Nonprofit Glossary

Accounting for nonprofits refers to the policies and processes used to track funds by purpose, honor donor and grant restrictions, and meet compliance requirements like Form 990 filings. This guide explains fund accounting basics, key metrics such as days cash on hand and reconciliation timeliness, and how tools like Bloomerang support accurate financial reporting.

An advisory board is a group of volunteers who provide nonbinding strategic advice, fundraising help, and introductions to support a nonprofit's leadership, without the legal or fiduciary responsibility held by a board of directors. Clear roles, expectations, and follow-up—supported by tools like Bloomerang CRM—help nonprofits turn advisory board members' goodwill into measurable fundraising and program outcomes.

An annual report for nonprofits is a yearly, donor-facing document combining financial statements, program outcomes, and impact stories to build trust and support future fundraising. It typically follows fiscal year-end and includes revenue summaries, program results, leadership messages, and donor recognition, often distributed alongside year-end and early-year stewardship efforts.

A nonprofit board of directors is the volunteer governing body responsible for an organization's mission, finances, and strategic direction, including policy-setting, fiduciary oversight, and executive hiring/evaluation. The document explains board structures, committees, fundraising roles, key governance metrics, and how tools like Bloomerang CRM support board management.

A capital campaign is a structured, time-limited fundraising effort to raise a specific large sum for major projects like buildings or endowments, typically using a quiet phase for major-donor gifts followed by a public phase, with campaigns averaging about 3.2 years in length.

A challenge gift is a conditional donor pledge that unlocks additional gifts when supporters meet a specific threshold or timeframe, such as a matching amount, creating urgency and social proof to boost fundraising campaigns. This document explains how challenge gifts work in practice, their benefits for nonprofits, key metrics to track, and how tools like Bloomerang can support challenge gift campaigns.

Charitable solicitation refers to any request for charitable contributions made to the public through various channels, and many states require nonprofits to register before soliciting residents. Nonprofits should map donor locations and confirm state-specific registration and disclosure requirements before launching major fundraising campaigns to avoid compliance risks.

Communication for nonprofits is the ongoing process of planning, creating, sending, and measuring messages that inform, inspire, and prompt action from donors, volunteers, partners, and the public. Effective communication strengthens donor retention, volunteer engagement, and trust, and can be improved through segmentation, automation, and tracking key metrics.

A donation acknowledgment letter is a written confirmation from a nonprofit to a donor stating the gift amount, date, and whether goods or services were provided, serving both tax documentation and donor stewardship purposes. It is required for gifts of $250 or more and, when sent promptly and accurately, helps build donor trust and improve retention.

A donation button is a clickable element that starts a supporter's giving process, either through an embedded form, hosted page redirect, or one-click donation, and is a critical touchpoint for converting interest into gifts. This document explains button variations, why they matter for nonprofit fundraising, key metrics to track, and how tools like Bloomerang help nonprofits implement and optimize donate buttons.

Donation matching is when an employer or other donor matches an individual's charitable gift, typically dollar-for-dollar, to increase fundraising impact. Nonprofits can boost matched revenue by identifying match-eligible donors at the point of gift and following up promptly, especially around year-end deadlines.

A donation pledge is a donor's commitment to give a specific amount to a nonprofit over a defined period, helping organizations forecast revenue and manage major gifts and campaigns. Nonprofits track pledges through CRM systems, monitoring metrics like completion rate and installment adherence to convert commitments into fulfilled gifts.

A donation receipt is a formal record a nonprofit provides to a donor documenting a gift's details, including donor name, date, amount, and whether goods or services were exchanged. It serves both IRS compliance purposes for donor tax deductions and as a stewardship opportunity for nonprofits to build donor trust and retention.

A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a charitable account held by a sponsoring organization that lets donors make tax-deductible contributions and recommend grants to nonprofits over time. For nonprofits, DAFs represent a growing but timing-sensitive revenue source requiring careful tracking, acknowledgement, and stewardship to convert recommendations into lasting donor relationships.

Donor communication encompasses all messages nonprofits use to inform, thank, and engage supporters, from receipts to stewardship updates, and plays a critical role in donor retention and fundraising health. This covers key practices, metrics, a practical scenario, and FAQs for improving donor communication strategies.

Donor letters for nonprofits are personalized mail or email communications used to solicit gifts, acknowledge donations, and steward donor relationships through storytelling, segmentation, and clear calls to action. Effective programs segment donor lists, personalize messaging, time appeals around key giving seasons, and track metrics like response rate and donor retention to improve future campaigns.

The donor lifecycle describes the stages a supporter moves through—acquisition, first gift, stewardship, upgrade, lapsing, and reactivation—helping nonprofits target outreach and improve retention and lifetime value. This guide explains the stages, key metrics like retention rates, and how tools like Bloomerang CRM support lifecycle management.

Donor management is the process of tracking, organizing, and stewarding supporters to build long-term relationships, improve retention, and increase lifetime giving. This guide covers what donor management involves, why it matters, key metrics and benchmarks, related terms, and how Bloomerang CRM supports donor management practices.

Donor retention measures the percentage of donors who give again after an initial gift, serving as a key indicator of fundraising health and relationship strength. The document explains how to calculate retention, why it matters for revenue predictability, and offers benchmarks and practical strategies for improving first-time and repeat donor retention.

Donor segmentation is the process of grouping supporters into meaningful clusters based on shared attributes like giving history, gift size, and engagement to tailor fundraising asks and stewardship. This practice helps nonprofits increase response rates, gift size, and donor loyalty by sending relevant, targeted communications rather than generic outreach.

This document explains email marketing for nonprofits as the strategic use of permission-based email to build donor relationships and drive fundraising actions like donations and event sign-ups. It covers key concepts, practical examples, metrics like open and conversion rates, related nonprofit terms, and how Bloomerang's tools support segmented, automated email campaigns.

Event management software for nonprofits helps organizations plan, promote, and run fundraising events by handling registration, ticketing, attendance tracking, and gift processing while syncing this data directly to donor records in a CRM. This reduces manual data entry, supports timely donor follow-up, and helps nonprofits measure which events drive revenue and long-term donor engagement.

A fundraising appeal is a targeted communication asking donors to give to a specific cause or campaign, using channels like email, mail, or social media to inspire action and track results. Effective appeals rely on segmentation, clear asks, and tracking to improve donor retention and campaign performance, especially during high-giving periods like Giving Tuesday and year-end.

A fundraising campaign is a time-bound, goal-driven effort using coordinated tactics and channels to raise money for a specific purpose, with success measured through metrics like dollars raised, donor acquisition, and ROI. Nonprofits plan, segment, execute, and steward donors through campaigns to turn one-time givers into long-term supporters.

A fundraising event is a planned in-person, virtual, or hybrid activity designed to raise money and strengthen donor relationships through ticketing, appeals, sponsorships, and stewardship. Success is measured by metrics like net revenue, cost to raise a dollar, donor acquisition, and retention, with follow-up critical to converting event revenue into long-term donor support.

GivingTuesday is an annual, global day of charitable giving held the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, used by nonprofits to drive donations, recruit donors, and mobilize peer-to-peer fundraising. The document explains its history, benefits, a sample campaign scenario, key metrics like the $3.6 billion raised in 2024, related terms, and FAQs on preparation and measurement.

Grant management software for nonprofits centralizes the grant lifecycle—prospecting, applications, awards, budgets, and reporting—into one system, reducing compliance risk and manual work while improving funder relationships and reporting accuracy.

Hybrid fundraising combines in-person and virtual fundraising activities so supporters can participate and give whether onsite or online, expanding reach and strengthening donor engagement. This guide explains how hybrid fundraising works, why it matters, and what metrics nonprofits should track to measure success.

In-memory gifts, or memorial donations, are charitable contributions made to a nonprofit to honor someone who has died, and nonprofits track, acknowledge, and steward these gifts to build donor relationships and support families. The document explains what these gifts are, why they matter, how to manage them in practice, key metrics to track, and how tools like Bloomerang's Tribute Notifications feature help nonprofits handle them.

A lapsed donor is a supporter who previously gave to a nonprofit but hasn't donated within the organization's defined active-giving window, commonly 12–24 months. Re-engaging lapsed donors through targeted, personalized outreach—especially during year-end giving and GivingTuesday—can be more cost-effective than acquiring new donors and helps protect long-term fundraising revenue.

LYBUNT and SYBUNT reports are donor lists identifying supporters who gave in a past period but not the current one, used by nonprofits to prioritize win-back outreach and reengagement, especially around year-end and GivingTuesday campaigns.

Major gifts are high-value donations from individuals, families, foundations, or corporations that significantly advance a nonprofit's programs, capital needs, or endowment, requiring personalized cultivation and stewardship. This guide covers how major gifts work in practice, key metrics like pipeline value and close rate, and how tools like Bloomerang CRM help teams manage prospect relationships.

Mobile giving refers to donations made via smartphones or tablets through methods like text-to-give, mobile-optimized forms, QR codes, and mobile wallets, helping nonprofits reduce friction and reach donors where they already are. The document explains its importance, practical implementation using an example nonprofit, key metrics to track, and how Bloomerang's tools support mobile giving programs.

This guide explains nonprofit event management as the end-to-end process of planning, promoting, executing, and following up on events to advance fundraising and engagement goals. It offers a practical checklist, key metrics, related terms, and FAQs to help nonprofits turn event attendees into long-term donors and volunteers.

A nonprofit grant is a time-limited award of funds from a foundation, government agency, corporation, or other funder for a specific program, project, capital need, or general operations, involving eligibility criteria, a written agreement, and reporting requirements. This document explains how grants work, why they matter, key benchmarks, and how tools like Bloomerang CRM help track deadlines, payments, and reporting.

This document explains payment processing for nonprofits, covering the systems and services used to accept, authorize, and settle donations online and in person, including donation forms, card readers, ACH transfers, payment gateways, PCI compliance, and fee handling. It also covers why reliable processing matters for donor experience and fundraising, how it works in practice through an example campaign, key metrics, related nonprofit terms, and how Bloomerang's tools support payment processing and donor record integration.

This guide explains peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising, a campaign model where supporters raise money through personal pages or events, and covers why it matters, how it works with a practical example, key metrics to track, and how Bloomerang's CRM helps organizations manage and steward P2P donors.

Planned giving refers to charitable gifts—such as bequests, beneficiary designations, trusts, and gift annuities—that donors arrange during their lifetime to benefit a nonprofit later or provide income to the donor first. Nonprofits use planned giving to diversify revenue and build legacy relationships, but it requires careful tracking, documentation, and long-term stewardship to convert prospects into realized gifts.

A principal gift is a very large, transformational charitable gift, often defined at the seven-figure level, that significantly accelerates an organization's mission and requires tailored cultivation and stewardship. Organizations set their own thresholds based on budget and donor history, using moves-management plans to identify, cultivate, and steward these top-tier donors.

Recurring giving refers to automatic, scheduled donations (monthly, quarterly, or annually) that create predictable revenue and stronger donor relationships for nonprofits. This document explains how recurring giving works, why it matters, and how tools like Bloomerang CRM support recurring donor management and stewardship.

Sequential giving is a fundraising strategy that solicits top prospects and insiders before launching a public campaign, using early leadership gifts to build momentum and encourage broader donor participation. The approach relies on prospect research, tailored asks, and tracking to secure major gifts first, then expand to mid-level and general donors.

A silent auction is a fundraising event where supporters place private bids on donated items or experiences, with the highest bidder winning at closing; it helps nonprofits raise unrestricted revenue, engage donors, and build stewardship opportunities.

Soft credit is a donor-recognition practice that attributes influence for a gift to a person or entity who didn't directly provide the funds, such as an employer match or an intermediary fundraiser, while keeping revenue reporting accurate. It helps nonprofits like Riverbend Food Bank thank and steward influencers separately from the paying donor, and tools like Bloomerang CRM support tracking both hard and soft credits.

Software for nonprofits encompasses CRM, donation processing, event, and volunteer management tools that centralize donor and operational data to improve fundraising, reporting, and donor retention. The guide explains how these tools work in practice, key metrics like donor retention rate, and how Bloomerang's CRM and fundraising tools support nonprofit organizations.

A strategic plan is a documented, time-bound roadmap that aligns a nonprofit's mission and vision with a few strategic priorities, measurable objectives, and assigned resources, helping organizations coordinate fundraising, programs, and staffing while tracking progress through KPIs and regular reviews.

A virtual fundraising event is an online program—such as livestreamed galas, virtual auctions, or peer-to-peer campaigns—designed to raise money and engage supporters without in-person gathering. It helps nonprofits expand reach, lower costs, and convert attendees into long-term donors through effective registration, engagement tracking, and stewardship.

Volunteer management is the process of recruiting, onboarding, scheduling, training, supervising, recognizing, and reporting on volunteers to help them safely and effectively support an organization's mission. Effective volunteer management increases program capacity, reduces costs and risk, and can turn volunteers into long-term donors and supporters.

Wealth screening compares donor and prospect records against public and proprietary data sources to identify giving capacity indicators, helping nonprofits prioritize prospects for major gifts and matching-gift asks. It is a starting point for research and relationship-building, not a substitute for human qualification and ethical, relationship-based outreach.

Crowdfunding is an online fundraising method where many donors give, often small amounts, toward a specific campaign or goal, typically through mobile-optimized pages and peer-to-peer sharing. This guide covers how nonprofits use crowdfunding, key metrics to track, a practical example, and how to convert campaign donors into long-term supporters.

Nonprofit fundraising encompasses the activities organizations use to ask for, collect, and steward financial support, including direct asks, online giving, events, major gifts, and recurring donations. The document explains why fundraising matters, provides a practical example, outlines key metrics like donor retention and average gift size, and describes how Bloomerang's CRM and fundraising tools support these efforts.

A year-end giving letter is a targeted fundraising appeal sent in late December that summarizes impact and urges donors to give before year-end, capitalizing on tax-year and holiday giving motivation. Nonprofits use segmented letters, timed around GivingTuesday and December 30–31, to maximize revenue and strengthen donor relationships.