Think tanks are institutions affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, non-governmental organizations, and businesses that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity.
Intergovernmental organizations generally consist of representatives of sovereign states pursuing common goals and are established by a formal instrument of agreement. They often publish reports and compile statistics, which are available for free on their web sites, that may be of interest to researchers. Examples of IGOs include NATO, European Union, United Nations, G-8, and the African Union.
NGOs, or Non-Governmental Organizations, are non-profit organizations working on humanitarian, human rights, and sustainable development issues worldwide.
Scholarly articles are not the only place to find high quality research and analysis. There are organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, that produce original research and reports that you may not find anywhere else. In addition, it may be important to understand the position of influential groups on a topic.
Many policy briefs from think tanks, NGOs, and research institutes can be found online. Include the keywords "policy brief" or "policy paper" or "white paper" in your search.
Being non-profit or even being humanitarian does not mean that an organization does not have a bias in favor or against a certain subject, industry or policy. Just because an organization has a bias does not mean that you would not use information from them.