Reyes AnnaA non-governmental organization is a voluntary and organizationally formalized association of citizens created to express and satisfy their interests and needs on the basis of self-government.
There are many different types of public organizations in each country. These include trade unions, women’s, youth, veterans’, and children’s organizations, scientific, technical, cultural, educational, physical culture, sports, and other voluntary associations of citizens, creative unions, communities, foundations, associations, etc. They may have different names: organization, association, union, society, club, circle, council, foundation, association, etc. Their common features (attributes) are the voluntary nature of the association, the existence of a certain organizational structure and activities based on self-government. Another feature of a non-governmental organization in many countries is its non-profit nature – it should not carry out economic activities for profit, otherwise it must register with the authorized public authority as an entrepreneurial structure. That is why, for example, a housing cooperative is considered a non-governmental organization, and a production cooperative is considered an enterprise.
Non-governmental organizations differ in their social basis, spheres of activity, organizational structure, goals, methods and means of activity, and thus can be classified on various grounds (attributes).
From the perspective of clarifying the role of civic organizations in the political system of society, it is of utmost importance to distinguish them by their social basis, i.e. the community of people whose interests the organization expresses and whose representatives it organizationally unites. There are five main groups of social communities as historically and objectively formed groups of people: Social class (social classes, intra- and inter-class social strata and groups); ethnic (tribes, nationalities, nations); demographic (men, women, children, youth, middle-aged and elderly); professional (workers, peasants, employees, specialists, entrepreneurs); territorial (residents of certain administrative-territorial units – villages, towns, cities, districts, regions).
Public organizations include trade unions – voluntary non-profit public organizations that unite citizens with common interests in the nature of their professional (labor) activity (study).
Trade unions are created to represent, exercise and protect labor, social and economic rights and interests of trade union members.
Youth non-governmental organizations are associations of citizens aged 14 to 28 years, whose purpose is to carry out activities aimed at satisfying and protecting their legitimate social, economic, creative, spiritual and other common interests.
Unlike youth organizations, children’s public organizations can be established by persons aged 6 to 18. The purpose of this type of public organizations is to carry out activities aimed at realization and protection of rights and freedoms, creative abilities, satisfaction of own interests of this category of citizens that do not contradict the current legislation, as well as social formation of them as full members of society.
Public organizations also include charitable organizations. A charitable organization is a non-governmental organization whose main purpose is to carry out charitable activities in the interests of society or certain categories of individuals.
According to the main groups of social communities, there are class, ethnic, demographic, professional, and territorial non-governmental organizations.
Class-based non-governmental organizations are trade unions and employers’ organizations as associations of employees and entrepreneurs-owners, respectively.
Demographic civic organizations, which are distinguished by gender and age, are women’s, children’s, youth and veterans’ associations.
Professional civic organizations of workers and entrepreneurs are the same trade unions and employers’ associations, and of specialists – various creative unions (writers, artists, composers, actors, journalists, etc.).
Territorial organizations are civic organizations that are formed and operate not on a national scale, but in separate administrative-territorial units of the state – villages, towns, cities, districts, regions, and ethnic organizations are various associations of persons of the same nationality.