Joseph and Matthew Payton
Philanthropic Studies Library

Glossary of Philanthropic Acronyms and Terms

A | B - C | D | E - F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R - S | T - V | W | X | Y | Z

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A
AAFRC: American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel
ABFE: Association of Black Foundation Executives
ACGA: American Council on Gift Annuities
Affinity card: a credit card, offered to the constituents of an organization, that provides for a percentage of a transaction fee to be paid as a royalty to the organization.
AHP: Association for Healthcare Philanthropy
Annual fund: total gifts made on a yearly basis to support yearly budgets or general operations.
Annual report: A voluntary report issued by a foundation or corporation that provides financial data and descriptions of its grantmaking activities. Annual reports vary in format from simple typewritten documents listing the year's grants to detailed publications that provide substantial information about the grantmaker's grantmaking programs.
APRA: American Prospect Research Association
ASAE: American Society of Association Executives
ARNOVA: Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action

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B
Benefactor: a generous donor.
Benevolence: an act of kindness or generosity.
Bequest: a gift of personal or real property by means of a will when one dies.

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C
Campaign: an organized effort to raise a specified amount of money for a particular purpose in a specified period of time.
Cause-related marketing: marketing in which a for-profit organization, by using the name of a nonprofit organization, promotes its product and in return provides financial support to the organization according to a predetermined formula based on sales and purchases.
CFRE: Certified Fund Raising Executive
Challenge grant: a grant made on condition that other gifts or grants will be obtained on some prescribed formula, usually within a specified period of time, with the objective of encouraging other gifts or grants.
Charitable deduction: the portion of a gift to a qualified charity that is deductible from an individual's or corporation's federal income tax, individual's gift tax, or individual's estate tax.
Charitable organization: an organization that is eligible to receive charitable donations and is tax-exempt under federal tax law.
Charity: that which is willingly given to aid those in need; a nonprofit organization that is active in humanitarian work and supported entirely or in part by gifts.
COF: Council on Foundations
Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs: the formal name of the Filer Commission; a privately funded study of the role of philanthropic giving in the US and of the independent sector; made formal recommendations to the independent sector, Congress, and the American public as to how the practice of private philanthropy could be made more effective.
Community foundation: a nonprofit organization that receives funds and distributes them, or any income from them, for charitable purposes in a specific geographic area.
Corporate foundation: Company-sponsored foundation: A private foundation whose assets are derived primarily from the contributions of a for-profit business. While a company- sponsored foundation may maintain close ties with its parent company, it is an independent organization with its own endowment and as such is subject to the same rules and regulations as other private foundations.
Corporate sponsorship: financial support of a project by a corporation in exchange for public recognition and other benefits.
CASE: Council for Advancement and Support of Education
CAE: Council for Aid to Education
CRUT: charitable remainder unitrust
Cy-pres: in law, as near as possible to a donor's intention.

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D
Deferred gift: a gift that is committed to a charitable organization but is not available for use until some future time, usually the death of the donor.
Designed gift: a gift, the use of which is designated by the donor.
Direct-mail fund raising: solicitation of funds by mass mail.
DMA: Direct Marketing Association
Donor-advised fund: a fund in which the donor exercises the privilege of making nonbinding recommendations to the governing body as to which public charity or charities should receive a grant from this fund.

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E
Eleemosynary: of or pertaining to alms, charity or charitable donations; dependent on or supported by charity.
Endowment: a permanently restricted net asset, the principal of which is protected and the income from which may be spent and is controlled either by donor restriction or the organization's governing board.

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F
Filer Commission: informal name for the Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs.
501(c)(3): the section of the Internal Revenue Code designation that exempts certain types of organizations (such as charitable, religious, scientific, literary, educational) from taxation and permits these organizations to receive tax-deductible donations.
Form 990: an Internal Revenue Service financial information return submitted annually by most tax-exempt organizations and institutions except religious.
Foundation: an organization created from designated funds from which the income is distributed as grants to nonprofit organizations and, in some cases, to individuals.

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G
Grantsmanship: the act or skill of writing proposals to obtain grant money from foundations or donors.
Grantee: Donee: The recipient of a grant. (Also known as the beneficiary.)
Grantor: Donor: An individual or organization that makes a grant or contribution to a donee.

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I
IS: Independent Sector (an alliance headquartered in Washington, D.C.)
Independent foundation: A grantmaking organization usually classified by the IRS as a private foundation. Independent foundations may also be known as family foundations, general purpose foundations, special purpose foundations, or private non-operating foundations.
Independent sector: nonprofit or tax-exempt organizations collectively that are specifically not associated with any government, government agency, or commercial enterprise.
In-kind gift: a gift of goods or services.
ISTR: International Society for Third-Sector Research

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M
Matching gift: a gift contributed on the condition that it be matched, often within a certain time period, in accordance with a specified formula; or, a gift by a corporation matching a gift contributed by one or more of its employees.
Meliorism: the doctrine that the world tends to become better, or may be made better by human effort.

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N
NASCO: National Association of State Charity Officials
NCIB: National Charities Information Bureau
NCNB: National Center for Non-Profit Boards
NCPG: National Committee on Planned Giving
NCRP: National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
NCVO: National Council for Voluntary Organizations
NGO: nongovernmental organization : any private organization
NSFRE: National Society of Fund Raising Executives

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P
Philanthropy: 1. Voluntary action for the public good. 2. Love of humankind, usually expressed by an effort to enhance the well-being of humanity through personal acts of practical kindness or by financial support of a cause or causes 3. Any effort to relieve human misery or suffering, improve the quality of life, encourage aid or assistance, or foster preservation of values through gifts, service, or other voluntary activity.
PR: Philanthropy Roundtable
Private foundation: A nongovernmental, nonprofit organization with funds (usually from a single source, such as an individual, family, or corporation) and program managed by its own trustees or directors. Private foundations are established to maintain or aid social, educational, religious, or other charitable activities serving the common welfare, primarily through the making of grants. See also 501(c)(3); public charity.
Program-related investment: A loan or other investment (as distinguished from a grant) made by a foundation to another organization for a project related to the foundation's philanthropic purposes and interests.
Public charity: A nonprofit organization that qualifies for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code. Public charities are the recipients of most foundation and corporate grants.

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R - S
RFP: request for proposal : When the government issues a new contract or grant program, it sends out RFPs to agencies that might be qualified to participate. The RFP lists project specifications and application procedures. While a few foundations occasionally use RFPs in specific fields, most prefer to consider proposals that are initiated by applicants.
Special purpose foundation: A private foundation that focuses its grantmaking activities in one or a few areas of interest.
Sponsorship: Affiliation with an existing nonprofit organization for the purpose of receiving grants. Grantseekers may either apply for federal tax-exempt status or affiliate with a nonprofit sponsor.

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T - V
Tax-exempt: free from or not subject to tax.
Trustee: A foundation board member or officer who helps make decisions about how grant monies are spent. Depending on whether the foundation has paid staff, trustees may take a more or less active role in running its affairs.
UBIT: unrelated business income tax : tax on income that is the result of any legal trade or business conducted by a nonprofit organization to make money in a way not directly related to its tax-exempt mission.
UWA: United Way of America, Inc.
Voluntarism: the system of doing something by or relying on voluntary action or volunteers.
Volunteer: to work without compensation on behalf of an organization, cause, benefit, etc.

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