Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are nonprofit organizations that deliver public services, advocate public policy, or do both. Some observers refer to them as civil society groups, or third-sector groups, as distinguished from the for-profit business sector and from government. They are also to be distinguished from intergovernmental organizations, such as the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

NGOs include relief organizations, but the term more commonly refers to advocacy groups. The forerunner to the emergence of NGOs on the global scene was the rise of citizen groups and citizen activism within the United States. The proliferation of such groups occurred during the 1960s and 1970s and coincided with the rise of social regulation. The trend continues unabated in the new century and has ...