This glossary is used to define the core expertise of the consultants in the Nonprofit Builder. It was designed to represent the main organizational developement areas of work, and was put together with the input from all participating foundations: Oak Foundation, Laudes Foundation, Packard Foundation. 

Strategic leadership 

• Strategic planning: Support the development of strategic plans, brand or identity, mission and vision, theory of change (including scaling up, developing existing programmes or services in new geographies, mergers, consolidations, joint ventures, spin-offs) 

• Board development/Governance: Support to improve Board functioning: assessments, training, etc. 

• Leadership/Executive coaching: Cultivating and developing organizational leaders, second tier leadership, and planning for leadership transition, team leadership development 

• Fundraising / Resource mobilisation: Support for development of fundraising strategy, for development of a diverse portfolio of resources (including selling services and corporate engagement)

• Business planning & development: Support given for the development of business modelling and plans, profit generating subsidiaries, alternative income generating activities, social enterprises.

• Organisational assessment & development: Support for organizational change/development processes: assessments, development plans, implementation of change processes.

• Monitoring & Evaluation: Support to design and implement effective monitoring and evaluation system (including impact assessment) 

• Facilitation & Learning: Support for facilitation of internal discussions and consultants, in particular post-covid. Support for design of learning processes, both formal (like training), and informal learning (team learning, reflective learning)

Organisational processes & systems 

• Financial management: Support to develop and maintain good financial planning and budgeting, financial accountability, financial systems and statements, management accounting, auditing 

• Human resources/Personnel: Support for organization`s HRD (staff development), including volunteer management. 

• Project management: Support to improve organizational capacity to manage projects effectively.

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Support to recognize & remove barriers for a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

• Security (digital/physical): Building capacity to deal with physical and/or digital security concerns: security assessments, build necessary infrastructure, training for safety and wellbeing programmes for staff 

• Data management & new technologies: Support for general data management (documentation, database, information collection), including introducing the use of new tools or technology to the field. 

• Legal/Compliance: Support for organisations to comply with legal, administrative, tax, fiscal and financial regulations.

• Risk planning: Support to foresee operational risks, estimate impacts, and define responses to risks.

Communications and Movement building

• Communications: Support given to organisations to communicate effectively with stakeholders (strategies and skills): communication plans, practices and tools; website development, messaging. Includes marketing/brand strategy.

• Advocacy, campaigning, lobbying: Assistance in developing advocacy, campaigning, lobbying (skills, projects) 

• Networks: Support to networks such as devising network strategies, reviewing or advising on governance or member engagement structures, network mapping and analysis, designing new networks, or assessing a network’s effectiveness and impact.

• Multi stakeholder initiatives: Facilitation of collaboration between multiple actors in a system, often including business, civil society, government and other stakeholders, seeking a common purpose, especially to address societal or environmental issues.

Other professional services:

• Translation: Both interpreters and translators.

Last update: 22 November 2020.