August 04, 2008
Jargon in the Nonprofit World: Contributions From Readers
Readers throughout the nonprofit world are joining our quest to collect your favorite jargon words.
We asked The Chronicle’s followers on the social-networking site Twitter to point out their least-favorite jargon words.
Here is what some of them had to say:
- Impactful
- Sector
- Resources
- Portal
- Constituent
- Philanthropy value proposition
- Advocacy – and I’m a director of it!
Are these the worst phrases or do you have others to contribute?
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Donor
Governing Board
Vendor
501©(3)
We could go all day here!
— Qui Diaz Aug 4, 09:44 PM #
“Philanthropy value proposition” – That’s a great one: I don’t even know what it means!
— Scarlett Swerdlow Aug 4, 10:04 PM #
Outcomes
— Joe Hungler Aug 4, 10:18 PM #
“Leaderful” courtesy of CompassPoint
Here’s the link to their otherwise helpful report on Succession Planning (maybe we should add “succession planning” to the jargon list…
http://www.compasspoint.org/assets/526_buildingleaderfulorganiza.pdf
Also, to add to Joe’s list above:
Goals
Objectives
Milestones
Metrics
— Mary Fuller Aug 5, 12:13 AM #
“Non-profit”
We’re the only industry in the world defined by what we don’t do.
Bill Huddleston
www.cfcfundraising.com
— Bill Huddleston Aug 5, 10:12 AM #
psychosocial
— ben aplin Aug 5, 01:21 PM #
Suspect (most of our prospective donors are not under suspicion for anything)
Prospect (objectifies the prospective donor, makes fundraisers sound like salesmen rather than builders of relationship)
Ask, as a noun. It’s a very fine verb. Nouns: solicitation, proposal, request.
Target: fundraisers build relationships with donors, we don’t shoot them or throw things at them.
Brand (and re-brand) as verbs: one brands cattle, not programs, institutions, or services.
Institutional Advancement: inflated, abstract, too much of a mouthful, and everyone knows and accepts what “development” means, anyway.
— Patrick J. Nugent Aug 5, 01:56 PM #
Every time I hear the phrase “best practices,” I feel like my head will start spinning around on its axis (i.e. my neck). The phrase just comes shooting out of people’s mouths as quickly as “air,” “water” or “food,” and I absolutely hate it. The growing use of jargon seems to me like a sign that we’re all gradually turning into robots, programmed specially for office work.
— Tracy Kaufman Aug 6, 01:34 PM #
Leverage. I’m tired of leveraging things.
— Holly Ross Aug 6, 03:20 PM #
Revenue, annual support, earned income. Why don’t people just say “cash” anymore?
— Elizabeth Clawson Aug 6, 03:51 PM #
Diversity. It’s a catchall phrase that means so many different things and looks ‘sexy’ on paper but I really can’t define it well.
— Suzanne Smalley Aug 7, 11:45 AM #
Silo. Everytime I hear funding silo, I think of farmers.
— Wilma Schmitz Aug 12, 03:21 PM #
13. ROI: Return on investment
— Michelle Aug 13, 08:37 AM #
I don’t see “community” listed. This word has also become a catchall term. “Building community”, “a community concern”. It has just become so ubiquitous and ill defined.
— Deborah Zanke Aug 14, 11:27 AM #
“Ramped Up”
— Michael Wesolowski Aug 14, 12:28 PM #
Impactful, yuck. I’m also tired of “add your voice”, it sounds like an empty action.
— Sue Aug 14, 02:47 PM #
“Partner—as a verb”
— Mary Sloan Roby Aug 14, 04:31 PM #
“Provide” anything (esp. something that has it’s own verb).
“Incent” for offer an incentive.
“Take ownership” for accept responsibility.
“Fund raise” not raise funds.
“Professional” in conjunction with a non-profession.
— Howard Paul Aug 14, 06:31 PM #
I would like to contribute but there is so much on my plate that I have to take a pro-active scenario toward multitasking the inputs to develop an impactful strategy. Sorry.
— Rene Blanchette Aug 15, 10:39 AM #
Grassroots, which means nothing…..leading us to the term “grasstops”, which apparently means, well, the opposite of nothing.
— Kevin Murphy Aug 17, 04:44 AM #
When I was a consultant clients would ask me what certain words meant in the contract we proposed to them for services. Here were some of my favorites:
enhance the visibility of
marketing solutions
development audit
feasibility study – should be ability to raise a certain amt of money
advance the mission of
-and too many more to mention
-organizational capacity
-Philanthropic Marketing Assessment – what the hell is that?
— A Tobin Aug 20, 02:12 PM #