logo
  • Nonprofit News
  • Management
    • Boards and Governance
    • Communication
      • Framing & Narratives
    • Ethics
    • Financial Management
    • Fund Development
    • Leadership
    • Technology
  • Philanthropy
    • Corporate Social Responsibility
    • Donor-Advised Funds
    • Foundations
    • Impact Investing
    • Research
    • Workplace Giving
  • Policy
    • Education
    • Healthcare
    • Housing
    • Government
    • Taxes
  • Economic Justice
    • Economy Remix
    • Economy Webinars
    • Community Benefits
    • Economic Democracy
    • Environmental Justice
    • Fair Finance
    • Housing Rights
    • Land Justice
    • Poor People’s Rights
    • Tax Fairness
  • Racial Equity
  • Social Movements
    • Community Development
    • Community Organizing
    • Culture Change
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Gender Equality
    • Immigrant Rights
    • Indigenous Rights
    • Labor
    • LGBTQ+
    • Racial Justice
    • Youth Activism
  • About Us
  • Log in
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Webinars
    • Leading Edge Membership
    • Sponsored Webinars
    • Economic Justice
  • Tiny Spark Podcast
  • Magazine
    • Magazine
    • Leading Edge Membership
Donate
Philanthropy

Philanthropic Phrases and Other Beasts

Ruth McCambridge
November 17, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
0 Shares

Ruth McCambridge

I was asked to facilitate a panel the other day and the main admonition of the organizer was to be on jargon watch.

What is the most annoying jargon you see being used among nonprofits and philanthropists right now? In a phrase or a word, let us know.

For the forty plus years I have worked in nonprofits it has been more than apparent that skilled translation is often required between the community people we work with and the funders to whom we are beholden – or to whom we’d like to be beholden.


  FREE DELIVERY | Click Here to sign up for THE NONPROFIT NEWSWIRE, Delivered Daily >>


In fact, I remember decades ago listening to a man from the Seventh Generation Fund talk about the potential of mission mutilation and distance from community contained within the process of translating your community’s realities and intentions to terms that funders will accept. That admonition has stayed with me though, of course, I am as vulnerable to the siren call of jargon as anyone else.

So help us out. We have a reason for asking the question – you will be adding to a handy dandy new feature on the NPQ website so send us your nonprofit professional gobbledygook today! You’ll be doing the world a favor.

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
0 Shares

About The Author
Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor in Chief of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

Related
Mission Haiku: The Poetry of Mission Statements
By Christopher Finney
February 18, 2019
Nonprofit Workplace Culture: Why It Matters So Much to Us
By Jinna Halperin
July 27, 2018
The Nonprofit Ethicist | Conflicts of Interest and the Board
By Woods Bowman
July 5, 2018
Nonprofits and #MeToo Complicity
By Ruth McCambridge
March 21, 2018
A Peek behind the NPQ Editorial Curtain as We End the Summer
By Ruth McCambridge
August 31, 2017
One Nonprofit CEO is Cruelly Refused a Raise While Another Whistles
By Mark Light
August 24, 2017
other posts by The Author
Ad Scholar to Charities: “Keep it Positive, You’ll Live...
By Ruth McCambridge
December 13, 2019
Remember their Names: An Installation at Harvard Recalls...
By Ruth McCambridge
December 13, 2019
How Much is Enough? Corporate Reparations from the Parent of...
By Ruth McCambridge
December 13, 2019
A Series on Sensemaking Organizations
The Sensemaking Organization: Designing for Complexity
The Sensemaking Mindset: Improvisation over Strategy
Structuring for Sensemaking: The Power of Small Segments
logo
Donate
  • About
  • Contact
  • Newsletters
  • Write for NPQ
  • Advertise
  • Writers
  • Funders
  • Copyright Policy
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to View Webinars

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by GDPR plugin
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.