Jargon Busting For Fundraisers, Part 2.

Essential words and phrases to maximise sales fundraising and business supporterships – that fundraisers should know.

Part 2 of Work for Good's glossary of the most important fundraising terms is here to help corporate and community fundraisers make the most of sales fundraising. Created to help charities connect and engage with their business supporters.

To keep it simple, we’ve broken the list into two – see Part 1.

Part 2 - Key business terms and phrases for sales fundraising

• Definitions of business size:

Businesses are defined by the number of employees they have, whereas charities are defined by their income. Here are brief descriptions of small to medium-sized businesses:

• Sole trader

A self-employed person who runs their business by themselves. They are personally responsible for the business and can choose what they do with all of the business profits. They often work alone but can employ other people.

• Micro business

A business with fewer than 10 employees.

• Small business

A business with 10–50 employees.

• Medium-sized business

A business with 50–250 employees.

• SME (Small and medium-sized enterprise)

Any organisation that can be defined as a micro, small or medium-sized business.

• CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)

A self-regulating business concept that helps a company to operate ethically. It helps it to be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the public.

By practising corporate social responsibility, businesses can hold themselves accountable for their impact on society (including in an economic, social and environmental sense). Actions of CSR could be reducing carbon footprints or charitable giving through a sales fundraising campaign.

• ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance)

This is a set of standards or framework that measures a business's impact on society and the environment, and how transparent and accountable it is. The standards are usually non-financial and concern issues like water usage, carbon emissions and green energy initiatives.

• Purposeful business

A business that sells products or services and uses the profits solely towards making a positive impact. For instance, a purposeful business might donate all its profits to a charity that tackles homelessness.

• Ethical business

One that tries to make as little negative impact on its employees, society and the planet as possible. To do this, it considers all the actions it makes – including anything to do with the products and services it sells – and how they could affect people and the environment.

• B Corp

Certified B Corporations are for-profit companies that have met the highest standards of social and environmental performance. They are committed to making a positive impact through their business for all involved, including staff, customers, the wider society and the environment.

• Social Enterprise

A business with a big heart. Social enterprises prioritise tackling social or environmental issues through their work, rather than creating profits for owners or shareholders. They bring about positive change in their communities by using private sector business know-how, along with the values of charities and public services. Examples include community-based organisations, credit unions and Fairtrade companies.

• Business profits

The amount of money a company has leftover from any business income (amount received from sales of products and services) after any business costs have been paid (expenses like labour, materials and taxes).

• Business turnover

The total sales a business has made from its products or services in a specific period. Business turnover is the same as business income or gross revenue.

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Click here to see Part 1 - Sales fundraising legal terms and phrases