The article deals with the problem of preservation and formation of funds of non-governmental organizations as a part of the historical heritage of the Altai Territory. Such problems as the legislative “fragmentation”, the threat of the completeness of funds and representative non-governmental organizations’ documents can be a barrier for the inclusion of such documents in The Archive Fund of the Russian Federation. Documents of non-governmental organizations reflect a wide range of social relations: economic (business organizations, consumer cooperatives), social (nonstate pension funds, endowment funds), political (parties, social movements), national (сossack communities, indigenous communities), and others. The authors review the legislation and analysis of the NGO funds and present the results of the survey of non-governmental organizations — potential and actual sources of acquisition of The State Archive of Altai Territory and The Archive Department of the Barnaul City Administration. The conclusion is made about the necessity of the tradition of successful cooperation between state and municipal archives with non-governmental organizations to save their documents as a part of the historical heritage.