20 Fundraising Acronyms and What They Mean
Fundraising can often feel like a labyrinth of abbreviations and jargon, and understanding these acronyms is key to navigating the landscape effectively. From ASL and CRM to ROI and DAF, the Sleek team has demystified these advancement and nonprofit development terms for you in celebration of our 20th anniversary!
1. ROI – Return on Investment
A simple ratio that divides the net profit (or loss) from an investment by its cost, because it is expressed as a percentage so you can compare the effectiveness or profitability of different investment choices.
2. CRM – Customer/Constituent Relationship Management
The relationship between a constituent (any person, household, or organization) and your organization that focuses on tracking and enhancing customer interactions in the marketing and sales funnel workflow for new and returning customers, and later improving support.3. LYBUNT – Last Year but Unfortunately Not This Year
A donor supported your organization during the last fiscal year but did not return to donate again this year.4. SYBUNT – Some Year but Unfortunately Not This Year
A donor who have given some year but unfortunately not this year.5. HENRY – High Earners Not Rich Yet
A term to describe people who earn high incomes, but have not saved or invested enough to be considered rich.6. DAF – Donor Advised Fund
A giving account that is a private fund administered by a third party to manage charitable donations.7. GIK – Gifts in Kind
A charitable type of giving where, instead of giving money to buy needed goods and services, the goods and services themselves are given.8. FMV – Fair Market Value
The price of an asset when buyer and seller have reasonable knowledge of it and are willing to trade without pressure.9. FDO – Funds Distributed by the Organization
An organization that distributes subsidies sourced from monies related to dormant deposits, etc., to executing organizations.10. P2P – Peer to Peer
When individuals organize personal campaigns to collect donations from their peers.11. GOLD – Graduates of the Last Decade
Alumni that have graduated in the past ten years.12. MGO – Major Gift Officer
Philanthropy coordinators who solicit contributions for nonprofit organizations and maintain relationships with donors.13. ASL – Accounting SubLedger
A Salesforce.org product that helps keep your CRM in harmony with your accounting system. It provides details of transactions within different categories on a business’s chart of accounts.
14. AF – Annual Fund
Refers to all of the money a nonprofit raises on an ongoing basis throughout the year, where donations are unrestricted funds.15. CMS – Content Management System
A software application that enables users to create, edit, collaborate on, publish and store digital content. Salesforce is our favorite CRM!
16. DNS – Domain Name System
The system by which internet domain names and addresses are tracked and regulated.
17. DKIM – DomainKeys Identified Mail
A protocol that allows an organization to take responsibility for transmitting a message by signing it in a way that mailbox providers can verify.18. YOY – Year Over Year
A method of evaluating two or more measured events to compare the results at one period with those of a comparable period on an annualized basis.19. CFY – Current Fiscal Year
A twelve-month period chosen by a company to report its financial information.20. PFY – Previous Fiscal Year
The fiscal year immediately prior to the current fiscal year.If you already knew all of those, pat yourself on the back! You’re a fundraising genius! If you didn’t, that’s OK. We hope you learned something new.
As we celebrate our 20 years in business, keep an eye on Sleek’s blog, sign up for our newsletter, and follow us on social media for more fun and informative posts!
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Karly Merrill
Karly serves as the Help Desk and Technical Support Manager, accountable for promptly delivering comprehensive technical solutions to clients. She completed her Salesforce admin certification in March 2023. A proud double alumna of Valdosta State University, Georgia, she earned her Masters in Business Education and Information Technology in August 2022, and her Bachelors in Office Administrative Technology in May 2020. Karly takes pleasure in problem-solving, meticulously attending to project intricacies, and ensuring optimal organization performance for seamless usability.
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