Brazil NGO Sector

Classification of non-profits in Brazil

In Brazil, there are diverging criterias on the classification of non-profit organizations. In an attempt to unify these criterias, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (“Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – IBGE”) carried out an extensive study on the non-profit sector in Brazil . This study was performed in accordance to the methodology described in the Handbook on Non-profit Institutions in the System of National Accounts , elaborated by the United Nations Statistical divisionDivision, which proposes a set of five prerequisites for non-profit institutions, as follows:

1. Private: they do not belong to the State;
2. Institutionalized: they are legally constituted and are legal entities;
3. Non-profit: they do not share profits;
4. Autonomous: they are capable of raising and managing their own funds;
5. Voluntary: they are freely established by citizens around a common objective.

The Brazilian Civil Code (Law 10,406 of December 10, 2002) recognizes only two categories of private legal entities that can be considered non-profit organizations under the UN Statistical Division parameters: Associations and Foundations.

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