Research Guides: Human Rights: NGOs, Charities, and Non-Profits

Finding NGOs

WANGO
A world wide NGO directory containing NGOs working in over 170 countries. Browse by region or search by keyword, area of focus, or location.
UN Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)
Find NGOs and CSOs associated with the United Nations on this database maintained by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). Open the Advanced Search to search by: organization name; organization type; region; country/geographical area; language; geographic scope; consultative status (at UN); areas of expertise & fields of activity.

Finding Charitable Organizations

Use these databases to identify top charities giving in your area of interest (Mostly U.S.-based organizations).

Charity Navigator and Charity Watch rate charities based on their financial health, transparency, and accountability; Foundation Directory and GuideStar provide you with the raw financial details for charitable giving organizations.

Charity Navigator
Rates U.S. charities according to financial health and accountability.
Charity Watch
Rates U.S. charitable organizations according to how efficiently donated dollars are used to fund their programs. Search for top organizations doing work in your area of interest.

Foundation Directory Online This link opens in a new window
Foundation Directory Online is a database of over 100,000 public and private foundations, corporate giving programs, and grantmaking public charities in the U.S. It provides comprehensive information on grant-makers and their grants. Includes Candid's "Foundation Grants to Individuals Online".
GuideStar: the National Database of Nonprofit Organizations This link opens in a new window
Candid's GuideStar provides data on IRS-recognized nonprofit organizations in the U.S. Users can search nonprofits according to their operating budgets, size, location, and National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE). Highlight include a financial trends analysis snapshot for each organization and downloadable form 990s.
To access the premium section of Guidestar, you must register and create an account. Once registered, NYU users are permitted to download 1000 records per month.

Human Rights-Focused Search Engines

HURIDOCS
(Human Rights Information and Documentation System, International) is an international NGO helping human rights organizations use information technologies and documentation methods to maximize the impact of their advocacy work.
Human Rights Internet
The HRI organization site offers access to new documents & publications, news and updates on upcoming international human rights events and issues, and an internet directory of human rights websites.
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
This outstanding site organizes access to a wide range of human rights information. Categories include treaties and other international instruments, U.N documents, U.S. human rights documents, asylum and refugee materials, regional materials, human rights education, bibliographies, research guides and links to other sites.
Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
CRIN is an international advocacy organization for the promotion of human rights for children as defined by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Their website includes an extensive library of news, reports, and legal and UN documents.
Google NGO Search
Perform a targeted Google search within NGO websites

Human Rights

Finding NGOs

Finding Charitable Organizations

Human Rights-Focused Search Engines

A selection of Human Rights Organizations