Julep’s Nonprofit Glossary
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Earned Revenue: Income received for providing services or goods, rather than as a voluntary contribution.
Economics: The social science relating to the production, distribution, consumption, and distribution of goods and services.
Electronic Funds Transfer: (EFT) A method whereby donors instruct their banks to make monthly deductions from their accounts, designated for the charitable organization of their choice.
Emeritus Status: an honorific title usually given to a former board member who is invited to stay on board as a nonvoting member in an advisory capacity.
Employer Identification Number: (EIN) A unique nine-digit number assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to business entities, including nonprofits, operating in the U.S. for the purposes of identification. It can also be called a Tax ID Number.
Employee Matching Gift: A contribution made by an employee to a 501(c)(3) organization, matched by a similar contribution from the employer.
Endowment: Money from bequests or outright gifts to the organization that is invested in perpetuity to produce amounts to be distributed for pre-determined purposes according to the endowment distribution policy. Funds deposited in an endowment are not expendable; they are invested for the purpose of retaining and increasing the principal of the endowment. Distribution of earnings from the endowment coincides either with the donor’s wishes or, if there is no restriction on spending the earnings, at the discretion of organization leadership.
Endowment (Pure): Principal or corpus maintained in a permanent fund to provide income for general or restricted use of an agency, institution, or program.
Endowment (Quasi): A fund, the principal of which can be and often is invaded by a board in order to meet its operating costs. Such endowments include gifts for which donors specify their use; they may also include gifts that are given for no specific purpose, which a board treats as an endowment.
Endowment Fund: A permanently-maintained fund established to provide income for a nonprofit organization.
Engage: To employ or hire; to secure or bind, as by contract; to pledge oneself, especially to marry; to undertake conflict; to participate.
Enlistment: Involvement and agreement by an individual to serve an agency, organization, or institution in some voluntary capacity.
Estate: The total assets of a deceased person; also, the legal status or position of an owner with respect to property and other assets.
Estate Taxes: A tax usually progressive in character levied upon the gross estate of a deceased person before its division.
Ethics: The moral considerations of the activities of a philanthropic organization. Also, standards of conduct and methods of doing business by organizations of fundraising counsel that provide assurances of professionalism in client relationships.
Ethical Decision-making: Using a set of morals/values when problem-solving.
Ethnic Funds: A focused fund or foundation that organizes philanthropic resources from multiple sources to primarily benefit a defined racial or ethnic group.
Evaluation: Planning and conduct of assessments of interim or final project results using quantitative and qualitative methods. Construction of theories of change and logic models. Assessments of fidelity to program models.
Ex Officio: “By reason of their office”; a person serving on a board due to his or her position rather than through elections, may or may not include voting rights.
Excess Benefit Transaction: A transaction in which an economic benefit is provided by a nonprofit, directly or indirectly, to a disqualified person, and the value of the economic benefit provided by the organization exceeds the value of the consideration (including the performance of services) received by the organization.
Executive Coaching: One-to-one support and development of leadership and management capacity for senior staff.
Executive Committee: A committee that has specific powers, outlined in the bylaws, which allow it to act on the board’s behalf when a full board meeting is not possible or necessary.
Executive Director: The person in a nonprofit responsible for management of the day-to-day affairs. They are also in charge of implementing policies set by the board of directors.
Executive Session: A meeting of a board in which only board members and individuals specifically invited by the board are present; governed by rules of confidentiality.
Excise Tax:
1. The annual tax of 1 or 2 percent of net investment income that must be paid to the IRS by private foundations.
2. A tax issued by the IRS on nonprofits that violate specific regulations.
Expenditure Responsibility: When a private foundation makes a grant to an organization that is not classified by the IRS as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) and as a public charity according to Section 509(a), it is required by law to ensure that the funds are spent for charitable purposes and not for private gain or political activities. Such grants require a pre-grant inquiry and a detailed, written agreement. Special reports on the status of the grant must be filed with the IRS, and the grantees must be listed on the foundation’s IRS Form 990-PF.