Every field has its own language, and grants are no exception. The words are not hard once someone says them plainly. The problem is that few people do. This glossary gives each common term one honest sentence first, then a short note on what it means for you in practice. Keep it open next to the next set of guidelines you read.
The words for getting started
501(c)(3): The part of the tax code that names the kind of nonprofit most funders fund, a charity, school, or similar group that the IRS has ruled tax-exempt. When a funder asks about your 501(c)(3) status, they are asking whether that ruling is in place and still current. You can check any organization, including your own, in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search.
Determination letter: The letter from the IRS that says your tax-exempt status was approved, and the paper proof most funders ask you to attach. As one guide puts it, a determination letter is a document certifying that a nonprofit is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3), and the IRS sends it once an application for exemption is approved. Keep a clean copy where you can find it in a minute.
EIN: Your employer identification number, the nine-digit number the IRS gives your organization, used the way a Social Security number is used for a person. Funders use it to look up your record, and it should match your legal name everywhere it appears.
LOI: A letter of intent, also called a letter of inquiry, is a short first note to a funder that says what you want to do and roughly what it will cost, sent before a full application. Funders use it to screen. As one college grants office explains, an LOI is a brief letter that introduces your organization and your request, sent so the funder can decide whether a full proposal makes sense. An LOI is usually not binding. It is a doorway, not a contract.
RFP: A request for proposals is the funder's public invitation to apply, with its rules, deadline, and questions in one document. In grant writing, an RFP is a formal document released by a funder inviting eligible organizations to submit an application for a stated funding opportunity. Read the whole RFP before you write a word. The rules that can end an application early are rarely on page one.
Guidelines: The funder's written rules for a grant: who can apply, what it funds, how much, and when. When any other document and the guidelines disagree, the guidelines win.
The words for who does what
Funder, or grantor: The person, foundation, company, or agency giving the money. Grantee: The organization that receives the grant and is responsible for doing the work and reporting on it. The two words sound alike and mean opposite ends of the same grant, so read them slowly in any agreement.
Fiscal sponsor: An established tax-exempt nonprofit that lends its legal and tax status to a project that does not have its own, so the project can receive grants and tax-deductible gifts. In plain terms, a fiscal sponsor is an existing 501(c)(3) that allows another group to work under its tax-exempt status to carry out charitable work. The sponsor holds the money, keeps the records, and usually keeps a fee for the work. The project does the program work.
Eligible: Allowed to apply, under the funder's own published rules, and allowed for no other reason. Only the funder's rules decide this. A search tool, a list, or a well-meaning friend can guess, but the funder's written rules are the only place the answer lives.
The words for money
Direct costs: Costs you can point to one project and name, such as the staff time, supplies, and travel that project uses. If you can say "this was spent on this grant, for this reason," it is likely a direct cost.
Indirect costs: The shared costs of staying open that no one project owns alone, such as rent, utilities, bookkeeping, and basic office costs. Federal rules describe indirect costs as costs incurred for common or joint objectives that cannot be identified with one project alone. Funders cover them in different ways, some by a set rate, some by a cap, some not at all, so check each funder's rule before you build a budget.
Matching funds: Money or valued help your organization adds from other sources to stand beside the grant, when the funder requires it. A glossary from a college grants office defines matching contributions as financial or in-kind resources provided by the grantee or partners to add to grant funding. A match is a promise. If you write it into an application, plan to prove it later.
In-kind: A gift of goods, space, or time instead of cash, such as donated equipment, free use of a room, or skilled volunteer hours. In-kind support is real support, and funders often ask you to record what was given and when, even though no money changed hands.
Budget narrative, or justification: The short written explanation that goes with each budget line and says what the money buys and why that cost is fair. The table shows the numbers. The narrative shows the thinking. Reviewers read both.
The words for after you apply
Award: The funder's formal yes, with the amount, the time period, and the conditions attached. An award is not just good news. The award letter is the contract for the grant, so read it the way you would read any contract before you sign.
Grant period: The dates between which grant money can be spent on the work. Costs outside those dates usually do not count, even when the work itself was right.
Reporting, or check-ins: The updates a funder asks for after an award, on set dates, that say what was done, what was spent, and what changed. The dates are part of the award. Put them on a calendar the week the award arrives, not the week they are due.
How to use this glossary
When a term in a set of guidelines stops you, look it up here, then go back to the funder's own words for that grant. Definitions tell you what a word means in general. The funder's guidelines tell you what it means this time, for this money, under these rules.
GrantTitan is built on that same plain-language idea. Every grant on GrantTitan publishes its rules in full, your verified profile is checked against IRS records, and eligibility is answered from the funder's rules before you apply. GrantTitan is in pilot, and seekers pay $0 to verify, post a need, or apply. Plain words will not win a grant on their own. They will keep you from losing one to a word you did not understand.