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NGOs operate based on various schemes that determine their services, target audience, and operations. They use these decisions to create a strategic plan and fulfill their charitable mission. The schemes include membership organizations, public trusts, and core services such as human services, environmental issues, and economic development. NGOs also decide on their philosophy of the program, such as transformational development or community economic development.
A non-governmental organization (NGO) can be structured according to various schemes or plans that determine how it operates. These schemes decide who the organization will serve, what its core services will be, where it will operate, and how it will deliver its programs. If an NGO were a for-profit entity, this type of decision making would result in a business plan. As a not-for-profit organization, an NGO uses these decisions as the basis for its strategic plan and the rationale for its existence as a charitable entity.
One of the main distinctions in NGO schemes is who the organization will serve. A non-profit organization may choose to operate as a membership organization and only serve people who join. This type of organization creates programs to promote the best interests of its members and operates by vote. Alternatively, an NGO may choose to serve the general public. In this case, the organization operates as a public trust, overseen by a board of directors that has a fiduciary duty to make decisions that further the mission of the nonprofit organization.
Another difference in NGO schemes concerns their core services. The moment a non-profit organization is organized, it declares a mission that will define the types of activities that the organization will generally be authorized to carry out in the future. NGOs are categorized based on this mission statement. The different types of core service schemes include human services, environmental issues and economic development.
An NGO also plans how it will operate, creating a framework to address the scope of its services. The different types of NGO schemes in this category include a local or community scope, a national or international scope. Local and national schemes are further impacted by the choice of where to incorporate the entity, which will control the way the organization conducts the rest of its business. Within the international choice is the decision to incorporate in the country of operation or to incorporate in one country, but only provide services in another. International NGOs sometimes do the latter to secure an adequate base for fundraising while pursuing a mission within a foreign country.
A final component of the basic NGO blueprints includes a decision regarding the philosophy of the program. Nonprofits need to decide on a theory of change or how their special mix of services will make a difference. There are many different types of theories that can drive an NGO’s mission. One of the most popular is transformational development, where nonprofits equip community leaders with the knowledge and resources to manage change. Another is community economic development, where program resources are directed toward key economic indicators to drive social improvement.
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