[1] As its original name suggests, a quango is a hybrid form of organization, with elements of both NGOs and public sector bodies.
[2] In its pejorative use, it has been widely applied to public bodies of various kinds, and a variety of backronyms have been used to make the term consistent with this expanded use.
Saskatchewan is notable for the ubiquity of provincial crown corps with most styled with the prefix Sask- followed by the primary service.
Some of the most notable Saskatchewan Crown corps are as follows: In 2006, there were 832 quangos in the Republic of Ireland – 482 at national and 350 at local level – with a total of 5,784 individual appointees and a combined annual budget of €13 billion.
But there were also 71 single crown entities with services ranging from regulatory (e.g. Accounting Standards Review Board, Takeovers Panel) to quasi-judicial (e.g. Police Complaints Authority, Race Relations Conciliator), to the arts (e.g. New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, NZ Film Commission), to social welfare (e.g. Housing Corporation of NZ) and to substantial enterprises (e.g. Auckland International Airport Ltd).
The Cabinet Office 2009 report on non-departmental public bodies found that there were 766 NDPBs sponsored by the UK government.
[14] Use of the term quango is less common in the United States although many US bodies, including Government Sponsored Enterprises, operate in the same fashion.
[18] The term "quasi non-governmental organisation" was created in 1967 by Alan Pifer of the US-based Carnegie Foundation, in an essay on the independence and accountability of public-funded bodies that are incorporated in the private sector.
The term was then extended to apply to a range of organisations, such as executive agencies providing (from 1988) health, education and other services.
[23] The less contentious term non-departmental public body (NDPB) is often employed to identify numerous organisations with devolved governmental responsibilities.