Glossary of Terms - Fundraising
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Other Glossaries:
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These glossaries are provided courtesy of the Canadian Marketing Association, to whom our thanks. |
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A
Acquisition or Prospecting
The efforts made to acquire new donors. Sources for acquisition include traded and rented lists from other charities and outside organizations, patients or clients and long lapsed donors lists.
Active Donor
A donor who has made a gift within the last 12 months.
Annual Review (Audit)
A yearly analysis on fundraising results to evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns and to set new strategies.
Attrition Rate
The number of active donors who fail to renew in the following year.
Average Gift
The average amount donated by a group of donors in response to a specific appeal.
B
BRE (Business Reply Envelope)
An envelope used for the return of a response device, like a donation. Postage is paid by the non-profit upon return of the envelope.
Break-even Analysis
A statistical method that helps determine whether soliciting a particular group of donors will be profitable.
C
CHAID (CHI-squared Automatic Interaction Detector)
A data analytics technique commonly used in direct marketing. It helps predict a donor's value based on existing variables in their profile.
Channel
An activity such as direct mail, telemarketing or face-to-face.
Click-through Rate
The number of people who click on a given advertisement online. It is the equivalent of response rate in direct mail.
Cluster Analysis
A statistical technique applied to data in order to identify natural groupings or homogeneous segments.
Conversion
The movement from one donor segment to another; i.e. monthly donor conversion from one-time gift status.
Cost per Piece (CPP)
The total cost to produce individual mail pieces divided by the total quantity mailed. It includes all agency, data, production and postage costs.
Current Donor
A donor who has given a gift in the current calendar year.
Cut-off Date
A date used to determine gift year for month end reporting or tax purposes.
D
Digital Retention Rate
A measure that determines how many digital donors from last year gave again this year.
Direct Costs
Any costs associated with a revenue based transaction (i.e. printing and postage).
Direct Mail
A marketing channel that communicates to donors on a one-to-one level with a trackable response mechanism.
Direct Marketing
Direct Marketing generates profitable business results by using targeted communications to engage specific audiences through a combination of relevant messaging and offers that can be tracked, measured, analyzed, stored and leveraged to drive future marketing initiatives.
Direct Response Television (DRTV)
DRTV commercials are a powerful donor acquisition tool that many organizations use to acquire new monthly and one-time gift donors.
Donor
A donor is an individual or group that provides financial support or ?in-kind? gifts. The term is interchangeable with ?funder? or ?grant-maker.?
Doubling Day
The number of days required to reach half of the funds received from an outbound solicitation piece, normally associated with direct mail.
E
E-Fundraising
A marketing channel that communicates to prospective donors through the Internet. Internet based acquisition tactics include media placement, search (paid and organic), directories, and email marketing.
E-Solicitation
An outbound donor communication containing a request for funds.
F
Face-to-Face
A request for funds in person. It is divided into three different mediums: 1) street, or direct dialogue, 2) door-to-door or neighbourhood and, 3) private locations (malls, special events, etc).
Fulfillment/Conversation Rate
The proportion of people who actually make a monthly gift compared to the number of total leads.
G
Geo-demographic Profiling
The consideration of geographic location, gender, age, language, and income when segmenting groups of donors.
Gift Matrix or Gift Array
A predetermined ask amount found to increase response rates and gift size. It is used in all channels. A gift matrix generally means the ask amounts vary according to a predetermined formula whereas an array is a set amount.
Gross (Total) Revenue
All revenue calculated from fundraising activities in a given year. Gross revenue is often evaluated on the basis of a marketing channel.
I
Inactive Donor
A donor who last gave four or five years earlier.
Indirect Costs
Costs that include general administration, overhead and donation processing.
In-Honour Donor
Donors who have given a gift in honour of someone or something.
In-Memoriam Donors
Donors who have only given (or last gave) a memorial gift.
Impression
In digital advertising, impressions refer to the number of times that an online ad unit is served up. In mass media advertising, impressions refers to the total number of individuals or households accessed through a specific media property.
L
Landing Page
A web page specifically designed to connect the target customer to a direct marketing campaign or promotion. Landing pages are used as destinations for promotions through all direct marketing channels.
Lapsed Donor
A donor who last gave 19 months ago or later.
Long-Term Value (Lifetime value)
The value of a donor over a fixed length of time, calculated by the total funds given in that period.
M
Mail Drop
The day a mail solicitation goes into the postal stream.
Median Gift
The middle gift, if arranged from lowest to highest. If the total number of gifts counted is even, then it is the average of the middle two gifts.
Micro-site
An individual web page or group of web pages that supplement the primary website. A micro-site is usually focused on a specific campaign or offer and is promoted distinctly from the main website.
Mode Gift
The most common gift value within a group of gifts or responses.
Monthly Donors
A donor who is making regular donations through a pre-authorized cheque or credit card.
Monthly Gifts
The pre-authorized donations made by a monthly donor.
Multi-Channel Donor
Donors who give through more than one direct marketing channel.
Multiple Gift Donors
Donors who make more than one gift during a specific period, usually the last calendar year.
Multi-year Donors
Donors who have continued to give to the organization over a number of years (often looked at as those who have given consecutively for three or more years).
N
Net Revenue
An organization?s revenue, after costs and expenses are subtracted.
New Donor or New to File (NTF)
Donors who have only given one or two gifts in their lifetime. Some organizations do not consider a new donor to be an active donor until they have made a second or third gift.
O
Offline
Representing non-internet based marketing activities.
Offset Print
A printing method effective for high quality, large volume, production jobs.
One-time Gifts (OTG)
A single gift by cash, cheque, or credit card.
Once per year Donors
Donors who have asked to be contacted only once per year.
Online
Representing internet based activities.
P
Paid Search
The display of sponsored links on Google and other search engines.
Premium or Freemium
Inclusions in direct mail packages (i.e. cards, calendars, and labels).
Pledge Donor
A promise of funds, usually with a payment schedule.
Prospects
Potential donors that organizations target through direct marketing channels, including direct mail, telemarketing, direct-response television, e-fundraising and face-to-face fundraising.
R
Reactivation
When a lapsed donor makes another gift, they are considered ?reactivated.?
Renewal Rate
Measures the number of last year?s donors who have given in the current year.
Renewal/Retention
When an active or current donor makes another gift, they are considered ?renewed.?
Rental List
A list rented for the purpose of donor acquisition.
Response Rate
A method of quantifying the success ratio of a mailing campaign based on the number of sales or inquiries vs. the number of promotion pieces mailed.
RFM
Statistical method in which customers are segmented based on the recency, frequency, and monetary value of past donations.
Return on Investment (ROI)
ROI is a measure used to assess the investment vs. the amount of revenue generated.
Rollout
Expanding a test program to a larger audience.
S
Segmentation
Identifying discrete groups or segments of donors, either within an organization?s donor database or the market at large. This exercise allows fundraisers to measure success across different segments, speak to the different groups in more personalized ways and to decide the appropriate strategic investment for each segment.
Script
A dialog followed by a fundraiser (usually on the phone) to ensure a quality contact.
Social Media
Social media is a term for the tools and platforms people use to publish, converse and share content online.
Social Networking
Social networking sites (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) are online spaces where users can create a profile for themselves and then socialize with others using a range of social media tools.
Special
A solicitation with a special topic/ask/inclusion.
T
Tagline/Teaser
A branding concept that conveys a short message.
Telemarketing (or Tele-fundraising)
The use of phone based fundraising. It is used for conversion to monthly giving, monthly gift upgrades, acquisition and renewal programs, and reactivating lapsed donors.
Trade File (Trade List)
A list of names traded with peer organizations for the purposes of donor acquisition.
U
Upgrade
When a monthly donor increases their monthly gift amount, or when a one-time gift donor increases their giving over the previous year.
V
Variable Copy
Customizable content based on segment criteria, allowing for detailed personalization in direct marketing communications.
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