Glossary
23 definitions of the words that show up in funding notices and review criteria, written for nonprofit teams deciding whether an opportunity is worth their time.
Money awarded for a defined purpose that does not have to be repaid.
Request for Proposals, the document that opens a funding competition.
Notice of Funding Opportunity, the federal equivalent of an RFP.
Whether applications are accepted continuously or only by a set date.
A short pre-proposal that asks a funder whether a full application is welcome.
A one-page map from resources to activities to outcomes.
The reasoning that explains why your approach should work.
Outputs are what you did. Outcomes are what changed.
The main written case for your project, scored against published criteria.
Money you must contribute alongside the grant, often as a percentage of the award.
Non-cash goods or services counted toward a project's value.
Overhead that supports the program but cannot be tied to a single activity.
Money that can only be spent on the purpose the funder approved.
Flexible funding for whatever the organization needs to run.
The written justification for every line in the project budget.
The progress and financial reports a grantee must file after the award.
An organization that reinvests surplus into its mission instead of distributing it to owners.
The US tax-exempt status most private foundations require of grantees.
Non-governmental organization, the term used for mission-driven groups outside the US.
A tax-exempt organization that receives grant funds on behalf of a project.