO's percentage of its overall budget spent on overhead is often used to judge it; less than four percent is considered good.<ref name=Overhead1 /> According to the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, more than 86 percent should be spent on programs (less than 20 percent on overhead).<ref>{{cite web |title=Code of Ethics & Conduct for NGOs Compliance Manual |website=World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations |url=http://www.wango.org/codeofethics/ComplianceManual.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401020450/http://www.wango.org/codeofethics/ComplianceManual.pdf |archive-date=2010-04-01 |url-status=live |access-date=11 April 2012}}</ref> [[The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria]] has guidelines of five to seven percent overhead to receive funding;<ref>{{cite web |title=National NGOs Serving as PRs Excluded from the Global Fund's Policy on Percentage-Based Overhead Costs |url=http://www.aidspan.org/index.php?issue=174&article=2 |date= 24 Jan 2012 |first1=David |last1=Garmaise |website=Aidspan |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927114828/http://www.aidspan.org/gfo_article/national-ngos-serving-prs-excluded-global-funds-policy-percentage-based-overhead-costs |archive-date= Sep 27, 2013 }}</ref> the [[World Bank]] typically allows 37 percent.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Gibbs | first1=Christopher| last2=Fumo|first2=Claudia |last3=Kuby|first3=Thomas |title=Nongovernmental organizations in World Bank supported projects : a review |year=1999 |publisher=World Bank |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=978-0-8213-4456-9 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77m7ExDp8DQC&pg=PA21 |edition=2nd}}</ref> A high percentage of overhead relative to total expenditures can make it more difficult to generate funds.<ref>{{cite book |editor2-last=Crowther |editor1-first= Güler|editor1-last= Aras|editor2-first= David |title=NGOs and social responsibility |year=2010 |publisher=Emerald |location=Bingley, UK |isbn=978-0-85724-295-2 |page=121 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T9mgFMJQhCsC&pg=PA121 |edition=1st}}</ref> High overhead costs may also generate public criticism.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kassahun |first=Samson |title=Social capital for synergistic partnership : development of poor localities in urban Ethiopia |year=2004 |publisher=Cuvillier |location=Göttingen |isbn=978-3-86537-222-2 |page=153 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TSjsfco0elIC&pg=PA153 |edition=1. Aufl.}}</ref>

A sole focus on overhead, however, can be counterproductive.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schmitz |first1=Hans Peter |first2=George E. |last2=Mitchell |date=9 March 2010 |url=http://hausercenter.org/iha/2010/03/09/navigating-effectiveness/ |title=Navigating Effectiveness |website= Humanitarian & Development NGOs Domain Blog |publisher=The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502111108/http://hausercenter.org/iha/2010/03/09/navigating-effectiveness/ |archive-date= May 2, 2016 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.urban.org/publications/311055.html| title=The Pros and Cons of Financial Efficiency Standards| date=August 1, 2004 |first1=Mark A. |last1=Hager|first2=Ted |last2=Flack |website=Urban Institute | access-date=29 November 2012| archive-date=26 April 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130426101444/http://www.urban.org/publications/311055.html| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="ssireview">{{Cite web | url=http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_ratings_game/ | title=The Ratings Game |website=SSIR |first1=Stephanie |last1=Lowell|first2=Brian |last2=Trelstad|first3=Bill |last3=Meehan |date=Summer 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150719221016/http://www.ssireview.org:80/articles/entry/the_ratings_game |archive-date= Jul 19, 2015 }}</ref> An alternative rating system would provide, in addition to financial data, a qualitative evaluation of an organization's transparency and governance:
# An assessment of program effectiveness
# Evaluation of feedback mechanisms for donors and beneficiaries
# Allowing a rated organization to respond to an evaluation by a rating agency<ref name="ssireview"/>

=== Monitoring and control ===
In a March 2000 report on United Nations reform priorities, former UN Secretary-General [[Kofi Annan]] favored international humanitarian intervention as the [[responsibility to protect]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/about/bgresponsibility.shtml |title=Background Information on the Responsibility to Protect — Outreach Programme on the Rwanda Genocide and the United Nations |publisher=Un.org |access-date=24 December 2013}}</ref> citizens from ethnic cleansing, genocide, and crimes against humanity. After that report, the Canadian government launched its Responsibility to Protect (R2P)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/ |title=International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect (ICRtoP) |publisher=Responsibilitytoprotect.org |access-date=24 December 2013 |archive-date=13 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513143738/http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> project outlining the issue of humanitarian intervention. The R2P project has wide applications, and among its more controversial has been the Canadian government's use of R2P to justify its intervention in the coup in Haiti.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Engler |first1=Fenton |last2=Yves |first2=Anthony |title=Canada in Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority |year=2005 |publisher=RED Publishing |location=Vancouver, Winnipeg |isbn=978-1-55266-168-0 |page=120 |url=http://www.fernwoodpublishing.ca/Canada-in-Haiti-Yves-Engler-Anthony-Fenton/ |access-date=30 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006154741/http://www.fernwoodpublishing.ca/Canada-in-Haiti-Yves-Engler-Anthony-Fenton/ |archive-date=6 October 2011 }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite journal |year=2012 |title=Corporations and NGOs: When Accountability Leads to Co-optation |journal=Journal of Business Ethics |volume=106 |issue=1 |pages=9–21 |doi=10.1007/s10551-011-1057-9|last1=Baur |first1=Dorothea |last2=Schmitz |first2=Hans Peter |s2cid=154450479 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/312987/files/10551_2011_Article_1057.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331191528/http://doc.rero.ch/record/312987/files/10551_2011_Article_1057.pdf |archive-date=2019-03-31 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In December 2007, [[Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs]] [[S. Ward Casscells]] established an International Health Division of Force Health Protection & Readiness.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ha.osd.mil/FHPR/default.cfm |title=Force Health Protection & Readiness - December 08, 2006 |access-date=1 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208135444/http://www.ha.osd.mil/fhpr/default.cfm |archive-date=8 December 2006 }}</ref> Part of International Health's mission is to communicate with NGOs about areas of mutual interest. Department of Defense Directive 3000.05,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/300005p.pdf |title=Department of Defense Directive 3000.05 |publisher=United States Department of Defense |date=16 September 2009 |access-date=24 December 2013 |archive-date=15 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101015160448/http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/300005p.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> in 2005, required the US Defense Department to regard stability-enhancing activities as equally important as combat. In compliance with [[Geneva Conventions|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 [[United States Department of State|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.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}