Non for Profit Glossary

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Cache	A small data-memory storage area that your computer accesses instantly, rather than having to re-access the original data from its original source. Pronounced "cash".
Cafeteria Plan	A list of benefits from which an employee can choose. Typically employees work with a predetermined amount of money.
Calendar	An organization's planned activities for a certain period of time.
Calendar of Business	An agenda or list of business eligible for floor consideration. Each house decides which measures are discussed, and in what order, in accordance with its rules and practices.
Call of the Calendar	Senate bills not brought up for debate by a motion, unanimous consent or a unanimous consent agreement are brought before the Senate for action when the calendar listing them is "called." Bills must be called in the order listed. Measures considered by this method usually are non-controversial, and debate on the bill and any proposed amendments is limited to a total of five minutes for each senator. Party leaders and their aides check with senators beforehand to make sure that no one objects to the measures. The system is referred to as "the clearance process".
Call to Action	When individuals are urged to take action on public policy matters via a communication by a nonprofit and the communication either states that the recipient should contact a legislator for purposes of influencing the legislation, states the address, phone number, or similar information of a legislator or legislative body employee, provides a petition, post card, or similar means for the recipient to contact a legislator or legislative body employee or specifically identifies a legislator who will vote on the legislation as being opposed to or undecided. A call to action is a key element used in the IRS definition of grassroots lobbying contained in section 501(h).
Call Tree	A list of names and contact information about people that should be notified immediately in a crisis situation.
Campaign	General term used to denote fundraising for a defined purpose.
Campaign Costs	Expenditures that are deemed essential to the planning and operation of a campaign and that are directly related to campaign budget projections.
Campaign Materials	General term used to denote campaign forms of all kinds: materials required for campaign workers, fact sheets, prospect lists, and numerous other items essential to the effective functioning of a campaign; printed materials such as pamphlets, brochures, leaflets, and flyers used to advance a campaign.
Capability Mapping	A method used by benchmarking teams to analyze the nuts and bolts of an organization, in order to assess its unique capabilities. Nuts and bolts, also known as infrastructure, include all the tangible resources available to a particular organization, including technical, equipment, manufacturing, and transportation resources.
Capacity	The ability to perform or produce a desired output.
Capacity Building	(1) The development of an organization’s core skills and capabilities, such as leadership, management, finance and fundraising, programs and evaluation, in order to build the organization’s effectiveness and sustainability. (2) The process of assisting an individual or group to identify and address issues and gain the insights, knowledge and experience needed to solve problems and implement change.
Capacity Development	The process by which individuals, groups, organizations, institutions and countries develop their abilities, individually and collectively, to perform functions, solve problems and achieve objectives.
Capital Asset	An asset held for investment or for use in a trade or business, but not such things as inventory. Example: Contractor C buys a road grader for use in his construction business. The road grader is a capital asset.
Capital Campaign	An intensive, time limited fund-raising endeavor to meet a specific financial goal in order to fund a special project such as the construction of a facility or the acquisition of equipment.
Capital Funds	Funds which are provided for endowment purposes, buildings, construction, or equipment.
Capital Gain	The appreciation in a capital asset.
Capital Gain Property	Any asset containing appreciation. The term is almost always used to refer to property where the appreciation is long-term capital gain rather than short-term capital gain.
Capital Gains Tax	The tax due as a consequence of selling an asset which has capital gain. (For some particular purposes, capital gain can be deferred or even exempted from taxation.) The term capital gains tax almost always is used to refer to the tax on long-term capital gain.
Capital Grant	A grant made for equipment or construction projects.
Capital Needs	Building or property needs, in the form of new construction, additions, expansion, remodeling or acquisition of property. Sometimes related to equipment purchase or to raising funds for an addition to endowment capital.
Capital Spending, 5 Year Growth Rate (%)	The compound annual growth rate of capital spending over the last 5 years. Capital Spending is the sum of the Capital Expenditure items found on the Statement of Cash Flows.
Capital Support	Funds provided for endowment purposes, buildings, construction, or equipment.
Care Subsidy	Employers subsidize a portion of care (adult/elder or child) for programs selected by the employee (typically licensed care only). The employer may pay the provider directly or reimburse the employee.
Career Counseling/Resource Center	These types of Centers include services such as: one-on-one counseling, self-assessment and career planning services, and speaker series designed to help employees manage their careers and stay competitve.
Career Ladder	Composed of jobs requiring related and increasingly more responsible duties, through which employees advance by experience, in-service training, and testing.
Carryover	The five years following the tax year in which a gift to a nonprofit is made and during which the donor must claim any balance of the value of the donation which he or she could not claim as a charitable contribution tax deduction because of the applicable percentage limitation.
Cascading Style Sheets	A program that allow developers to control the style and layout of multiple Web pages all at once. Cascading Style Sheets work just like a template, allowing Web developers to define a style for an HTML element and then apply it to as many Web pages as they'd like.
Case	The combination of reasons advanced by an institution or agency in justification of its appeals for support, with emphasis on its services, past, present and potential. One of the three basic pedestals on which fund-raising success must rest, the others being leadership and fields of support.
Case	A single person, thing, or event for which attributes have been or will be observed.
Case For Support	The history, mission, goals, objectives, programs, resources, and plans of a nonprofit. Nonprofits focusing efforts toward fundraising develop a case for support and then generally express that case in white papers, brochures, and other media.
Case Law	Reported decisions of appeals courts and other courts that make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents. To be distinguished from "statutory law," which includes the statutes and codes enacted by legislative bodies; "regulatory law," which are regulations required by agencies based on statutes; and in some states, the "common law," which is the generally accepted law carried down from England.
Case Sensitive	A phrase used to describe whether letters are typed in uppercase or lowercase. Some computer programs and network services are "case sensitive," meaning "XYZ" is considered different data than "xyz".
Case Study	A tool to collect in-depth program information on a single participant or site.
Case Study Education	Exploring issues through the case study approach.
Cash and Equivalents	This represents cash and all securities that can readily be transferred into cash as listed in the current assets section.
Cash Basis Accounting	Revenue is recorded when received in cash and expenses are recorded in the period in which cash payment is made.
Cash Cow	A business activity which generates a cash surplus as well as paper profits.
Cash Flows	Net of cash receipts and cash disbursements relating to a particular activity during a specified accounting period.
Cash From Financing	The sum of all the individual financing activity cash flow line items.
Cash From Investing	The sum of all the individual investing activity cash flow line items.
Cash From Operations	The sum of all the individual operating activity cash flow line items.
CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System)	A service offered to mailers that improves the accuracy of delivery point codes, ZIP+4 Codes, and carrier route information on mail pieces. CASS provides a common platform to measure the quality of address matching software and useful diagnostics to corrrect software problems.
Catastrophic Leave	Also referred to as a "leave bank", this fund is designed to assist employees who have exhausted paid time credits due to a serious catastropic illness, injury or condition of the employee, or his/her family member(s). It allows other employees to donate their paid time off to that employee so that they are able to remain in a paid status for a longer period of time, thus ameliorating the financial impact of the illness, injury or condition.
Catchline	A memorable phrase which seeks to strengthen a product's brand identity.
Category Exclusivity	The rights of a sponsor to be recognized as the only company, product or service associated with the event or property within a specifically defined category.
Caucus	An informal organization of Members of the House and/or the Senate to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.
Causal Analysis	A method for analyzing the possible causal associations among a set of variables.
Causal Association	A relationship between two variables in which a change in one brings about a change in the other.
Causal Relationship	The relationship of cause and effect. The cause is the act or event that produces the effect. The cause is necessary to produce the effect.
Cause Marketing	Also called cause-related marketing, this is a promotional element that is transaction-based. The marketer creates a tie with a cause whereby a contribution is kicked back to the cause that is a percentage of every purchase of the sponsor's product.
Cause-Related Marketing	Marketing in which a for-profit organization, by using the name of a nonprofit organization, promotes its product and in return contributes money, time or expertise to the organization.
Cause-Related Marketing	Links a charitable cause with a corporation or product to generate income for the cause and image and/or sales of the organization. It often take the form of: per-item payment, licensing, sponsorship, or affinity partnerships.
CD-R	Compact Disk - Recordable. A CD-ROM format that enables you to record data onto compact discs so that regular CD-ROM drives can read it.
CD-ROM	Acronym for Compact Disk-Read Only Memory. High-capacity computer disks that allow publishers and other information providers to distribute large amounts of information in a searchable format.
Ceiling	The highest limit of performance that can be assessed or measured by an instrument or process. Individuals who perform near to or above this upper limit are said to have reached the ceiling, and the assessment may not be providing a valid estimate of their performance levels.
Central Tendency Effect	A type of rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator tends to rate toward the mid-point of a scale or to judge performance as average or neutral when it is actually well above or well below the middle level of the scale. This use of the term central tendency is not the same as that used in statistics.
Centralization	Upper level management retains major decision-making authority, creating all major policies and programs, and preserving the authority to make significant changes.
Certificate of Mailing	A receipt prepared by the mailer or window clerk to show evidence of mailing.
Certification	The comprehensive evaluation of the technical and non-technical skills of an IT professional.
Certified Fundraising Executive	A credential granted to a fund-raiser by the National Society of Fundraising Executives based upon performance as a fund-raising executive, knowledge of the fund-raising field, tenure as a fund-raiser (minimum of five years), education, and service to the profession.
Certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA)	Credential offered by the Association for Volunteer Administration (AVA) for practitioners in volunteer resources management. Unlike many "certificate" or certification programs being offered by colleges and universities, the AVA professional credentialing program is performance-based. It is not intended to teach individuals how to manage volunteers effectively. Rather, it is designed to measure an individual's "knowledge-in-use" - the application of knowledge and skills by those with real-life experience in this role. This includes the assessment of a candidate's ability to structure tasks, produce ideas and solve problems.
Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)	Internal auditor who has satisfied the examination requirements of the Institute of Internal Auditors.
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)	An individual licensed by one or more states to engage in the public practice of accounting, qualified to examine the financial affairs of an organization, and issue opinions in accordance with established professional standards.
CGI	Common Gateway Interface. The CGI standard lays down the rules for running external programs in a Web server. External programs are called gateways because they open up an outside world of information to the server.
Chairman	The presiding officer of a committee or subcommittee. In the Senate, chairmanship is based on seniority of committee tenure, but a Senator may not chair more than one standing committee.
Chairman of the Board	This member chairs board meetings, provides leadership in fundraising, monitors financial planning and reports, encourages the board's role in strategic planning, and appoints committee chairs in consultation with other board members. The CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board and is evaluated by the Chairman. The CEO and the Chairman of the Board together provide leadership in achieving the organization's mission.
Chairperson of the Board	This member chairs board meetings, provides leadership in fundraising, monitors financial planning and reports, encourages the board's role in strategic planning, and appoints committee chairs in consultation with other board members. The CEO reports to the Chairperson of the Board and is evaluated by the Chairperson. The CEO and the Chairperson of the Board together provide leadership in achieving the organization's mission.
Challenge Gift	A substantial gift that is made on condition that other gifts must be secured, either on a matching basis or some other prescribed formula, usually within a specified period, with the objective of stimulating fundraising activity generally.
Challenge Grant	A grant that is paid only if the donee organization is able to raise additional funds from other sources. Challenge grants are often used to stimulate giving from other donors.
Challenge Support	Grants made to match funds provided by another donor and grant paid only if the donee is able to raise additional funds from another source.
Chamber	The meeting place for the members of the House or Senate; also the membership of the House or Senate meeting as such. A chamber is often referred to as "the floor".
Change Agent	An individual who is a catalyst for change in a given community.
Change Management	An organized, systematic application of the knowledge, tools, and resources of change that provides organizations with a key process to achieve goals and objectives.
Change-in-Control Arrangements	An executive employment contract that provides the executive with a lucrative severance package in the event of termination. May include a continuation of salary, bonus and/or certain benefits and perquisites, as well as accelerated vesting of stock incentives and/or certain retirement benefits.
Change-in-Control Provisions	Provisions in executive compensation plans that allow participants to cash out options or accelerate benefits in the event of a change in control. The provisions may be explicitly written into a plan when it is adopted, or may simply give the board or compensation committee broad discretion to adjust awards when faced with a change in control. Some executive severance agreements provide payments in the event of the executive's departure regardless of the reason. The Internal Revenue Code considers such payments excessive if they exceed 2.99 times an executive's average annual compensation package.
Channel of Distribution	The route taken by a product as it passes from producer to consumer.
Chapter Out	When a bill becomes law its provisions will override any conflicting provisions in existing law; thus chaptering out earlier law.
Character Education	The effort to develop good character in students through the practice and teaching of moral values and decision-making.
Charitable Class [from IRS Publication 3833]	The group of individuals that may properly receive assistance from a charitable organization. A charitable class must be large or indefinite enough that providing aid to members of the class benefits the community as a whole. Because of this requirement, a tax-exempt charitable organization cannot target and limit its assistance to specific individuals, such as a few persons injured in a particular fire. Similarly, donors cannot earmark contributions to a charitable organization for a particular individual or family.
Charitable Corporation	A kind of nonprofit corporation which exists to support charitable causes, and whose income is generally exempt from taxation by Federal and State law. A 501(c)(3) charitable corporation is a special kind of charitable corporation. Persons who make donations to a Section 501(c)(3) charitable corporation are usually entitled to deduct the amount of their contribution from their gross income on their personal income tax returns.
Charitable Deduction	The portion of a gift to a qualified charity that is deductible from an individual's or corporation's federal income tax, individual's gift tax, or individual's estate tax.
Charitable Deferred Gifts	A charity may be named as beneficiary under a will in many ways. These include (1) gifts of specific property, whether it is real property or personal property; (2) a gift of a stated amount of money; and (3) a percentage of the remaining estate after specific gifts are made.
Charitable Foundation	A corporation or trust set up and operated exclusively for charitable purposes which is not a "charitable organization". None of the foundations income is payable to or otherwise available for the personal benefit of any proprietor, member, shareholder, trustee or settler of the organization.
Charitable Gift Annuities	Involves a transfer of cash or other property to the organization. In return, payment to the donor of a specified amount determined by age is made to the donor during his/her lifetime. The rates paid are the most recent one adopted by the Committee on Gift Annuities as agreed to by most major charities. There is an immediate income deduction for the present value of the amount ultimately to pass to the charity; part of the income received by the donor is also tax free.
Charitable Intent	The philanthropic benefits or purposes assigned by the donor when making a gift.
Charitable Lead Annuity Trust	A charitable lead trust which pays a fixed amount annually (an annuity) for its duration to a nonprofit or a private foundation.
Charitable Lead Trust	A trust that provides an income stream to a charity for a specified period of time. At the end of that period, trust assets are distributed to noncharitable beneficiaries such as children or grandchildren. The donor is able to make gifts of assets to his/her heirs at favorable gift tax rates and remove assets from his/her estate while benefiting his/her favorite charity.
Charitable Lead Unitrust	A charitable lead trust which pays a fixed percentage of its annual value to a nonprofit or a private foundation. An alternative form can pay the greater of a fixed percentage of the trust's annual value or its net income.
Charitable Organization	In its traditional legal meaning, the word charity encompasses religion, education, assistance to the government, promotion of health, relief of poverty or distress, and other purposes that benefit the community. Nonprofit organizations that are organized and operated to further one of these purposes generally will be recognized as exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and will be eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable gifts.
Charitable Purpose	Charitable purposes include the relief of poverty, the advancement of education or religion, the promotion of health, governmental or municipal purposes, and other purposes the achievement of which is beneficial to the community. Organizations set up and operated exclusively for charitable purposes, and which serve a public rather than a private interest, are exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are eligible recipients of tax-deductible charitable contributions.
Charitable Remainder Trust	A trust that provides an income stream to noncharitable beneficiaries for a period of time. These beneficiaries can include the donor, his/her spouse, and/or their children. At the end of that period, the trust assets are distributed to a charity. The donor receives an immediate tax deduction, removes assets from his/her estate (thus eliminating estate taxes on those assets) and often increases the income stream produced by those assets while ultimately benefiting his/her favorite charity.
Charitable Remainder Unitrust	The unitrust is very similar to the Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust, except that the unitrust provides a variable income. Payment is based on a fixed percentage of the net fair market value of the trust assets as valued each year.
Charitable Reverse Split-Dollar Insurance	Reverse split-dollar insurance in which the employer further assigns its rights in the insurance to a nonprofit. The employer may thus obtain a deduction, perhaps equal to the amount it has paid for the insurance. (If this aspect of reverse split-dollar insurance is promoted with its sale, the deduction may be lost, as an attempt to avoid the rules for non-qualified split-interest gifts. If the reverse split-dollar insurance is bought for independent reasons, and the employer later donates all its rights, the gift may be deductible as a gift of an entire interest.)
Charitable Set-Aside Rule	A rule which before 1969 applied to all irrevocable trusts but now only applies to pooled income funds (and, under different statutes and for different purposes, to private foundations). The rule allows pooled income funds to deduct from their income all income that is set aside to be paid to a nonprofit.
Charitable Trust	A trust in which all interests (or rights), income interests as well as remainder interests, are devoted to nonprofits. Such trusts are often perpetual and, generally, are private foundations under U.S. tax law.
Charitable-Gift Annuity	A fixed sum of money paid at specific time intervals by a charity to a donor or another designated beneficiary, or both, as stipulated in a contract between the parties involved.
Charity	In its traditional legal meaning, the word charity encompasses religion, education, assistance to the government, promotion of health, relief of poverty or distress, and other purposes that benefit the community. In most cases, charities are exempt from federal income tax, and eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable gifts under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Chat	A form of interactive online communication that enables users to have real-time conversations with other people who are also online.
Checklist Approach	The principal instrument for practical evaluation, especially for investigating the thoroughness of implementation.
Chief Executive Officer	Hires, supervises and evaluates staff and serves as a liaison between staff and board. The Chief Executive Officer and the Board serve as checks and balances for the organization.
Christmas Tree Bill	Informal nomenclature for a bill on the Senate floor that attracts many, often unrelated, floor amendments. The amendments that adorn the bill may provide special benefits to various groups or interests.
Chunking	The process of separating learning materials into brief sections in order to improve learning comprehension and retention.
Church	Certain characteristics are generally attributed to churches, and have been developed by the IRS and by court decisions. They include: distinct legal existence; recognized creed and form of worship; definite and distinct ecclesiastical government; formal code of doctrine and discipline; distinct religious history; membership not associated with any other church or denomination; organization of ordained ministers; ordained ministers selected after completing prescribed courses of study; literature of its own; established places of worship; regular congregations; regular religious services; Sunday or Sabbath schools for the religious instruction of the young; and schools for the preparation of its ministers.
Circulation Area	The portion of the gross area of a building required for physical access to various divisions and subdivisions of space.
Citizen Politics	An aproach to governance that stresses the role of ordinary people in making public decisions and solving public problems in everyday environments and places of employment.
Civic Entrepreneur	A leader providing collaborative leadership to bridge the economy and community. They utilize skills including: motivation, networking, teaching, convening, integrating, agreement building, pressing for outcomes, and mentoring others.
Civic/Public Participation Processes	Engaging citizens in identifying and working effectively with local, state and national opinion leaders and decision-makers.
Civil Investing	A term referring to foundations and corporations investing their resources in a community process to build civic responsibility on the part of the citizenry to solve their own problems.
Civil Rights Act of 1871	The federal legislation that provides that anyone, who under the jurisdiction of state or local law, causes a person to be deprived of rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, or federal law, is liable to that person.
Civil Rights Act of 1964	The federal legislation that made sexual discrimination, and therefore, sexual harassment illegal. It also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Civil Society	The social space between the individual and the private and public sectors. The human energy extended to others to create social good. As such, it includes volunteerism, activism, and advocacy.
Civil Society Organization	An association, society, foundation, charitable trust, not-for-profit organization, or other legal entity that is not regarded under the particular legal system as part of the governmental sector, nor as subject to a special legal regime, and that is not operated for profit. If any profits are earned, they are not and cannot be distributed as such.
Class Action	A civil lawsuit brought against a company by a group of persons (the class) similarly affected by the alleged misconduct of corporate officers and directors. Any recovery, less legal fees, is divided among all members of the class in proportion to their losses. Class action suits often allege false and misleading corporate statements, securities fraud or other breaches of directors' duties to the shareholders.
Class Agent	A designated alum of a preparatory school, college, or university whose responsibilities usually include the writing of letters to classmates, urging support of the alumni fund, or the bequest program.
Classes of Senators	Senators are elected to six-year terms, and the terms of one-third of the Senators expire every two years. A class is the approximately one-third of the Senate elected in the same general election.
Classification	The grouping of mail into mail classes and subclasses by rate categories. Categories are determined according to content, weight, size, and preparation standards (such as sortation and barcoding).
Classism	Subordination of people from lower socioeconomic classes by those from the upper classes, that is, class privilege.
Clause	A group of words with a subject and predicate. A main clause stands alone as a sentence; a subordinate sentence is incomplete and is used with a main clause to express an idea.
Clean Bill	After a committee has finished a major revision of a bill, one of the members (typically the chairman) will assemble the changes and what is left of the original bill into a new measure and introduce it as a clean bill. The revised measure, which is given a new number, is then referred back to the committee, who then reports it to the floor for consideration.
Clerk of the House	The chief administrative officer of the House of Representatives, primarily responsible for the administrative support of the legislative process in the House. Duties correspond to those of the Secretary of the Senate.
Click	The sound your mouse makes when you press down its button, a click is also the action of pressing and releasing the mouse button, usually to select or activate something.
Click-Through-Rate (CTR)	An online marketing term, this is the percentage of users who click on an online ad.
Clickable Graphic/Image	An image or graphic that has been coded to contain interactive areas. When clicked on, it launches another Web page or program. An imagemap usually has many different hyperlinked areas, known as links, and a clickable graphic usually contains just one link.
Client	The customer side of a client/server setup.
Client List	A list of a company's key clients; sometimes includes contact information.
Cloakroom	Democratic and Republican cloakrooms adjacent to the Senate chamber serve as gathering places for party members to discuss chamber business privately.
Cloture	The process by which a filibuster can be ended in the Senate other than by unanimous consent. A cloture motion requires the signatures of 16 senators to be introduced. To end a filibuster, the motion must obtain the votes of three-fifths of the entire Senate membership, except when the filibuster is against a proposal to amend the standing rules of the Senate and a two-thirds vote of senators present and voting is required.
Cluster Evaluation	A means of determining how well a collection of projects or programs fulfills an objective.
Clustering	Identifying similar characteristics and grouping cases with those characteristics together.
CMOS	Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. Chips made with this low-power semiconductor technology are commonly used in personal computers to hold basic start-up information for use by the system's BIOS. Pronounced "see-moss".
CMYK	CMYK identifies the four colors used in traditional printing presses, and stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK.
Co-Tenant	An owner of an undivided interest in an asset, whether as a joint tenant, tenant in common, or otherwise.
Coaching	A method of knowledge distribution with the objective of deepening learning and improving performance. The coach is usually not an employee of the organization but an outside consultant.
Coaching Program	An in-house or external program in which consultants (also called coaches) are hired to advise employees on work, family, or general issues in life.
Coalition	An alliance of individuals or organizations working together in a common effort for a common purpose, to make more effective and efficient use of resources.
Coalition Building	Organizing coalitions, partnerships and acollaborative relationships to achieve community change.
Coalitions	Diverse groups that combine their resources to create change.
Coaxial Cable	Typically used to connect a television to cable TV services, coaxial cable consists of a small copper tube or wire surrounded by an insulating material and another conductor with a larger diameter, usually in the form of a tube or copper braid. This cable is then encased in a rubberized protective material.
Code of Best Practice	Guiding principles for ensuring good corporate governance to which all publicly listed companies should aim.
Code of Conduct	A central guide and reference for users in support of day-to-day decision making. It is meant to clarify an organization's mission, values and principles, linking them with standards of professional conduct.
Code of Doctrine	The particular set of beliefs adopted by a religious organization. This is part of the IRS definition of a church.
Code of Ethics	A set of accountability standards against which an organization can be measured. A code should state the consequences of violating standards and procedures for resolving disputed cases. No one code works for every organization and should be tailored to an organization’s particular circumstances and environment.
Code of Practice	Strict operational guidelines, which may be issued by a trade association or other collective body.
Codec	Coder/decoder or compression/decompression algorithm. As the name implies, codecs are used to encode and decode (or compress and decompress) various types of data, particularly those that would otherwise use up inordinate amounts of disk space, such as sound and video files.
Coding	Translate a given set of data or items into descriptive or analytic categories to be used for data labeling and retrieval.
Cognitive Dissonance	The most widely known of the consistency theories that hold that people prefer to avoid tension or stress-producing situations by maintaining consonance. As a result, individuals tend to avoid paying attention to or retaining information which conflicts with their belief system.
Cold Call	Implies insufficient preparation or cultivation before solicitation of a prospective donor, as in "cold" prospect, "cold" approach, "cold" presentation, etc.
Collaboration	A mutually beneficial and well-defined relationship entered into by two or more organizations to achieve common goals. The relationship includes a commitment to mutual relationships and goals, a jointly developed structure and shared responsibility, mutual authority and accountability for success, and sharing of resources and rewards.
Collaborative Empowerment	A process for societal change; a planning and organizing method through which community and neighborhood-based organizations can design, implement, and assess problem-solving strategies that increase their effectiveness at dealing with community issues.
Collaborative Funding	A cooperative effort among funders to address a particular need or project more effectively. Collaboration can involve information exchange, program or project review, and/or shared funding responsibility.
Collaborative Learning	Learning through the exchange and sharing of information and opinions among a peer group.
Collateral	Secondary documents that accompany or support PR deliverables.
Collaterals	Materials used to promote and support an event, cause or program. Typically print materials, these range from on-site signs, posters, brochures, maps, fliers and invitations. Sponsors commonly get their ID or logo placed on thse materials, or receive a mention on the cause's collaterals.
Collections Acquisition	Grants to libraries or museums to acquire permanent materials as part of a collection, usually books or art.
Collections Management	Grants for maintenance, preservation, and conservation of materials.
Collections Preservation	Grants for maintenance, preservation, and conservation of materials.
COM Port	COM refers to communications, and is used to describe the serial port on a PC. COM is generally used in conjunction with a number, as in COM1.
Commemorative	Use of a gift to perpetuate memory of an individual, family, firm, or organization; by receiving a gift, the institution commits itself to honor the name in an appropriate form.
Commissioning New Works	Grants to support the creation of new artistic works.
Commitment	An obligation, pledge, or promise by an organization to its stakeholders and an expression of support through dedication as a contributor or volunteer worker.
Committed Funds	A portion of a donor's budget that has already been pledged for future allocation.
Committee Amendment	An amendment recommended by a committee in reporting a bill or other measure.
Committee Calendar	Senate committees periodically publish a calendar that lists the bills and resolutions referred to them, action taken on those measures, and other relevant information.
Committee Chair Person	This board member recruits committee members to carry out the committee's board mandate. The Committee Chairperson oversees committee work by assigning work to committee members, setting committee meeting agendas and running committee meetings. The Committee Chair provides committee members with information appropriate to the work being done. The Committee Chairperson also reports committee decisions and recommendations to the Board.
Committee Jurisdiction	The subjects and functions assigned to a committee by rule, resolution, precedent, or practice, including legislative matters, oversight and investigations, and nominations of executive officers.
Committee Membership	Senators are assigned to specific committees by their party conference. Seniority, regional balance, and political philosophy are the most prominent factors in the committee assignment process.
Committee of the Whole	Membership is composed of all House members sitting as one committee. Any 100 members present on the floor of the chamber to consider legislation comprise a quorum. Any legislation taken up by the Committee of the Whole must have passed through the regular legislative or Appropriations Committee, and have been placed on the calendar.
Committee on Committees	Committees formed in each party conference and responsible for nominating the party's Senators to committee membership and committee leadership positions. Nominations are subject to approval by the full party conference and to a formal vote of the Senate.
Committee Print	A publication used by committees for various purposes. For example, the rules of each standing committee may be published as a committee print, and drafts of bills or committee reports may be produced as committee prints.
Committee Substitute	The shortened version of Committee Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute.
Committee Veto	A requirement added to report language directing that certain policy directives by an executive department or agency be reviewed by certain congressional committees before they are implemented. Under common practice, the government department or agency and the committee involved are expected to reach a consensus before the directives are carried out especially when an appropriations committee is involved.
Committee Work Plans	Work plans specify annual goals for the committee, strategies to meet the goals, and timelines for completion of the goals. The goals of the committee should be closely aligned with achieving the strategic goals determined during the organization’s strategic planning process. Committees should be asked to submit written reports to the governing board on a regular basis. These reports should summarize progress made relative to the committee’s work plan.
Common Ground/Commonalties	The things two people or groups share, or hold in common. Although disputants often assume they have nothing in common with their opponents, they almost always have some common ground.
Common Interest Group	A group of people who are linked through a mutual concern or commitment.
Communication	A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of words, symbols, signs, or behavior.
Communication Channels	The means available to communicate with another person or group.
Communication Objective	What your organization wants the communication to do (for example: raise awareness, get people to change their attitudes, move people to action, buy a ticket, buy season tickets, etc.)
Communications Audit	A systematic survey of members of a target audience to determine awareness of, or reaction to, a product, service, or company.
Communications Strategy	The foundation for creating a message that works, a communications strategy is a tool for focusing your message on benefits versus facts. It addresses five key parameters: Objective, Target, Message, Support and Tone.
Community Assessment	A collection of key community indicators that assist in setting priorities and documenting the relative success of community-wide efforts.
Community Capacity	Combines people's commitment and skills to build on strengths within the community to address problems and react to potential opportunities.
Community Coalition	The coming together of representatives of public or private organizations and individual citizens in a community for the purpose of collaboration on community concerns and seeking resolution of those concerns.
Community Development	The process of building communities on a local level with an emphasis on building the economy, forging and strengthening social ties, and developing the nonprofit sector.
Community Development Corporations	Community-based organizations focused on building livable, sustainable communities for their residents. Activities include: affordable housing, small business development and services.
Community Economic Development	Citizen-led, community-focused job creation, and other business activities that lead to increased financial viability.
Community Foundation	A tax-exempt, nonprofit, autonomous, publicly supported, nonsectarian philanthropic institution with a long-term goal of building permanent, named component funds established by many separate donors for the broad-based charitable benefit of the residents of a defined geographic area, typically no larger than a state.
Community Fund	An organized community program which makes annual appeals to the general public for funds that are usually not retained in an endowment but are instead used for the ongoing operational support of local agencies.
Community Group	A group of people that live/work in a community and make things happen. They may also be referred to as community associations.
Community Mapping	A participatory exercise in which community members identify the assets and challenges in their neighborhood.
Community Media Centers (CMC)	A physical location in the community that provides access to media such as broadcast television, computers and the Internet, music and other forms of communication mediums.
Community Organizer	An individual who guides the process of community building through mobilizing citizens to organize around needs usually through seeking outside resources to help the community.
Community Organizing	A process through which an expert helps a group of individuals engage in collective action to address a social problem.
Community Outreach	Recruitment for government and social service agency programs which traditionally do not use participants to determine how services will be provided.
Community Policing	A law enforcement strategy built on relationship-building between police officers and community residents. It usually encourages neighborhood residents to take responsibility for law enforcement through cooperation with police who typically live in the neighborhoods.
Community Profile	A picture of the community which reflects the demographic, economic, human, social, visual and natural resources of the community. It also includes the needs and assets of the community.
Community Relations	The planned, active, and continuous participation by an organization with and within a community, usually to maintain and enhance its environment to the benefit of both the organization and the community.
Community-Based	An approach to coalition-building which focuses on weaknesses, and solving problems by addressing deficits.
Community-Based Sector	Comprises a broad array of organizations, institutions, agencies and collectives, including: charities; cooperatives; religious groups; health, education and social service providers; self-help and mutual aid groups; social justice groups; environmental, cultural, arts, recreation, sports, and professional associations, such as chambers of commerce.
Community-Based Service	Organizations outside a formal governmental framework that provide services and opportunities to meet the needs of children, youth and/or adults in the community.
Companies Code	The uniform legislation governing the operations of organizations incorporated under the Companies Act.
Companion Bill or Measure	Similar or identical legislation that is introduced in both the Senate and the House. House and Senate lawmakers who share similar views on legislation may introduce a companion bill in their respective chambers to promote simultaneous consideration of the measure.
Company-Sponsored Foundation	A private foundation whose assets are derived primarily from the contributions of a for-profit business. While a company-sponsored foundation may maintain close ties with its parent company, it is an independent organization with its own endowment and as such is subject to the same rules and regulations as other private foundations.
Compensation	Something, such as money, given or received as payment or reparation, as for a service or loss.
Compensatory Damages	Damages recovered in payment for actual injury or economic loss, which do not include punitive damages.
Competency-Based Training	Training that focuses exclusively on teaching the skills, facts, and attitudes related to specific jobs. The content of such training is ideally pre-determined by the trainees themselves.
Competent	(1) Capable of doing a certain thing. (2) Having capacity to understand and act reasonably.
Competition-Based Pricing	Methods of pricing based upon the prices charged by competitors.
Competitions	Grants for constructing, renovating, remodeling, or rehabilitating property. Includes general or unspecified capital support awards.
Competitive Analysis	This analysis looks at the benchmarking gap between organizations and those "best-of-breed" organizations that provide leadership within a specific industry. If the benchmarking gap describes the "what", the competitive analysis describes the "why".
Compilations	Lists of people taken from directories such as the Yellow Pages or the White Pages of the phone book. A common source for direct mail lists.
Complaint Procedure	An organization's policy, usually in writing, which details the procedure for handling and investigating problems or charges.
Complementary Products	Goods that are connected in some manner to each other, for example computers and software. If sales in one increase, it is reasonable to assume that demand for the other will also increase. Also referred to as joint demand.
Complete Financials Update	This date indicates the last quarter or annual update with a complete set of financial records.
Compliance	Within statutory limits and court interpretations, acts by an employer to bring practices into line with state, federal and local regulations.
Compliance Agencies	Organizations established under the Office of Federal Contract Compliance as internal sub-units of major government departments or agencies, including, for example, the Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense. They are charged with the administration of Executive Order 11246, Revised Orders No. 4 and No. 14, and with the collection and analysis of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Reports and Affirmative Action Plans. Their powers of enforcement include the ability to deny government business to contractors found in violation.
Complicating Factors	Dynamics such as communication problems or escalation which, while common, are usually extraneous parts of the conflict which confuse the core issues in the conflict and make them more difficult to understand and deal with.
Component Fund	An individual fund treated as part of a community foundation and permitted by the IRS to be included among the exempt assets of the foundation. The foundation’s governing board must have total control over all assets — principal and income — of a component fund.
Compound Nouns	Compound nouns usually form the plural by pluralizing the fundamental part of the word (spelling bees, vice presidents, etc.).
Compressed Work Week	A standard workweek compressed into fewer than five days. Examples include 4/10 or 9/80 schedules.
Computer Equipment Grants	Grants to purchase or develop automated systems.
Computer Systems Grants	Grants to purchase or develop automated systems.
Concessions	Things one side gives up to try to de-escalate or resolve a conflict. They may simply be points in an argument, a reduction in demands, or a softening of one side's position.
Concierge Service	A benefit program involving assistance with personal errands typically provided by an outside vendor and involving an employee co-payment.
Conciliation	Efforts by a third party to improve the relationship between two or more disputants. It may be done as a part of mediation, or independently.
Concurrent Resolution	Must be adopted by both houses but is not sent to the president for his signature and therefore does not have the force of law. A concurrent resolution is most commonly used to fix the time for adjournment of a Congress.
Conditional Grant	A grant in which the funding will not be released until specific conditions set by the grantmaker are met.
Conduct of a Sexual Nature	This conduct can include sexual advances, propositions or attempts for sexual favors, hostility based on gender, and lewd, sexual or obscene language.
Conferees	Senators appointed to serve on conference committees. Conferees are usually appointed from the committeee or committees that reported the legislation; they are expected to try to uphold the Senate's position on measures when they negotiate with conferees from the other body.
Conference Committee	A temporary, ad hoc panel composed of House and Senate conferees, formed for the purpose of reconciling differences in legislation that has passed in both chambers.
Conference Report	The compromise product negotiated by the conference committee.
Confidence Level	The level of certainty to which an estimate can be trusted. The degree of certainty is expressed as the chance that a true value will be included within a specified range, called a confidence interval.
Confidence Limits	Two statistics that form the upper and lower bounds of a confidence interval.
Confidentiality Form	A written form that assures evaluation participants that information they provide will not be openly disclosed nor associated with them by name. Since an evaluation may entail exchanging or gathering privileged or sensitive information about residents or other individuals, a confidentiality form ensures that the participants' privacy will be maintained.
Confirmation	An informal term for the Senate giving "Advice and Consent" to a presidential nomination for an executive or judicial position.
Conflict	Struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing desires.
Conflict Management	The long-term management of intractable conflicts and the people involved in them so that they do not escalate out of control and become violent.
Conflict of Interest	A situation in which the private interests of someone involved with an organization could cause him or her to make decisions that are not in the best interest of the organization.
Conflict Resolution	The process of resolving a dispute or a conflict permanently, by providing each side's needs, and adequately addressing their interests so that they are satisfied with the outcome.
Conflict Transformation	Reflects the notion that conflicts go on for long periods of time, changing the nature of the relationships between the people involved, and themselves changing as people's response to the situation develops over time.
Congressional Terms of Office	Normally begin on January 3 of the year following a general election and are two years for representatives and six years for senators.
Congruence Analysis	The verification of data by using more than one instrument or source of data for assessing performance on the same criterion.
Conjunctions	Join words, phrases or clauses. Coordinating conjunctions include: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, either, neither, so that. Subordinating conjunctions join two clauses and include: although, because, since, until, while, etc.
Consensus Democracy	This reformulates how local democracy operates in the 21st Century. The basic principles of consensus democracy recognize the need for new institutional ways that allow all citizens to have access to direct control of the decision-making process.
Consensus Organizing	This model draws upon individual creativity and initiative to fashion innovative solutions to community problems. It stresses comprehensive strategies for bringing people together and providing them with the tools necessary to achieve tangible reforms.
Consensus-Building	Creating consensus in groups through leadership and compromise.
Consensus-Building Outcome	The production of a common understanding among participants about issues and programs.
Conservation	Special types of split-interest gifts of real estate for which donors can claim tax deductions if the gifts are for conservation purposes.
Consideration	In the context of a contract, some right, interest, profit or benefit accruing to one party or some forbearance, detriment, loss or responsibility given, suffered or undertaken by the other.
Consideration	Debate, amendment, and voting on a bill or other measure.
Consistency	(1) The implementation of procedures in an identical or near identical manner across individuals or over time. (2) Obtaining the same or similar results across multiple administrations or scoring of an assessment. (3) A type of rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator tends to rate or to interpret different data and information in a similar way. Such a rater tends to assign the same grade or rating to all assessment results and products without regard to their quality or to the scoring rubric.
Consistent	Keeping with the needs and expectations of the organization and their stakeholders.
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA)	This law requires that most employers sponsoring group health plans offer employees and their families the opportunity for a temporary extension of health care and union Employee Benefit Fund coverage called "continuation coverage" at group rates in certain instances where coverage under the program would otherwise end.
Consolidation	Refers to the act of creating a new corporation and extinguishing both of the consolidating nonprofits.
Constituency	All people who have in some fashion been involved with the institution seeking support; consists of members, contributors, participants (past or present), clients, or relatives of clients, vendors, community leaders, extended family, staff, alumni, etc.
Constituent Relationships	The heart of an organization's work. Constituents serve on boards, participate in programs and evaluation, and inform strategic planning. They are the organization's most important public.
Construct	An attribute of an individual or a phenomenon that is not directly observable, but which is theoretically based or is inferred from empirical evidence.
Constructive Criticism	Critical feedback designed to improve performance, rather than attack the subject.
Constructive Criticism	To promote improvement or development of an employee or volunteer
Constructive Discharge	The situation in which a harassed employee is justified in quitting his or her job due to intolerable workplace conditions that force the employee to leave.
Consultant	A professional employed under a contract basis who has expertise in a specific field. Usually employed for a special project such as planning or evaluating.
Consumer Panels	Consumers are recruited to serve on permanent panels. Each member keeps a diary noting their product purchase details. Analysis then shows what type of customer buys what type of brand, where from and when.
Contamination	A tendency for the assessor's data, the scorer's ratings and judgments, or the evaluator's conclusions to be influenced or confounded by irrelevant knowledge about the subject, other personnel, or other factors that have no bearing on the subject's level of performance.
Content Analysis	A set of procedures for collecting and organizing nonstructured information into a standardized format that allows one to make inferences about the characteristics and meaning of written and otherwise recorded material.
Content Validity	The ability of the items in a measuring instrument or test to adequately measure or represent the content of the property that the investigator wishes to measure.
Continuing Education	An educational/instructional program that expands an individual's area of knowledge or skills.
Continuing Support	Grants renewed on a regular basis.
Continuous Improvement	(1) An ongoing quest for improvement in all aspects of an organization. (2) A series of steps to identify and implement improvements, solve problems, or create new processes.
Continuous Processing	An ongoing quest for improvement in all aspects of business or service processes.
Contract	An agreement between two or more parties, especially one that is written and enforceable by law.
Contract Authority	Budget authority contained in an authorization bill that permits the federal government to enter into contracts or other obligations for future payments from funds not yet appropriated by Congress. The assumption is that funds will be available for payment in a subsequent appropriations act.
Contrast Effect	A type of rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator tends to compare one subject to other subjects rather than comparing that subject's level of performance to the standards.
Contribution Base	Adjusted gross income without taking into account net operating loss carry backs. Individual donors determine the maximum, (for interpretation, construction, and integration) amount that they can claim in any tax year by applying their percentage limitations to the contribution base. However, since most individuals never have net operating loss carry backs, individuals can generally precisely determine this maximum by applying their percentage limitations to AGI.
Contributions Committee	A corporate group organized to make grant decisions usually with the guidance of a corporate foundation or contributions administrator. Typical responsibilities include setting and interpreting policy, approving an annual budget and reviewing grant requests.
Contributory Penson Plan	A program in which the employee and employer share the cost of pension benefits.
Control Group	A group of individuals whose characteristics are similar to those of the program participants but who do not receive the program services, products, or activities being evaluated. Participants are randomly assigned to either the experimental group (those receiving program services) or the control group. A control group is used to assess the effect of program activities on participants who are receiving the services, products, or activities being evaluated. The same information is collected for people in the control group and those in the experimental group.
Control Variable	A variable that is held constant or whose impact is removed in order to analyze the relationship between other variables without interference, or within subgroups of the control variable.
Controllable Budget Items	Programs for which the budget authority or outlays during a fiscal year can be controlled without changing existing, substantive law.
Controller	A device that manages the flow of data between a computer and a peripheral.
Controlling	The managerial activity of monitoring a plan's implementation and taking corrective action as needed.
Convene	To assemble or call together a meeting
Conventional Planning	Planning that is oriented toward looking at problems based on current understanding, or an inside-out mindset. It requires an understanding of the nature of the issue, then finding an appropriate response or an outside-in mindset.
Conviction	Belief in the organization; manifestation of this belief or dedication in the form of gifts or exemplary service as a volunteer.
Cookie	Small data files written to your hard drive by some Web sites when you view them in your browser. These files contain information the site can use to track such things as passwords, lists of pages you've visited, and the date when you last looked at a certain page.
Cooperation	Exchanging information, modifying activities, and sharing resources for mutual benefit and to achieve a common purpose.
Cooperative Approach	A situation in which the goals of the participants are so linked that any participant can attain his goal if, and only if, the others with whom he is linked can attain their goals. It is contrasted with a competitive approach in which it is assumed that it is impossible to win, unless the other side loses.
Cooperative Mailings	An eligibility restriction for nonprofit Standard mail. A cooperative mailing occurs when an authorized nonprofit mailer joins with one or more nonauthorized organizations to share in costs, risks, or benefits to send out a mailing at the nonprofit rate. For example, the authorized nonprofit partners with a commercial mailer or an unauthorized nonprofit organization. Nonprofits with approval to mail at the same drop sites can produce cooperative mailings at the preferred rate.
Cooperative Venture	A joint effort between or among two or more grantmakers. Cooperative venture partners may share in funding responsibilities or contribute information and technical resources.
Coordination	The planned collaboration of the different individuals, departments, and organizations concerned with achieving a common goal.
Copy	Words printed by the press.
Copyright	The exclusive right to produce or reproduce (copy), to perform in public or to publish an original literary or artistic work. Many countries have expanded the definition of a "literary work" to include computer programs or other electronically stored information.
Copyright	The exclusive right to publish or sell written or recorded material.
Core Competence	A component of branding that answers the questions: "What is the one single thing that separates your organization from the rest?" and "Why is that one single thing important to consumers?"
Core Competency	Fundamental knowledge, ability, or expertise in a specific subject area or skill set. To be considered a core competency, a capability must be an essential part of an organization's offerings and it must describe a significant advantage in the marketplace.
Corporate Advertising	Advertising which is meant to promote a whole company rather than a particular product or product line.
Corporate Citizenship/Corporate Community Involvement	Terms used in the business sector to refer to business giving, including business relationships and partnerships with Not For Profit organizations.
Corporate Contributions	A general term referring to charitable gifts made by a corporation. Usually this term is used to describe cash contributions only, but may also include other items, such as the value of loaned executives, products, and services.
Corporate Form	A community foundation that is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation. Investment management of assets held by the corporation is the responsibility of the managers or board of the foundation. A community foundation may include both a corporate entity and component trusts.
Corporate Foundation	This type of private foundation receives its funding from the for-profit company whose name it bears but is legally an independent entity. Corporations may establish foundations with initial endowments, then make periodic contributions — generally based on a percentage of the company’s profit — to the foundation, or combine both methods to provide the foundation’s resources.
Corporate Giving Program	A grantmaking program established and administered within a for-profit corporation. Corporate giving programs do not have a separate endowment; their expense is planned as part of the company’s annual budgeting process and usually is funded with pre-tax income. Corporate giving programs are not subject to the same reporting requirements as corporate foundations.
Corporate Image	The image of a company or other organization: how is is perceived by the public at large.
Corporate Philanthropy	Support through gifts, equipment, supplies, or other contributions by business firms to charitable institutions, sometimes through organized programs that may include corporate foundations.
Corporate Social Responsibility	The overall relationship of the corporation with all its stakeholders. These include customers, owners/investors, government, suppliers and competitors. Elements of social responsibility include investment in community outreach, employee relations, creation and maintenance of employment, environmental responsibility and finance performance.
Corporate Sponsorship	Financial endorsement of a project by a corporation in exchange for publicity and/or other benefits.
Corporate Veil	The general rule that members of a nonprofit corporation (and the shareholders in a for-profit corporation) are not liable for the debts of the nonprofit corporation beyond the extent of any financial commitment they may have made to the nonprofit corporation. There are numerous exceptions to the general rule, and there are also circumstances in which the protection of the corporate veil may be lost, so-called "piercing the corporate veil."
Corporate Volunteer Council	Organizations set up by groups of companies who want to provide community support through employee volunteerism. It assists with the development of corporate volunteer programs, provides training and resource materials to members and recognizes achievements in corporate volunteerism.
Corporate Volunteer Program	Also called employee or workplace volunteer program, this company-managed program coordinates company staff with charities and nonprofit groups who are looking for volunteers.
Corporation	An entity chartered by a state to act as a single enterprise with certain legal rights whose owners remain separate and assume limited liability.
Corpus	The original gift and ongoing principal that forms the asset base from which a foundation or endowment operates.
Corrective Maintenance	The maintenance activities performed due to equipment or system failure. These activities are directed toward the restoration of a specific item to a specified level of performance. Sometimes called "breakdown maintenance".
Cost Accounting	Procedures used for rationally classifying, recording, and allocating current or predicted costs that relate to a certain production or service process.
Cost Center	The area of responsibility, function, or unit of activity for which costs are allocated.
Cost Matching	That portion of project or program cost not covered by the federal government.
Cost of Operation	The total costs associated with day-to-day operation of facility. It includes all maintenance and repair, administrative costs, labor costs, janitorial, housekeeping and cleaning costs, all utility costs, and all costs associated with roadways and grounds.
Cost Sharing	That portion of project or program cost not covered by the federal government.
Cost-Based Pricing	Methods of pricing products which are based upon costs.
Cost-Benefit Analysis	An analysis that compares present values of all benefits less those of related costs when benefits can be valued in dollars the same way as costs. A cost-benefit analysis is performed in order to select the alternative that maximizes the benefits of a program.
Cost-Benefit Ratio	Divide the costs associated with a barrier-reducing marketing strategy by the revenue generated by that strategy to determine whether this strategy has potential merit, and which barriers can most cost-effectively be addressed.
Cost-Plus Pricing	The average cost of a product of service plus a profit margin.
Court of Public Opinion	The period before an issue arrives in a court of law, when it receives widespread publicity and discussion in news media coverage and other public forums. How these controversies are interpreted, which sides appear to have a more moral position, and who is seen as right or wrong in the public mind can have important implications in the court of public opinion.
Court-Ordered Community Service	Also known as community restitution or community service orders, court-ordered community service involves the assignment of persons convicted of criminal acts to nonprofit or governmental agencies. Community service orders usually specify a number of hours over a time period established by the court and are imposed as an alternative to incarceration.
Courtesy Reply Mail (CRM)	A pre-addressed return envelope provided by business mailers to their customers. The customer still pays the postage.
CPC (Cost Per Click)	Advertisers whose agreements specify cost-per-click only pay for subscribers who click through the online ad to the advertiser's Web site.
CPS	Characters Per Second. A term that refers to the data transfer rates of modems.
CPU	Central Processing Unit. The CPU, a highly complex silicon chip, is your computer's brain, taking requests from applications and then processing, or executing actions. The faster your processor, the more operations it can execute per second. The more operations you have per second, the faster things happen in your applications; thus, games play more smoothly, and spreadsheets calculate more quickly.
Credibility	Whether or not a person or a statement is believed or trusted.
Criterion	Whatever is used to measure a successful or unsuccessful outcome (e.g., grade point average).
Critical Juncture	An issue or situation in an organization with long-term effects that must be addressed in order to move forward.
Critical Path	In project management, the sequence of events with the longest duration. The duration of the critical path determines the duration of the entire project. Any delay of a terminal element on the critical path directly impacts the planned project completion date.
Critical Success Factor	The "do or die" measurement of effectiveness, as applied to the process or service of a particular organization. These are quantitative, empirical measurements of things that directly affect a customer's satisfaction with an organization.
Critical Thinking Skills	The use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. Describes thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal directed.
Cross Elasticity of Demand	The responsiveness of demand for product to changes in the price of another product.
Cross Sector Collaboration	A voluntary, strategic alliance of organizations in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors that enhances each organizations’ capacity to achieve a common purpose by sharing risks, resources, responsibilities, and rewards.
Cross-Cultural Communication	Communication between people of two different ethnic backgrounds.
Cross-Platform	The ability of a program to run on more than one computer operating system, such as Mac, Windows, or Linux.
CRT	Cathode Ray Tube. The active component of monitors and TVs, this is a big bell of glass with electron guns at one end and a viewing screen at the other.
Cultivation	The process of promoting or encouraging interest and/or involvement on the part of a potential donor or volunteer leader. It is the educative process to inform about an institution and give reasons why it merits support.
Cultural Competence	The state of being capable of functioning in the context of cultural differences.
Cultural Relevance	Demonstration that evaluation methods, procedures, and/or instruments are appropriate for the cultures to which they are applied.
Culture	A learned pattern of customs, beliefs, and behaviors which are socially acquired and socially transmitted through symbols and widely-shared meanings.
Current Ratio (MRQ)	This is the ratio of Total Current Assets for the most recent quarter divided by Total Current Liabilities for the same period.
Current Services Estimates	Estimated budget authority and outlays for federal programs and operations for the forthcoming fiscal year based on continuation of existing levels of service without policy changes. The president transmits these estimates of budget authority and outlays to Congress, accompanied by the underlying economic and policy assumptions upon which they are based, when the budget is submitted.
Curriculum Development	Awards to schools, colleges, universities, and educational support organizations to develop general or discipline-specific curricula.
Cursor	The little blinking line on your computer screen that looks like a vertical bar. It is there to indicate where your next typed character will appear.
Custodial Area	The sum of floor area used for building protection, cleaning, and maintenance.
Customer	The person served by an organization.
Customer Advocate	The benchmarking team member whose role it is to speak for the customer base of an organization.
Customer Profile	A description of a segment of your organization's customers. This description can use demographics to create a broad outline of the segment or psychographics to create a detailed portrait of the segment.
Customer Service	Meeting customer needs through designing processes with the customer in mind and training employees and volunteers to exceed customer expectations.
Customer Service Policy	A document that defines and outlines an organization's committment to good customer service.
Cutback	A reduction in services, staff members, budget, or all of the above.
Cutline	Brief description for a publicity photograph with the event and key people pictured and credited.
Cy Pres	An ancient legal doctrine developed by the courts to carry out the wishes of a charitable donor as nearly as possible where either the language of the restrictions is not exactly clear or where the original purpose has been fulfilled. Example: D created a perpetual trust to aid in the fight against polio. When a cure for polio was found, the doctrine of cy pres was applied to convert the use of the trust to research on birth defects.
Cyber Meetings	Annual meetings held by "remote communication" rather than at a specific site.
Cyclical Maintenance	Maintenance that can be predicted and performed on a regular basis (cycle).
	123 \| A \| B \| C \| D \| E \| F \| G \| H \| I \| J \| K \| L \| M \| N \| O \| P \| Q \| R \| S \| T \| U \| V \| W \| XYZ Glossary information provided by the Nonprofit Good Practice Guide, a project of the Philanthropic and Nonprofit Knowledge Management Initiative (PNKM) at the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership.

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