Glossary

B

Beneficiary

The people or organisations that you support.

C

Capital costs

Costs relating to buying equipment, buildings, vehicles or other physical items.

Core costs

Non-project-specific costs required to keep a charity going including salaries, utilities or rent. These may also be referred to as overheads.

D

Designated funds

Funds set aside for a future purpose. For example to cover the cost of replacing a piece of equipment or for redundancy costs should the organisation close.

G

Gift Aid

A government scheme that allows registered charities to reclaim tax on a donation made by a UK taxpayer who agrees to this. Charities can claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated at no extra cost to the donor.

Governing documents

Documents which set out your charitable purpose and how your organisation is to be managed. Grant funders will normally require a copy of these when you apply to them. You can find more information on constitutions in our Setting up a charity section.

Grant-maker

A grant-maker is a body or organisation who gives out funding in the form of grants.

O

Overheads

Costs that are not related to a specific project, but are necessary for the organisation to operate, for example admin costs that relate to the whole organisation. These may also be referred to as core costs.

P

Project costs

Costs that are directly related to the delivery or projects or activities.

R

Reserves

Funds that have been put aside for future plans or to mitigate against future uncertainties.

Restricted funds

Money that can only be used for a specific purpose. Typically this is in the form of grant funding and the purposes are set out in your grant award letter.

Revenue costs

Costs incurred in the running of your organisation and its activities. It can include project costs as well as overheads.

U

Unrestricted funds

Money that can be used for any purpose that the organisation needs to achieve its aims.