Charity digital fundraising terms and what they mean

There are so many different bits of lingo to get your head around in the charity world.

Add in fundraising and digital-specific terms, and you’ve got a recipe for confusion.

So we’ve put together this handy glossary of charity terms to help you get to grips with the lingo.

Fundraising tools and strategies  

1. Fulfilment – Process of completing a donor’s request
2. Stewardship – Looking after and cultivating donor relationships
3. Donors vs. fundraisers – Difference between people who give and those who collect donations
4. Proposition – Value or benefit offered to potential donors
5. Annual reports – Yearly summary of organisation’s activities and finances
6. Dollar handle – Amount suggested for donations
7. Frequency – How often a communication or action happens

Financial and methods  

1. Matched gift – Donations matched by a company or individual
2. Restricted vs unrestricted funding – Funds earmarked for specific uses vs. flexible funds
3. Individual giving (IG) – Donations from individual people
4. Regular giver donor (RG donor) – Person who donates regularly
5. Major donor – Someone giving large sums of money
6. Cash ask – Requesting a direct cash donation
7. RG (Regular Giving) – Donations made on a regular basis
8. Lifetime value – Total donations expected from a donor over time
9. Donor lifetime value (LTV) – See Lifetime value
10. Loss leader – Product sold at a loss to attract customers
11. Paperless direct debit (PDD) – Automated bank transfers without paperwork
12. Gift aid – UK scheme increasing donation value through tax relief
13. Raffles – Fundraising through ticket sales for prizes
14. Shopping list item – Breakdown of how donations are spent
15. Funding pot – Reserved funds for specific projects

Legacies and bequests  

1. Gifts in wills – Donations left in someone’s will
2. Legacies – See Gifts in wills
3. Legacy giving – Process of leaving gifts in wills
4. Bequests – See Gifts in wills
5. In Mem – Donations in memory of someone

Campaign types  

1. Smoke test – A small-scale campaign to test an idea
2. Challenge events – Activities like marathons for fundraisin.
3. Virtual challenge – Digital version of challenge events
4. Community challenges – Localised events to engage communities
5. Birthdays (campaign type) – Campaigns centred on birthdays for fundraising

Campaign planning and strategy  

1. Theory of change – Plan outlining how actions lead to desired outcomes
2. Mobilisation – Getting people to act or support a cause
3. Angles – Specific messages or focuses for campaigns
4. Supporter journey – Experience of a supporter from first interaction onwards

Lead generation and engagement  

1. Activation – Encouraging a lead to take an action
2. Handraiser – Someone showing interest in supporting
3. Valex – Offering something in return for contact detail
4. Appeal – Call to the public to donate or help
5. Community fundraising – Raising funds within a community
6. Direct mail – Sending fundraising letters to people’s homes
7. Peer-to-peer – Fundraising through personal networks
8. Call to action (CTA) – Prompt encouraging an immediate response
9. Sponsorship – Financial support in exchange for brand exposure
10. DRTV – TV ads prompting immediate donations
11. Engagement tool – Methods or platforms to interact with supporters

Metrics and evaluation

1. Response rate – Percentage of people who respond to a campaign
2. Churn rate – Percentage of supporters who stop supporting
3. Contact rate – Percentage of successfully reached contacts
4. Attrition rate – Rate at which supporters drop off
5. Retention rate – Percentage of supporters who continue supporting
6. Donor retention – Maintaining ongoing donor support
7. Donor acquisition – Getting new donors
8. Hurdle rate – Minimum rate of return for an investment

Services and tools

1. Farewill – Free will-writing service
2. Free wills network – Group offering will-writing support
3. Multi-channel marketing – Engaging audiences across various platforms
4. SERP – Search Engine Results Page – List of web pages returned by a search engine
5. Product – Item sold to raise funds

Team and stakeholders  

1. Senior leadership team – Top decision-makers in an organisation
2. People with [health condition] – Respectful way to mention beneficiaries with specific conditions

Community and engagement  

1. Community fundraiser – Person coordinating local fundraising activities
2. Volunteerism – Act of offering services for free
3. Community fundraising – Fundraising activities in a community

Photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash