Non for Profit Glossary

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P2P	Peer-to-Peer. The ability of two or more computers to communicate on a network without a file server.
Package	The direct mail appeal in physical form; the third (and third in importance) of the three elements of direct mailing. The classic direct mail package consists of five pieces: 1. Outer Envelope or Mailing Panels 2. Letter 3. Reply Device 4. Organization Brochure 5. Return Envelope.
Packaging	The container or wrapping in which the product arrives.
Packet	The name for a unit of data sent across a network. Information is sent over the Internet in packets.
Page Views	The number of times a Web page is requested. Page views, not clicks, are the preferred counting method for site traffic estimates and measurement.
Paid Family Leave	Paid time off given to care for a family member.
Paid Parental Leave	Paid leave that allows mothers and/or fathers time off from work after childbirth or adoption to care for their child and obtain satisfactory child care arrangements.
Paid Sabbaticals	An authorized leave from work, either partially or fully paid, without termination of employee rights. Designed to provide employees with the opportunity to take extra tme away from work to renew their energy and stimulate creativity, a sabbatical usually lasts from 2-12 weeks, and is granted based on years of service. Most commonly used in a university or college setting, it can also be applied in non-academic organizations.
Paid Time Off	A combination of paid vacation, sick leave, holidays and personal days, to be used at the employee's discretion. Can also include paid time to volunteer, or for parental involvement.
Palm Pilot	The old name for a handheld digital organizer, also referred to as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).
Palmer Ruling	The case and revenue ruling which authorized the charitable corporate bailout.
PAN	Personal Area Networking. This technology is generally used to connect devices such as PDA's, in close proximity. The distance range is much less than traditional wireless networking, about 33 ft/10 metres.
Paradigm	A general conception, model, or worldview that may be influential in shaping the development of a discipline or subdiscipline.
Parallel Construction	A sentence construction where equal parts are expressed using similar grammatical forms. Each part of speech in each idea has a counterpart in the next idea.
Parallel Port	A computer interface outlet (or plug) used to connect an external device, such as a printer.
Parity	An obsolete method of detecting communication errors. Communication ports are now set to No Parity, and the modem's internal error detection and correction are used to provide reliable communication.
Parity Goal	Anything that, by virtue of its achievement, will put an organization at a similar leadership position with another organization.
Parochial	Narrowly restricted in scope or outlook; provincial.
Partial Interest	An interest in an asset which is less than the entire interest.
Participation Clause	Refers to language in Title VII prohibiting retaliation against employees or job applicants who have made a charge, testified, assisted or participated in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under Title VII.
Participatory Evaluation	The process of engaging stakeholders in an evaluation effort. Getting input from stakeholders at all stages of an evaluation effort is critical to the usefulness and ultimate value of the evaluation.
Participatory Journalism	When a citizen, or group of citizens, plays an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information. The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, comprehensive, and relevant information that a democracy requires.
Parties	The people who are involved in the dispute.
Partition	A portion of a physical disk that functions as though it were a physically separate unit.
Partner	A person or entity that has agreed to enter into a specific relationship with the other. To be true parners, the entities will need to have defined the scope of cooperation with each other, and both must have rights and responsibilities within that relationship.
Partnership	Individuals or organizations working together in a side-by-side effort to accomplish a common goal with a shared sense of purpose and responsibility for the outcome.
Partnership Funding	A grant or funding program where various “partners” have input into the project. In some cases, this may refer to joint funding between government and philanthropic sources. It may also refer to partners who give resources in kind.
Party Conference	The organization of all party members in the chamber. The conferences elect the party and committee leaders as well as rank-and-file committee members from their party. The conferences meet periodically to discuss political strategy and review party positions on pending legislative business.
Party Secretary	The Secretary for the Majority and the Secretary for the Minority are elected to serve as scheduling and information coordinators between the party floor leaders and individual senators within the party. The party secretaries may also assist their party conference with its work.
Pass on File	A request made by an author of a bill on the floor that he or she does not wish to take up the measure, but wants to keep its place on the file
Pass-Through Foundation	Foundations that receive monies and make distributions to donees, with little or no principal remaining with the foundation.
Past Board Chair	Supports the current Chair by assisting with board recruitment, board training, and may also chair some special events. Also known as: Past Board President, Past Chairman, Past Chairperson.
Patch	Supplemental software code that, when installed to the original software program, fixes problems. A patch can usually be downloaded off the Internet in order to fix a bug.
Path	Refers to the sequence of pages viewed by a user on a single Web site, including the page of entry, all the pages visited, and the page from which the user exited.
Patron	One who lends his or her name for purposes of promotion of a benefit or similar affair; also, a category of contributions at a certain level of giving to which an institution gives special recognition.
Pattern Gifts	Gifts, usually received early in a campaign, that serve to establish a trend or pattern for giving by others known or believed capable of making gifts at that prescribed level.
Pay-for-Performance	Term used to describe the compensation concept whereby one's pay is directly related to the organization's performance.
Payables	A debt or obligation due or owed to be paid to for goods purchased or services rendered. Until a bill is paid, the amount owed is considered an "account payable."
Payout Requirement	The minimum amount that a private foundation is required to expend for charitable purposes (includes grants and necessary and reasonable administrative expenses). In general, a private foundation must pay out annually 5 percent of the average market value of its assets.
PCI	Peripheral Component Interconnect. A commonly used bus type for communication between the motherboard and the PC card.
PDF	Portable Document Format. A popular way of formatting documents in such a way that they can be viewed and printed on multiple platforms using the freely available Adobe Acrobat reader.
Peace-Building	The process of restoring normal relations between people. It requires the reconciliation of differences, apology and forgiveness of past harm, and the establishment of a cooperative relationship between groups, replacing the adversarial or competitive relationship that used to exist.
Peer Review	An assessment of a product conducted by a person or persons of similar expertise on the subject.
Peer-to-Peer Network	A network where there is no dedicated server, practical only for small workgroups of less than a dozen computers.
Pension Fund	A fund consisting of money contributed by the employer and/or the employees, plus earnings to provide pension benefits to retired employees of a corporation, government entity, or to other organizations.
Pension Plan	A qualified benefit plan set up by a corporation, government, labor union, or other organization to pay retirement benefits to its employees.
Percentage Limitation	A term found in Internal Revenue Code Section 170 which describes what percentages of particular taxpayers' incomes are the maximums that they can claim as charitable tax deductions in a year.
Percentile Rank	A number indicating an individual's performance level or score in relation to its standing in the distribution of scores of a representative group of individuals. Percentile ranks cannot be arithmetically manipulated due to their varying interval nature.
Perfect Competition	A market structure with perfect knowledge, many buyers and sellers, freedom of entry and exit, and a homogeneous product.
Perfect Consensus	An ideal state in which each person involved can agree to support a plan and its implementation.
Performance Evaluation	An evaluation that compares actual performance with that planned in terms of both resource utilization and production.
Performance Goal	A specific statement of what is to be accomplished, how the goal will be met, when the goal will be met, and how achievement of the goal can be assessed or determined.
Performance Grants	Grants to cover costs specifically associated with mounting performances.
Performance Indicator	A description of what is measured to determine the extent to which objectives and outcomes have been achieved.
Performance Information	Information that is needed to plan program objectives and to evaluate the impact of a program's activities on the target population.
Performance Measures	Ways to objectively measure the degree of success a program has had in achieving its stated objectives, goals, and planned program activities.
Performance Objectives	The end results expected to be achieved by an organization or individual employee. Performance objectives determine the type and scope of activities that an organization or staff member will undertake to achieve the desired results.
Performance Target	The intended level of performance that is to be achieved within a specified period of time.
Performance-Based Instruction	Learning activities centered more on the acquisition of skills than on the acquisition of knowledge.
Peripheral	Any device connected to, or part of, a computer. Peripherals include monitors, printers, scanners, mice, external hard drives, floppy drives, speakers, keyboards, and more.
Permanent Appropriation	Budget authority that becomes available as the result of previously enacted legislation (substantive legislation or prior appropriations act) and does not require current action by Congress. Budget authority is considered to be "current" if provided in the current session of Congress and "permanent" if provided in prior sessions.
Perpetual Trusts	Trusts established by donors with the intent to keep the corpus invested in perpetuity and distribute only the income to one or more charities periodically.
Person	In legal parlance, this term generally refers not only to individuals but also to legal fictions.
Personal Days	Short-term paid leave used at the employee's discretion, usually taken a day at a time, or in hourly increments.
Personal Guaranty	A contract by one person to pay the debt of another in the event that the other person defaults.
Personal Property	Property other than real estate: cash, stock, jewelry, copyrights, furnishings, etc.
Personal Residence	One of the two types of property which will qualify for a charitable tax deduction when given as a remainder deed split-interest gift. Personal residences for this purpose do not have to be the donors' "principal residences" so it is possible for donors to give remainder deed gifts of more than one personal residence.
Personality Profiles & Indicators	Tools often used in organizations to improve self-development and growth among employees. Often based upon sixteen personality types as defined by Jung, Myers and Briggs.
Personality Types	The different combinations of motivations, strengths, interests, and weaknesses that make every person unique.
Personnel Manual	A document detailing the personnel policies and administrative procedures of an organization, including a description of the organizational structure and duties of key staff positions.
Persuasion	The act of influencing the opinions of others through arguments and reasons.
Persuasion	Involves convincing another party to change their attitude and/or their behavior. Although this can be done through coercion, we generally use the term in a more positive sense to refer to emotional or rational appeals based on common values and understandings.
Petition	A request or plea sent to one or both chambers from an organization or private citizens’ group asking support of, or opposition to, particular legislation, or favorable consideration of a matter not yet receiving congressional attention. Petitions are referred to appropriate committees.
PGP	Pretty Good Privacy. A commonly used encryption system, allowing users to send email messages to anyone in the world in complete privacy.
Phase	A specific stage or period of a campaign, as determined originally by a feasibility study or by other means, and as built into the campaign schedule; Initial Phase, Intensive Phase, Clean-up Phase, etc., or Phases I, II, and III.
Phased Retirement	A gradual transition from full-time work to retirement, with an interim period of part-time work.
Phased Training	Training conducted in stages, alternating with periods of on-the-job work experience.
Philanthropic Advisor	An individual or firm which provides counseling and evaluative services to donors before and after grantmaking decisions. Includes lawyers, accountants, investment managers, etc.
Philanthropic Foundation	A corporation or trust of a campaign, as determined originally by a feasibility study or individual, family, corporation, or community, for support of nonprofit organizations, and to which such organizations may appeal for grants in support of their programs and projects.
Philanthropist	An individual engaged in voluntary action for the public good, including voluntary service, voluntary association, and voluntary giving.
Philanthropy	(1) Voluntary action for the public good. (2) Love of humankind, usually expressed by an effort to enhance the well-being of humanity through personal acts of practical kindness or by financial support of a cause or causes. (3) Any effort to relieve human misery or suffering, improve the quality of life, encourage aid or assistance, or foster preservation of values through gifts, service, or other voluntary activity.
Philanthropy and Voluntarism Organizations	Includes philanthropic organizations and organizations promoting charity and charitable activities including grant-making foundations, voluntarism promotion and support, and fundraising organizations.
Phishing	The act of collecting logos, graphics, and information from a genuine source to create fraudulent e-mails in order to trick the recipient into supplying information such as usernames, passwords, or credit card numbers.
PHP	A script language and interpreter that is freely available, primarily for use on Linux Web servers.
Phrases	Closely related words with no subject or predicate, and may be used as nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.
Pilot	A pretest or trial run of a program, evaluation instrument, or sampling procedure for the purpose of correcting any problems before it is implemented or used on a larger scale.
Pilot Funding	A grant given to a project for the purpose of carrying out a trial. This will enable the outcomes to be evaluated before any further funding or expansion of the project. Pilot projects are often for a duration of one year.
Pilot Study Circles	A small number of study circles used to acquaint people with the process, provide practice for the facilitators, and expand coalition membership. Some organizers conduct a pilot round of study circles to try out organizing strategies before taking the program to full scale.
Ping	Packet Internet Groper. An Internet program used to determine whether a specific IP address is accessible or online; primarily used to troubleshoot Internet connections.
Pitch	A prepared sales presentation, usually one-on-one, in public relations, it's generally an attempt to get positive coverage or analyst review.
Pitch	Your verbal story idea for the news media, usually no longer than two sentences.
Pixel	Short for PICture ELement. The smallest unit of a picture on a computer screen, a pixel on a monitor is a number of red, green, and blue phosphor dots that combine together to make the "picture" we see on the screen.
PKI	Public Key Infrastructure. The integrated set of technologies required to provide public-key encryption and digital signature services.
PKZIP	A data compression software used to compress and decompress files. PKZIP allows users to create self-extracting and standard ZIP files that span multiple diskettes.
Planned Gift	Part of the major gift strategy for an individual, generally through a bequest or trust
Planned Giving	A substantial gift in the form of bequests, life insurance and charitable annuities which are often planned as donations upon the death of the donor.
Planning	Setting objectives and identifying methods of achieving those objectives.
Planning	A continuing process of analyzing program data, making decisions, and formulating plans for action in the future, aimed at achieving program goals.
Planning Evaluation	Evaluation planning is necessary before a program begins, both to get baseline data and to evaluate the program plan, at least for evaluability. Planning avoids designing a program that cannot be evaluated.
Pledge	A promise to make future contributions to an organization. For example, some donors make multi-year pledges promising to grant a specific amount of money each year.
Pledge Card	A printed form used by solicitors in seeking what is usually considered a binding commitment from a prospect.
Plug and Play	The Plug and Play (PnP) standards were developed to simplify the process of adding hardware to PCs.
Plug-in	This term refers to a type of program that tightly integrates with a larger application to add a special capability to it.
PMS - Pantone Matching System	PMS is the acronym given to color codes associated with a specific ink library. Print shops often refer to a PMS color, such as PMS 328, a nice teal color.
Pocket Veto	The act of the president in withholding his approval of a bill after Congress has adjourned. When Congress is in session, a bill becomes law without the president’s signature if he does not act upon it within 10 days, excluding Sundays, from the time he gets it. But if Congress adjourns sine die within that 10-day period, the bill will not become law even if the president does not formally veto it.
Point-and-Click	A common phrase to describe the act of putting your mouse arrow (or cursor) onto a menu button, then clicking on that selection to activate a program or utility.
Polarization	Refers to the process in which people move toward extreme positions, leaving fewer and fewer people in the middle.
Policy	A governing principle pertaining to goals, objectives, and/or activities. It is a decision on an issue not resolved on the basis of facts and logic only.
Policy Analysis	An analysis used to help managers understand the extent of the problem or need that exists and to set realistic goals and objectives in response to such problem or need. It may be used to compare actual program activities with the program's legally established purposes in order to ensure legal compliance.
Policy Committees	Each party policy committee provides research and other services to senators and also serves as a forum for discussion of party legislative strategy.
Political Context	Refers to the outcome of the conflict affected by the political system or decision making structure of the community or nation in which the conflict occurs.
Pooled Income Fund	A trust described in paragraph (5) of Internal Revenue Code Subsection 642(c).
Pooling	Combining resources, expertise, or equipment for use toward a common purpose.
Pooling of Interests	A merger accounting method where the balance sheets of the two merging companies are combined line by line without a tax impact.
POP	"Point-of-Purchase." In-store promotional materials that are strategically placed to attract attention and expand product presence to stimulate customer purchases.
POP	Point of Presence. A telephone number that gives users dial-up access to the Internet through their phone line.
Pop-Up Ad	An online ad, that is displayed in a new browser window and "pops up" when you go to certain sites.
POP2	Post Office Protocol. A protocol used by mail clients to retrieve messages from a mail server. It comes in two flavors: POP2, which requires SMTP to send messages, and POP3, which can be used with or without SMTP.
Popular Education	A process using participant-based learning to uncover root causes of social, economic and political oppression and using this analysis to move a group into action for a more just world.
Population	All persons in a particular group.
Port	The place where information goes into and out of a computer, or both.
Portal	A Web site serving as a starting point to other destinations or activities on the Web. Initially thought of as a home base with links to other sites in the same subject area, portals now attempt to provide all of a user's Internet needs, in one location.
Portfolio	A group of investments or grants held by a foundation or venture philanthropy group.
Positioning	Placement of a company, its products or services in a market category or in relation to its competition.
Positioning Statement	A statement communicating a view on a particular organizational, social or public issue.
Post	This term is used when referring to a message entered into a network, such as a newsgroup.
Post-Grant Evaluation	A review of the results of a grant, with the emphasis upon whether or not the grant achieved its desired objective.
Post-tests	Given to a group of people who are being evaluated after a program has been completed or during the implementation, for the purpose of measuring the progress toward planned objectives.
Postal Discounts	The Post Office offers discounts to all mailers if they can meet certain specifications.
Power	The ability to accomplish objectives. This can occur through force, through cooperation, or through the power of the integrative system - the system of identity and relationships that holds people together in groups.
Power Analysis	A participatory process in which groups identify those who have economic, social or political power in a given situation and the strategies and tactics used to maintain such power. This analysis is used to evaluate the action strategies for realizing institutional and systemic change.
Power To Revoke	Authority to terminate trust or some or all rights in a trusts or other entity earlier than they would otherwise end. With the rarest of exceptions, powers to revoke are created and held only by the persons creating or funding entities such as trusts.
Pre-Tax Net Income	A corporation's annual net income before it has paid taxes. The Internal Revenue Service currently allows corporations to deduct charitable contributions as much as 10 percent of their pretax net income.
Pre-tests	Given to clients, employees, trainees, or any other specific group who are being evaluated, for the purpose of determining a baseline against which future results will be measured.
Precancelled Stamp	A postage stamp sold to mailers for bulk mail that is cancelled before mailing and does not go through a canceling machine. Precancelled stamps are basically a marketing tool for mailers who believe that stamp mail is more readily opened by consumers than metered or indicia mail.
Predicate	One of the two main components of a sentence. They are verbs and the words used to explain the action or condition and always agree with the subject.
Preferential Sourcing	Selecting certain people to act as sources and ignoring others to slant news reports.
Prejudice	A negative/positive predetermined attitude toward any person or group, based on a process of social comparison where one's own group is seen as the point of reference.
Preliminary Proposal	A brief draft of a grant proposal used to learn if there is sufficient interest to warrant submitting a proposal.
Premiums	Promotional items, souvenir merchandise, or apparel produced by an event or sponsor promoting either or both, to be worn, sold, or given away.
Prepare	To sort and code a list in a particular order, for specific reasons.
Prepositions	Show how nouns or pronouns relate to other words in a sentence.
Present Interest	A gift tax term describing interests which individuals give to donees such that the donees will have a right to obtain possession of those interests immediately.
Present Value	Also called time value of money or discounted cash flow, present value is the value today of a future payment discounted at some appropriate compounded interest rate. Used to determine the current value of a future payment or to calculate the amount that must be invested today to achieve a desired value of assets at some future date.
Presentation	Either an oral summary of a campaign case, usually in advance of an actual appeal, to an important prospect; or a written document, specially prepared with careful attention to the prospect's particular interests, either mailed or hand delivered following suitable cultivation, and which may contain proposals regarding advantageous methods of making a gift.
Presentation	Information that is set forth before an audience.
President of the Senate	Under the Constitution, the Vice President of the United States presides over the Senate and is allowed to cast a vote in the event of a tie. In his/her absence, the president pro tempore, or a senator designated by the president pro tempore, presides over the Senate only during very close votes, ceremonial occasions and crucial procedural questions.
President Pro Tempore	Under the Constitution, the chief officer of the Senate in the absence of the vice president; literally, but loosely, the president for a time. His/her fellow senators elect the president pro tempore, and the recent practice has been to elect the senator of the majority party with the longest period of continuous service.
Presidential Signature	A proposed law passed by Congress must be presented to the president, who then has 10 days to approve or disapprove it. The president signs bills he supports, making them law. He vetoes a bill by returning it to the house in which it began, usually with a written message. Normally, bills he neither signs nor vetoes within 10 days become law without his signature.
Presiding Officer	A majority-party senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
Press Kit	A collection of an organization's informational collateral materials (brochures, flyers, etc) along with its recent press materials (magazine/newspaper articles) and the media release detailing the event--usually given to reporters at the event itself, at a press conference, or sent to the reporter at his/her request. The press kit gives the reporter sufficient background information on the organization and the event.
Pressure Groups	Organizations whose members act together to influence public policy in order to promote their common interest.
Preventative Maintenance	Planned actions undertaken to retain a specific level of performance by providing repetitive scheduled tasks that prolong system operation and useful life.
Principal	Main person in a business, the employer, the person hiring or directing employees, or an agent. That person is responsible for the acts of employees or agents acting within the scope of employment.
Principal	The dollar value of an asset. When used in relation to an endowment, it means the sum of the dollar values of all gifts to the endowment using the dollar value of each gift on the day the gift was completed.
Principal Residence	That single residence, if any, which a taxpayer can sell without paying capital gains tax on any appreciation, provided that the taxpayer buys a new principal residence of equal or greater value within a specified time period.
Privacy Policy	A statement used on many Web sites to explain how a company protects the privacy of the information it aggregates about its users. It discloses how the site collects, uses, and shares your personal information.
Private Equity	Equity capital investments in privately held, non-quoted companies.
Private Foundation	a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization with funds (usually from a single source, such as an individual, family or corporation) and program managed by its own trustees or directors, established to maintain or aid social, educational, religious, or other charitable activities serving the common welfare, primarily through grantmaking. Private foundation also means an organization that is tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code and is classified by the IRS as a private foundation as defined in the code.
Private Foundation Rules	Rules under Internal Revenue Code Sections 4941 - 4946 which inhibit or mandate certain actions by private foundations and, in some instances, charitable lead trusts, charitable remainder trusts, and pooled income funds. The documents for all of those entities must expressly and specifically refer to these rules as part of their governing instrument language. The I.R.S. can impose excise taxes and severe penalties for violations of the private foundation rules.
Private Law	A private bill enacted into law. Private laws have restricted applicability, often addressing immigration and naturalization issues affecting individuals.
Private Non-operating Foundation	Usually incorporated under state law as nonprofit corporations or organized as charitable trusts. They are recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt organizations. The primary purpose of a non-operating foundation is to make grants.
Private Operating Foundation	Private foundations that use the bulk of their income to provide charitable services or to run charitable programs of their own. They make few, if any, grants to outside organizations. To qualify as an operating foundation, the organization must follow specific rules in addition to the applicable rules for private foundations. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Getty Trust are examples of operating foundations.
Private Sector	Also known as the for-profit sector. Organizations and businesses who provide services and products based on market demands for a fee with the intention of producing a profit for owners and shareholders.
Prizes	Grants for constructing, renovating, remodeling, or rehabilitating property. Includes general or unspecified capital support awards.
Pro Bono	Provision of products or services at low or no cost. Also termed as pro bono publico.
Pro Forma Session	A brief meeting (sometimes only several seconds) of the Senate in which no business is conducted. It is held usually to satisfy the constitutional obligation that neither chamber can adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other.
Probate	A court process to prove the validity of decedents' wills, appoint executors to administer the wills and estates, and to approve the executors' actions and accounts. Probate is also used to administer the estates of "interstates" (individuals who die without wills). Lay people often refer to "Probate" as if it includes estate taxes. State taxing agencies and the Internal Revenue Service administer estate taxes. Probate courts' only involvement is to approve personal representatives' payment of those taxes.
Problem Solving	Refers to both analytical problem-solving workshops that seek to analyze and resolve conflicts based on identifying and providing the underlying human needs, as well as an approach to mediation that focuses primarily on resolving the conflict (as opposed to transforming the relationships of the people involved).
Problem Solving Approach	Involves working cooperatively with the other disputants to solve a common problem.
Process	A series of related activities which is designed to convert into a desired result.
Process Benchmarking	Compares a particular organizational process with other organizations that are recognized as leaders in managing that particular process.
Process Evaluation	Identifies the procedures undertaken and the decisions made in developing a program, describes how the program operates, the services it delivers, and the functions it carries out.
Process Indicator	A measure showing the activities that will be completed to achieve a specific objective, over a specific period of time.
Process Owner	The individual(s) who supervises, and is responsible for, the process in question.
Process Stakeholder	Although not directly responsible for the outcome of a particular process, these are the people who have an interest in how a process works, or is improved.
Product Demo	A physical run-through of the product or services offered, by a company representative (usually to an analyst or members of the press).
Production Grants	Grants to cover costs specifically associated with mounting performing arts productions.
Productivity	The relationship between production of an output and one, some, or all of the resource inputs used in accomplishing the assigned task. It is measured as a ratio of output per unit of input over time. It is a measure of efficiency and is usually considered as output per person per hour.
Professional Advisors Committee	A committee of your marketing organization, composed of financial professionals, and intended to help you develop relationships with those financial professionals and to provide you with volunteer professional services.
Professional Development	The process of progressing in one's chosen career through continuing education and training.
Professorships	Grants to support specific projects or programs as opposed to general purpose grants.
Profitability	The amount of profit, or the excess of revenue over expense during any given fiscal period. Profit will be reflected on the balance sheet as an increase in a nonprofit’s net assets, offset by an increase in some asset or mix of assets.
Program	A list of instructions (written in a programming language) that tells a computer how to execute certain functions and perform tasks in a specific way.
Program (or Project) Grants	Funds to support specific projects or programs as opposed to general support grants.
Program Amount	Funds that are expended to support a particular program administered internally by a foundation or corporate giving program.
Program Analysis	The analysis of options in relation to goals and objectives, strategies, procedures, and resources by comparing alternatives for proposed and ongoing programs. It embraces the processes involved in program planning and program evaluation.
Program Approach	A method for governments and their partners to address, in a coherent and integrated manner, a set of development problems that in turn form a major national objective or set of objectives. The articulation of these problems, the strategies for their resolution and the resulting national goals and targets are contained in a national program framework document.
Program Capacity	The degree of ability of a program to accomplish its intended purpose.
Program Development	The careful attention to identifying desired outcomes and developing appropriate activities.
Program Development Grant	Grants to support specific projects or programs as opposed to general purpose grants.
Program Effectiveness Evaluation	The application of scientific research methods to estimate how much observed results, intended or not, are caused by program activities. Effect is linked to cause by design and analyses that compare observed results with estimates of what might have been observed in the absence of the program.
Program Evaluation	Grants to evaluate a specific project or program; includes awards both to agencies to pay for evaluation costs and to research institutes and other program evaluators.
Program Evaluation Grant	Grants to evaluate a specific project or program; includes awards both to agencies to pay for evaluation costs and to research institutes and other program evaluators.
Program Funds	Funds to support specific projects or programs as opposed to general operating grants.
Program Implementation	The execution of a program plan, ideally resulting in the achievement of desired outcomes.
Program Justification	The narrative, related analyses, and statistical presentations supporting a program funding request. It includes (1) definitions of program objectives, including a rationale for how the proposed program is expected to help solve the problem and the magnitude of the need, (2) plans for achieving the objectives, and (3) the derivation of the requested appropriation in terms of outputs or workloads showing productivity trends and the distribution of funds among organizational units.
Program Model	A flowchart or model which identifies the objectives and goals of a program, as well as their relationship to program activities intended to achieve these outcomes.
Program Needs	Annual support for the operational budget; funds required to supplement income through revenues to sustain operation of the agency or institution.
Program Officer	A staff member of a foundation or corporate giving program who may do some or all of the following: review and analyze grant requests and process applications for the Board of Directors or contributions committee and develop and manage program strategies.
Program Strategy	A strategy of a program or functional unit of the organization. Equivalent to a business unit strategy in the for-profit sector.
Program-Related Investment (PRI)	A loan or other investment (as distinguished from a grant) made by a foundation to another organization for a project related to the foundation's philanthropic purposes and interests.
Program-Related Loans	Generally short-term loans that may provide cash flow or bridge funding until other funds arrive.
Progress Report	A report prepared periodically during a campaign by the fundraiser for distribution to leadership and other representatives of the client institution and for the record.
Prohibited Transaction	One of a number of activities in which certain private foundations and/or foundation representatives may not engage.
Project (Proposal) Budget	An itemized listing of the amount of all estimated support and revenue which an organization anticipates receiving for the proposed project, along with a listing of the amount of all estimated costs and expenses that will be incurred in the implementation of a project.
Project Needs	Refers to program activity or small equipment acquisition.
Project Scope	A principal of project management that involves breaking down a long-term project into short-term, interim, and long-term goals.
Projections	A prediction or estimate of future conditions, based on present data or trends.
Promotion	The coordination of all seller-initiated efforts to set up channels of information and persuasion to sell goods and services or to promote an idea.
Prompt	The flashing cursor on a computer screen, where you are supposed to type in something. The prompt is shown most often when a host system asks you to do something and waits for a response.
Pronoun	A substitute for a noun.
Proofread	Carefully reading a document to weed out errors. Also referred to as editing.
Property	A sponsorable event, cause, or celebrity.
Proposal	A written application, often accompanied by supporting documents, submitted to a foundation or corporate giving program in requesting a grant.
Proposal Writing	The process of creating a written request or application for a grant, gift or service.
Prospect Mailing	A mailing to prospects to acquire new members or donors.
Prospect Research	The continuing search by development offices for new and pertinent information concerning prospects already on record and for identification of individuals, foundations, corporations, etc., not yet listed, utilizing numerous reference sources.
Prospective Donor	Any logical source of support, whether individual, corporation, organization, government at all levels, or foundation; emphasis on the logic of support.
Prospects	Those persons who may be prospective customers based on a need or desire for the product or service.
Protocol	A specification that describes how computers talk to each other on a network. A protocol is an established method of exchanging data over the Internet.
Proximate or Legal Cause	A legally necessary amount of evidence that a particular action resulted in a particular event, such as injury due to negligence or an intentional wrongful act. In order to prevail in a lawsuit for damages due to negligence or some other wrong, it is essential to claim proximate cause in the complaint and prove in trial that the negligent act of the defendant was the proximate cause, and not some other reason.
Proxy	A technique used to cache information on a Web server. A proxy holds the most commonly accessed and recently used content from the World Wide Web in order to provide quicker downloads for users and to increase server security.
Proxy Server	A system that caches items from other servers to speed up access. On the Web, a proxy first attempts to find data locally, and if it's not there, fetches it from the remote server where the data resides permanently.
Proxy Voting	The practice of allowing a senator to cast a vote in committee for an absent senator. Senate Rule XXVI provides that proxies may not be voted when the absent senator has not been informed of the matter on which he is being recorded and has not requested that he be so recorded.
Prudent Man Rule	An investment standard that dictates the type of security, or specific securities, in which a fiduciary/trustee may invest money. Generally, it implies that a fiduciary/trustee may invest in a security only if it is one that a prudent man of discretion and intelligence would buy.
Pseudo-Environment	Walter Lippmann's term for the kind of world in which we live, one part direct experience, and the other we construct from what others tell us from stories, pictures, newspapers, and the like. The pictures in our heads form stereotypes that, while useful in providing a sense of security in an unfamiliar world, provide us with only partial truths of reality. Therefore, what we often assume to be facts are actually judgments.
Psychographics	Information that characterizes an audience based on attitudes, interest, behavior, and preferences. Used to profile and give life to data such as demographics.
Public Accountability	Includes basic compliance with IRS regulations and the myriad of federal, state, and local requirements of staff and programs. This also includes the unenforceable but equally important ethical practices and stewardship of resources carried out on behalf of the public.
Public Affairs	The public policy aspect of public relations.
Public Benevolent Institutions	Organizations with tax deductible status, that is, donations to PBI's are tax deductible. The definition of a PBI has never been set down in legislation, but has evolved out of a series of High Court decisions.
Public Charity	A nonprofit organization that qualifies for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code and that receives its financial support from a broad segment of the general public. Organizations exempt under Section 501(c)(3) must pass a public support test to be considered public charities, or must be formed to benefit an organization that is a public charity. Charitable organizations that are not public charities are private foundations and are subject to more stringent regulatory and reporting requirements.
Public Debt	Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government). The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit.
Public Domain	Public domain downloads are those which have the fewest strings attached. With shareware, you're expected to pay a fee. With freeware, you may face other restrictions, and there's still a copyright attached. With public domain downloads there are no copyright restrictions whatsoever.
Public Foundation	Public foundations, along with community foundations, are recognized as public charities by the IRS. Although they may provide direct charitable services to the public as other nonprofits do, their primary focus is on grantmaking.
Public Laws	A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
Public Policy	The basic regulations forming the foundation of local, state, and federal public laws, as formulated by elected representatives, the courts, and regulatory agencies.
Public Relations (PR)	The strategic process of obtaining and managing publicity. , Governance
Public Relations Advisor	A person who provides public relations guidance (may work inside or outside of a public relations firm).
Public Relations Consultant	Independent professionals who provide public relations guidance.
Public Relations Firm	A company made up of public relations advisors and their support staff.
Public Sector	Government at all levels—local, state, and national.
Public Support Test	There are two public support tests, both of which are designed to ensure that a charitable organization is responsive to the general public rather than a limited number of persons. One test, sometimes referred to as 509(a)(1) or 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) for the sections of the Internal Revenue Code where it is found, is for charities such as community foundations that mainly rely on gifts, grant, and contributions. To be automatically classed as a public charity under this test, organizations must show that they normally receive at least one-third of their support from the general public (including government agencies and foundations). However, an organization that fails the automatic test still may qualify as a public charity if its public support equals at least 10 percent of all support and it also has a variety of other characteristics—such as a broad-based Board—that make it sufficiently “public.” The second test, sometimes referred to as the section 509(a)(2) test, applies to charities, such as symphony orchestras or theater groups, that get a substantial part of their income from the sale of services that further their mission, such as the sale of tickets to performances. These charities must pass a one-third/one-third test. That is, they must demonstrate that their sales and contributions normally add up to at least one-third of their financial support, but their income from investments and unrelated business activities does not exceed one-third of support.
Public Trust	The reward for operating an organization in a transparent, ethical manner.
Publication	Grants to fund reports or other publications issued by a nonprofit resulting from research or projects of interest to the foundation.
Publication 1457	An I.R.S. publication entitled Actuarial Factors, Alpha Volume containing present value remainder factors for annuities. Available for a fee from the Superintendent of Documents. Computer programs for present value calculations have this data built in.
Publication 723 C	Actuarial Values I: Valuation of Last Survivor Charitable Remainders-Part C, Two-Life Last to Die Unitrust Factors, available from the Superintendent of Documents. Computer programs for present value calculations have this data built in.
Publication 723 D	Actuarial Values I: Valuation of Last Survivor Charitable Remainders-Part D, Two-Life Last to Die Pooled Income Fund Factors, available for a price from the Superintendent of Documents. Computer programs for present value calculations have this data built in.
Publication 723 E	Actuarial Values II: Factors at 10 Percent Involving One and Two Lives, available from the Superintendent of Documents. Computer programs for present value calculations have this data built in.
Publications	Readers of magazines and books where editorial content matches lifestyle interests of your customers. A source for direct mail lists.
Publicity	Communications regarding an organization, product, service, or idea that is not directly paid for or run under identified sponsorship.
Pull	The ability to request information on-demand, such as data from another program or computer; based on pull technologies in that a page isn't delivered until a browser requests it.
Punch List	A list of deficiencies, incomplete, or unacceptable work items compiled by the project manager during the final inspection of a project.
Purposive Sampling	Creating samples by selecting information-rich cases from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the evaluation.
Push	In client/server applications, it is to send data to a client without the client requesting it; based on a "pull" technology where the client browser must request a Web page before it is sent.
Put Over	The cancellation of the hearing of a bill, either at the request of the author or the committee
	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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