非营利组织是指不以营利为目的的组织，它的目标通常是支持或处理个人关心或者公众关注的议题或事件。非营利组织所涉及的领域非常广，包括艺术、慈善、教育、学术、环保等等。它的运作并不是为了产生利益，这一点通常被视为这类组织的主要特性，同时具有非营利性、民间性、自治性、志愿性、非政治性、非宗教性等重要特征。

　　WHAT IS A NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANISATION?

　　It would be simplistic to assume that any organisation that does not pursue profit as an objective is a not-for-profit organisation. This is an incorrect assumption, as many such organisations do make a profit every year and overtly include this in their formal plans. Quite often, they will describe their profit as a ‘surplus’ rather than a profit, but as either term can be defined as an excess of income over expenditure, the difference may be considered rather semantic.

　　Not-for-profit organisations are distinguished from profit maximising organisations by three characteristics. First, most not-for-profit organisations do not have external shareholders providing risk capital for the business. Second, and building on the first point, they do not distribute dividends, so any profit (or surplus) that is generated is retained by the business as a further source of capital. Third, their objectives usually include some social, cultural, philanthropic, welfare or environmental dimension, which in their absence, would not be readily provided efficiently through the workings of the market system.

　　TYPES OF NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANISATION

　　Not-for-profit organisations exist in both the public sector and the private sector. Most, but not all, public sector organisations do not have profit as their primary objective and were established in order to provide what economists refer to as public goods. These are mainly services that would not be available at the right price to those who need to use them (such as medical care, museums, art galleries and some forms of transportation), or could not be provided at all through the market (such as defence and regulation of markets and businesses). Private sector examples include most forms of charity and self-help organisations, such as housing associations that provide housing for low income and minority groups, sports associations (many football supporters’ trusts are set up as industrial and provident societies), scientific research foundations and environmental groups.

　　CORPORATE FORM

　　Not-for-profit organisations can be established as incorporated or unincorporated bodies. The common business forms include the following:

　　·in the public sector, they may be departments or agents of government

　　·some public sector bodies are established as private companies limited by guarantee, including the Financial Services Authority (the UK financial services regulator)

　　·in the private sector they may be established as cooperatives, industrial or provident societies (a specific type of mutual organisation, owned by its members), by trust, as limited companies or simply as clubs or associations.

　　A cooperative is a body owned by its members, and usually governed on the basis of ‘one member, one vote’.

　　A trust is an entity specifically constituted to achieve certain objectives. The trustees are appointed by the founders to manage the funds and ensure compliance with the objectives of the trust. Many private foundations (charities that do not solicit funds from the general public) are set up as trusts.