Abstract
The goal of this paper is to explain – what are the non-governmental organisations? The author will elucidate not only the essence of functioning and structure of the public benefit organisations, but also clarify the process of the third sector’s evolution, including its key transformations in the years 1997–2014. It seems that the analysis of the term of NGO, carried out by the Author, is, in the context of ongoing debates on the role of third sector in the process of shaping of civil society, an issue cognitively important and of practical significance.