A Fundraising Glossary: Your Guide to Funraise-ese

November 28, 2022
7 minutes

Howdy, friendly fundraisers! 🤠

Whether you’re new to Funraise or have been a faithful reader of our content for the last few years (🙏) you have probably noticed that we use our own silly language when it comes to nonprofit fundraising.

And because we think that our language (coined: Funraise-ese) is funding awesome, we wanted to provide our favorite nonprofiteers with a comprehensive guide to our lingo. Think of this as your personal glossary for all things Funraise terminology. Strap in.

Let’s start with some of our favorite feisty acronyms to use when talking about nonprofit fundraising:

AFAIK: All Folks Are Involved, K?

When someone asks if they can contribute to the mission of your nonprofit. Everyone can! AFAIK?

BTW: Boards That Werk

When your Board of Directors is killing the fundraising game. #BoardsThatWerk  

C+P: Charities + Philanthropy

We’re all working our buns off in the C+P industry this time of year! And by "this time of year", we mean every time of year 😅

DIY: Do I yell?

The question you ask yourself before you scream into your pillow as a result of stress over your end-of-year giving campaign. Luckily, Funraise can help to make sure you never have to ask DIY? again :')

DTF: Drive to Fundraise

It’s your purpose! Your DTF is the reason you’re passionate about raising money for your nonprofit!

FAQ: Fundraising And Queer

For those of us LGBTQIA+ fundraisers, this acronym is for us. Every day we show up to fundraise as our authentic queer selves, we are #FAQ!

FOMO: Fundraising Obtains More Online

It’s true. Online fundraisers and social media fundraising campaigns are surefire ways to generate a lot of generosity. Why? Because FOMO!

FTW: Fundraisers That Werk!

A special type of fundraiser that exceeds your goals and triples your impact. Not all fundraisers truly #werk. But when they do...oh, they do.

FWIW: Fundraising Wins in Winter

You know that feeling of excitement that you get as you enter your biggest giving season of the year? It’s the holiday season and you’re ready for the best FWIW! Buckle up, December.

FYI: Funraise, Yes, Indeed!

Your response when someone says “You work with Funraise to grow your impact with innovative fundraising tools, right?" FYI! Hehe.

ICYMI: In-kind Contributions You Marketed Incredibly

You know what we’re talking about…those cringy donated auction items that no one actually wants, but you used your marketing prowess and sold that stuff so well that they ended up raising bookoo bucks. You really saved the day with ICYMI. High five, fundraiser!

IDRK: Impactful Donations, Rob Kardashian

If ever you’re talking to the only Kardashian brother, make sure you advise him to donate proceeds from his famous sock company to make an impact at a local nonprofit in Calabasas. IDRK.

ILY: I Love Year-End-Giving

Maybe our acronym is a stretch, but when you’re using Funraise to manage your year-end giving campaign, you’ll be saying ILY!

IMHO$: I Make Hella Organizations $

You’ll write this in your LinkedIn bio when you level up your fundraising role at your nonprofit after working with Funraise. What do you do for work? Well, IMHO$.

LMK: Love for ManKind

The reason that so many of our favorite nonprofits do their important work to change the world.

LMFAO: Let’s Make Fundraising Awesome, Okay?

What Funraise Co-Founder Justin said to Co-Founders Tony and Jason when they created Funraise.

LOL: Lots Of Lessons

What you say you learned at the end of a fundraising campaign! Even challenging fundraising seasons come with LOL.

OMG: Organizational Mission & Goals

"Kathy, we hit the $1 million mark! #OMG!"

OPP: Online Peer-to-Peer

One of the many opportunities to fundraise on social media! Let your supporters hold their own fundraising campaigns with OPP fundraisers hosted through Funraise.

OTP: One True Philanthropist

Sometimes all you need is OTP to make a big difference to your OMG.

ROTFL: Recurring Organizational Transaction For Leverage

When you're trying to attract that special funder and you accept $$ from other funders to get them interested. We see you, strategist.

STFU: Seize the FUnds

What your organization does when donors click the donation button on your giving page.

SMH: So Much Help

What our Sales and Support teams provide when you need solutions to increase your impact while staying within your budget. We got your back with SMH.

TGIF: Thank Goodness It's Funraise

What our nonprofit customers say when they log in to their Funraise accounts to measure their impact.

TIA: Thanks, I’ll Automate

Your response when someone tells you that you should send manual tax receipts to all of the donors in your database. TIA and use Funraise to provide tax receipts instead :)

WTH: Why Tickets Help

Using our online event ticketing software & registration feature, you’ll see why selling tickets to your events through Funraise will raise your revenue. #WTH

YMMD: You Made Me Donate

What your new donors will say when they see your gorgeous donation site and compelling visual storytelling. “I had to make a donation when I saw your website—YMMD!”

YOLO:  Your Online Lingo is Outdated

Remember our blog post about Reddit fundraising? In order to generate generosity from Gen-Z (the most philanthropic generation), make sure you consider your audience and freshen your language when fundraising on social media. You don’t want donors to think that YOLO, right?  😎

OK, we hope you’ve been taking notes and are actively printing a pocket-size version of this glossary to keep with you 24/7. But we’re not done yet.

You’ll also want to know these top terms that we use frequently at Funraise:

Ambrosia Salad

You know when you get a lightning bolt of an idea and then all the ingredients start falling into place and it's waaaay out there, but so perfect and it can't help but be a cool, creamy, fruity success. That's ambrosia salad, baby.

Donation Button

That button your donors click that STFU. You can customize your donation button to increase impact by using branded donation pages.

Donation Page

Customize your donation pages in emails, social posts, text messages, or anywhere you can paste a simple, direct link. Use a Funraise donation page to accept general or campaign-specific donations or sell event tickets.

Funding Awesome

In reference to something that is f****** awesome but usually in response to a great fundraising campaign.

Giving Form

Funraise Giving Forms are online donation forms that can be embedded on your nonprofit website or shared with a Funraise Giving Page.

Nonprofiteer

That’s YOU! If you work or volunteer for a nonprofit, you are one badass nonprofiteer.

Reshakeulate

Just a more fun way to say, "Shake it up, oooh ooh! Shake it up!" We don't let nobody pick our fun!

Alright, fabulous fundraiser! We hope that this glossary of Funraisese was comprehensive and kooky (just like us!) and inspired you to get started with a creatively funding awesome giving campaign!

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