Grant Writing Glossary

Budget represents the organization's blueprint for the coming year, expressed in monetary terms.

Capital grants are usually made to established organizations to meet future service demands. Includes funding for land acquisition, building construction and equipment purchases.

Case statement is a centralized documentation of information describing an agency: its needs, goals, objectives, strategies, and tasks. Writing this statement is a major undertaking, but is crucial for many large corporation grants.

Concept paper contains key elements of your proposal, such as a description, target population, explanation of the need, description of goals and outcomes, key components and identification of partnerships and collaborations.

Conditional grants are similar to a matching funds grant, except the grantee must satisfy some condition other than matching funds.

Earmarked grant is made to a third party for use by a nonprofit just getting organized and that has applied for a 501©(3) tax-exempt status. Allows the grantor to meet contributor's requirements and still help an organization it believes in.

Endowment funds are funds donated for investment to provide a non-profit with regular income.

501(c)(3) is the section of the tax code that defines nonprofit, charitable (as broadly defined), tax-exempt organizations; 501(c)(3) organizations are further defined as public charities, private operating foundations and private non-operating foundations.

Fiscal Year is a budget year describing the twelve-month period during which money is spent on an organizations program. Different funding sources use different fiscal years.

Foundation is a nonprofit organization created for the purpose of establishing or maintaining charitable, educational, religious, social and other activities for the common good.

Funding cycle is the time during which a funding source accepts and awards new proposals. Different funding sources have different funding cycles.

General support/unrestricted grants funds may be used for a broad range of organizational needs, including general operating-expenses, usually at the discretion of the recipient.

Grant is an award of funds to an organization to perform a specified set of functions for an agreed upon dollar amount, in a specified period of time. (Money given in return for the actions defined in the written proposal. What you want to do and how you plan to do it. )

Grantee financial report is a report detailing how grant funds were used by an organization. Many corporate grant makers require this kind of report. A financial report generally includes a listing of all expenditures from grant funds as well as an overall organizational financial report covering revenue and expenses, assets and liabilities.

Guidelines are procedures set forth by the funding source that grant seekers should follow when approaching a grant maker.

In-kind contributions are equipment, supplies or other tangible resources, as opposed to monetary grants.

Matching funds are dollars given to an organization if it can come up with dollars elsewhere. Often the match is expressed in form of a ratio and there are often frequently minimum and maximum limits on matching funds.

Pilot programs and demonstration projects can be used as a model for others to follow, and if the project has merit, other funding sources may provide funding for continuation.

Purchase of service agreement or contract formalizes the relationship between the funding source and the organization receiving funds.

Proposal is a description of what you want to do and how you plan to do it. Explain the problem, how you intend to solve it, how much it will cost and how you will know it works. Follow the prescribed guidelines.

Query letter is a brief letter outlining an organization's activities and its request for funding that is sent to a potential grant maker to determine whether it would be appropriate to submit a full grant proposal. Many grant makers prefer to be contacted in this way before receiving a full proposal.

Request For Proposals (RFP) is an invitation to provide a proposal on a specific project and is usually distributed through state or regional planning agencies. If you are interested, you respond to the announcement and obtain application forms.

Seed funding is start-up funding for a new program or organization, sometimes renewable.
Technical Assistance is operational or management assistance given to nonprofit organizations. It can include fundraising, budgeting, and financial planning, program planning, legal advice marketing and other aids to management.

by Sheri Denk

top