To be an NGO, or non-profit, all organizations should meet the following criteria:

1. Public interest or public purpose. The private organization should be serving some cause related to “the good of the society.”
2. Organized. The organization should be institutionalized to some extent, such as a formal charter of incorporation. (When legal incorporation is either not chosen or not readily available, it may demonstrate organizational permanence through regular meetings, officers, rules of procedure, etc.). The organization cannot be an ad hoc, informal, or temporary gathering of people.
3. Private, non-governmental. The organization is to be institutionally separate from government, or any apparatus of the government, and must not be controlled by government (i.e., not governed by a Board of Directors dominated by government officials.) The organization may receive government support and the board can include government officials, as long as the organization remains a private, non-governmental organization.
4. Self-governing. The organization is to have its own internal procedures for governance, and is not to be controlled by outside entities.
5. Voluntary. The organization is to have some meaningful degree of voluntary participation, either it the conduct of its activities or in its management.
6. Non-profit or not-for-profit (also, non-profit distributing). The organization should not be returning any profits generated to its owners or members of the governing board. Profits may accumulate in any given year, but must be plowed back into the basic mission of the organization, not distributed to owners or governing boards. (In other words, the organization does not exist primarily to generate profits.)