An acronym for the American National Standards Institute. Several engineering societies and government agencies founded ANSI in 1918. It is a private nonprofit membership organization supported by a diverse constituency of private and public sector organizations. ANSI does not itself develop American National Standards (ANSs); rather it facilitates development by establishing consensus among qualified groups. ANSI also promotes the use of U.S. standards internationally, advocates U.S. policy and technical positions in international and regional standards organizations, and encourages the adoption of international standards as national standards where these meet the needs of the user community.