Key takeaways
- 76 common fundraising terms, from acquisition to year-end giving, in plain language.
- Jump to a letter, or use your browser's find tool to search.
- Many terms link to a free guide, script or calculator.
A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · L · M · N · P · Q · R · S · T · U · W · Y
A
- Acknowledgment letter
- A letter or email thanking a donor for a gift. For gifts of $250 or more, US donors need a written acknowledgment from the charity to claim a deduction, so many acknowledgments include the gift amount and whether goods or services were provided.
- Acquisition
- Finding new donors, members or supporters, through mail, digital ads, events, phone or peer-to-peer fundraising.
- Advancement
- The combined fundraising, alumni relations and communications work of a college, university or school.
- Annual fund
- The yearly campaign that raises unrestricted money for day-to-day operations, usually through many smaller gifts.
- Appeal
- A specific request for gifts, such as a year-end letter, email series or phone campaign.
- Ask amount
- The specific gift amount a fundraiser requests, often based on the donor's last or highest gift.
- Average gift
- Total dollars raised divided by the number of gifts in a period or campaign.
B
- Bequest
- A gift left to a charity in a will or trust.
- Board giving
- Gifts from an organization's board members. Many organizations expect every board member to give.
C
- Campaign
- An organized effort to raise a set amount by a set date, from a short appeal to a multiyear capital campaign.
- Capacity
- An estimate of how much a donor could give, often based on wealth screening and research.
- Capital campaign
- A major, time-limited campaign to raise money for a building, endowment or other large project.
- Case for support
- The core explanation of why an organization needs money, what it will do with it and why it matters now.
- Cause marketing
- A partnership in which a business promotes a charity, often by donating part of each sale.
- Charitable deduction
- The amount a donor may deduct from taxable income for qualifying gifts to charity, under IRS rules. Learn more.
- Cultivation
- The steps that build a donor's relationship and interest before an ask.
D
- Deferred gift
- A gift committed now that the charity receives later, such as a bequest or charitable remainder trust.
- Do-not-call request
- A person's request not to be called again. Telemarketers calling for a charity must honor these requests for that charity.
- Donor pyramid
- A model showing many donors at the base giving smaller gifts and fewer donors at the top giving larger ones.
- Donor retention rate
- The share of last year's donors who gave again this year. Learn more.
- Donor stewardship
- How an organization thanks donors, reports on their impact and keeps them involved after a gift.
- Donor wall
- A physical or digital display recognizing donors, often by giving level.
- Donor-advised fund (DAF)
- A giving account at a sponsoring charity. Donors get a deduction when they contribute, then recommend grants to charities over time.
E
- Endowment
- Invested funds whose earnings support an organization over the long term.
- Entity-specific do-not-call list
- A list of people who asked a specific seller or charity not to call them, kept separately from the National Do Not Call Registry. Learn more.
- Event fundraising
- Raising money through galas, walks, runs, auctions and other events.
F
- Feasibility study
- Research, usually interviews with key donors, that tests whether a capital campaign goal is realistic.
- First-year retention
- The share of new donors who give a second time within the next year.
- Fiscal sponsor
- An established charity that accepts gifts on behalf of a project without its own tax-exempt status.
- Form 990
- The annual information return most tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS.
G
- Gift acceptance policy
- Rules for which gifts an organization will accept, such as real estate, stock or gifts with conditions.
- Gift chart
- A table showing how many gifts at each size a campaign needs to reach its goal.
- Gift in kind
- A gift of goods or services rather than money.
- GivingTuesday
- A global day of giving held the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the US.
- Grant
- Money awarded by a foundation, corporation or government for a specific purpose, usually after an application. Learn more.
H
- Honor gift
- A gift made in someone's honor, often for a birthday or other milestone.
I
- Impact report
- A report that shows donors what their gifts accomplished.
- In-memoriam gift
- A gift made in memory of someone who died.
L
- Lapsed donor
- A donor who gave in the past but not recently, often defined as no gift in the last 12 to 24 months. Learn more.
- Leadership gift
- A large gift, often given early in a campaign to set momentum.
- Legacy society
- A recognition group for donors who've included an organization in their estate plans.
- LYBUNT
- Last Year But Unfortunately Not This year: donors who gave last year but haven't yet given this year. Learn more.
M
- Major gift
- A gift above an organization's set threshold, often $1,000, $10,000 or more depending on its size.
- Matching gift
- A gift a company makes to match an employee's donation, usually dollar for dollar up to a limit. Learn more.
- Membership dues
- Regular payments that give members benefits in an association, museum, public media station or similar group.
- Mid-level donor
- A donor between annual fund and major gift levels, often $1,000 to $10,000 a year.
- Monthly giving
- Recurring gifts charged each month, often called a sustainer program. Learn more.
- Moves management
- A system for tracking each step that moves a prospect toward a gift.
N
- Non-dues revenue
- Money an association earns beyond membership dues, such as events, sponsorships, education and advertising. Learn more.
P
- Peer-to-peer fundraising
- Supporters raising money from their own friends and family for an organization, often online or through events.
- Phonathon
- A phone fundraising campaign, often run by students or volunteers for a school or college. Learn more.
- Planned giving
- Gifts arranged as part of a donor's financial or estate planning, such as bequests and charitable trusts.
- Pledge
- A promise to give a set amount, paid all at once or over time.
- Pledge fulfillment
- The share of pledged dollars that donors actually pay.
- Prospect research
- Researching potential donors' interests, connections and giving capacity.
Q
- Qualified charitable distribution (QCD)
- A transfer from an IRA straight to a qualifying charity by a donor 70½ or older, which can count toward required minimum distributions.
R
- Reactivation
- Getting a lapsed donor to give again.
- Recurring gift
- A gift that repeats on a schedule, such as monthly or yearly.
- Restricted gift
- A gift the donor limits to a specific purpose or time.
- RFM
- Recency, frequency and monetary value: a way to rank donors by how recently, how often and how much they give.
S
- Second gift
- A new donor's next gift after the first. Getting it is one of the biggest drivers of long-term retention.
- Segmentation
- Dividing donors into groups, such as by giving level or history, to tailor messages and asks.
- Soft credit
- Recognition recorded for someone who influenced a gift but didn't make it, such as a spouse or board member.
- Solicitation
- A request for a gift.
- Sponsorship
- Payment from a business in exchange for recognition at an event or program.
- Stewardship report
- A report to a donor about how a specific gift was used.
- Sustainer
- A donor who gives a recurring gift, usually monthly.
- SYBUNT
- Some Year But Unfortunately Not This year: donors who gave in some earlier year but haven't given this year. Learn more.
T
- Telefunder
- The FTC's term for a for-profit telemarketer that asks for gifts on behalf of a charity. Learn more.
- Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR)
- The FTC rule covering telemarketing, including for-profit firms that call to raise money for charities. Learn more.
- Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
- The federal law that, with FCC rules, limits autodialed, prerecorded and artificial-voice calls and texts. Learn more.
- Thank-you call
- A call made only to thank a donor, with no ask. Learn more.
U
- Unrestricted gift
- A gift the organization may use wherever it's needed most.
- Upgrade
- Asking a donor to give more than their last gift, or getting a larger gift.
W
- Wealth screening
- Using public data to estimate donors' capacity to give.
Y
- Year-end giving
- Gifts made in November and December, the busiest giving season for most nonprofits. Learn more.
How KFG helps
Kensington Fundraising Group runs live phone fundraising campaigns for nonprofits, schools and associations: thank-you calls, renewals, monthly giving upgrades and lapsed donor reactivation. See phone fundraising or our free call scripts.