Additionality

a way of measuring the benefits of a project which highlights the changes brought about which wouldn't have occurred if the project hadn't taken place. With regard to some funders such as the Lottery distributors it can also mean funding which is additional to and distinct from statutory sector provision and expenditure.

Aims

description of the changes a project plans to achieve, or the difference it is intending to make.

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Baseline Data

Information collected on outcomes at the start of the project, against which any changes can be compared.

Business Plan

a written document stating what the organisation is proposing to do over the next 2 – 5 years, how its going to do it and a forecast of income and expenditure.

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Capacity Building

helping people and organisations through a wide range of support, techniques and initiatives, which aim to develop their skills and knowledge so they can meet their aims, more effectively.

Capital

money spent on the purchase or improvement of fixed assets such as buildings, roads and equipment.

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Civil Renewal

a political and practical approach to improving quality of life. It involves local people in identifying and solving the problems that affect their communities. It has three essential elements: active citizenship, people within communities working together to find solutions to problems and partnerships between communities, government and agencies.

Community Empowerment

enabling individuals within communities to have a voice and take part in local decision making processes.

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Compact

a written agreement between the voluntary and statutory sector stating ways they can work well together.
 

Core Costs

running costs such as rent, utilities, telephone etc.

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Criteria

guidelines set out by funders stating their priorities and the kind of projects they want to fund.

Delivery Plan

a plan which sets out what a project or programme intends to achieve, when, where and at what cost.

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Depreciation

used when accounting where the financial value of a piece of equipment goes down as it becomes older and worn out.

Economic Inclusion

assists to alleviate social exclusion in that it is a process of overcoming barriers which prevent people from participating fully in the economy of the region; e.g. increasing employability skills and / or access to employment training.

ERDF

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European Regional Development Fund: a European Commission (EC) structural fund which aims to reduce inequalities between the regions in the Community, by supporting local development.

ESF

European Social Fund: supports activities that develop employability and human resources in five key areas: active labour market policies; equal opportunities; improving training and education and promoting lifelong learning; adaptability and entrepreneurship; and improving the participation of women in the labour market.

Evaluation

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an assessment, after a project or programme has started, of the extent to which objectives have been achieved, how efficiently they have been achieved, and whether there are any lessons to be gained for the future.
 

Exit Strategy

a written plan detailing how an organisation is going to either re-finance a project at the end of a term of funding or how they are going to end the project.

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Full Cost Recovery

securing, or recovering funding for all an organisation’s costs, including the direct costs of projects, (e.g. salaries), and all overheads, (e.g. rent, electricity, management costs etc.).

Fundraising Strategy

a written statement which supports an organisation’s aims and enables the organisation to reach its goals. It includes: the aims of the organisation and its main areas of work, funding needs and priorities over 1 – 5 years (depending on size of organisation), how and where the funds will be raised.

Governing Document

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a written document which sets out the aims of an organisation and how it operates. Examples include, constitutions, memorandum and articles of association.

Help in Kind

where people, companies and organisations give help to a project which is not monetary, such as free room hire, donations of equipment, volunteer time etc.

Impact

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the difference a project is making.

In Kind Contributions

non monetary contributions which help towards the total cost of a project. For example, volunteer time, free use of premises etc.

Inputs

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These are the resources that are put into a project to deliver its outputs. Inputs include time, money and premises etc.
Innovation – a new and different way of addressing a problem.
 

Legal Liability

budget heading found in accounts and / or income and expenditure statements. An amount of money put to one side to be used to pay for any liabilities should the organisation close, e.g. redundancy payments. The Charity Commission provides guidance on amounts.

Local Area Agreements

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part of the Government’s 10 year strategy to build a new relationship between central and local government. They will aim to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the way Government works with local authorities and their delivery partners to improve public services, including fewer funding streams to deal with and reduced bureaucracy and transactional costs associated with them.

Match Funding

some funders will only give a contribution towards the total cost of a project and expect an organisation to raise the remainder themselves. This remaining “match funding” can be cash, in kind support, or funding from another funder.

Milestones

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key events or outputs with dates, marking stages in the progress of a project.

Monitoring

regular collection and analysis of input, output and outcome data, along with information concerning the problems being tackled.

Mission Statement

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a brief sentence stating the aims and objectives or an organisation.

Objectives

the activities an organisation carries out to achieve its aim(s).

Option Appraisal

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the process of narrowing down a range of options to identify the particular projects to be undertaken.

Outcomes - All the changes and effects that happen as a result of the work of a particular project or programme.

Outputs

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Outputs are the services and facilities delivered by an organisation or a project. Outputs include training courses, support sessions and publications.

Pro-Bono Support

professionals (generally companies) who give their time and expertise for free to local community groups and voluntary organisations.

Project Appraisal

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the assessment of particular projects to make sure that they provide value for money and that they will tackle the problem to be addressed.

Quality Assurance

Evidence of clear, minimum organisational standards to which an organisation will work.

Regeneration

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in some areas, problems of economic, social and environmental dereliction combine to lock local communities into a vicious cycle of exclusion. Area based initiatives encourage a range of partners to work together, targeting their resources to improve the quality of life in these areas.

Reserves

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the amount of unspent money an organisation has at the end of a financial year.

Restricted Funds

an amount of money set aside by the trustees of an organisation to pay for certain expenditure such as building maintenance.

Retrospective Funding

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funding for activities and/or work that has already taken place.

Revenue

ongoing items of expenditure such as wages, rent, utilities etc.
Service Level Agreements – a contract with a statutory authority to deliver a service on their behalf.

Social Capital

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works on the premise that interaction enables people to build communities, to commit themselves to each other and knit the social fabric. A sense of belonging and the concrete experience of social networks, (e.g. exchanging ideas, sharing resources and supporting each other), can bring benefits to people.
 

Social Enterprise

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a business that trades primarily to support a social purpose. It generates surpluses which are reinvested either in the business or in the community to enable it to deliver on its social objectives. Examples of Social Enterprise include, community enterprises, social firms, co-operatives and the new community interest companies.

Social Exclusion

social exclusion is a shorthand label for what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown. It can also have a wider meaning, which encompasses the exclusion of people from the normal rights of society.

Social Firm

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a business set up specifically to create employment for disabled and / or disadvantaged people.

Stakeholders

people who have an interest in an organisation, project or process, its activities and achievements; e.g. clients, users, partners, council departments.

Sustainable Development

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activity which achieves mutually reinforcing economic, social and environmental benefits without compromising the needs of future generations.
 

Sustainable Funding

diversifying funding and enabling an organisation to move away from reliance on short term funding such as grants for their activities to more dependable long term funding, such as income generation and trading.

Targets

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the level and quality of outputs and outcomes.

Unrestricted Funds

an amount of money that an organisation has to spend as it wishes, within the law.

User Involvement

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actively including users’ feedback, comments, opinions etc. as part of the decision making process as to how the project or organisation will be run.