A quango is a corporation, authority or other organisation, formed outside of government-proper, to which a government has devolved power over certain public functions; the organisation has some independence but it is still partly or ultimately controlled or financed by ministers or other government officers. The acronym was originally derived from quasi-NGO, where NGO is the abbreviation for a non-government organization, the quasi thus qualifying the 'non'. Subsequently, the term acquired the additional "-autonomous" to emphasise the partial separation and semi-independence of the typical quango from its creating government.