JARGON FINDER

To help you keep your writing and speaking free of jargon, we are pleased to present Jargon Finder - an online collection of foundation and nonprofit jargon.

Click on any word to see it defined and discussed. Most of the examples are excerpted from Tony Proscio's three book-length essays on jargon that were originally published by The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation: In Other Words, Bad Words for Good, and When Words Fail. (Click here to read these three books online or download individual copies.) The Communications Network thanks the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation for its permission to feature these words on our site.

There also are a number of words on the list that visitors to our site have been contributing over the years. If you've come across a word that you think belongs on our list, feel free to email it to us. We'll share it with Tony Proscio, and we'll post the word and his response.

-Based	Diversity	Metrics	Site
Access	Empowerment	Modality	Social
Accountability	Engagement	Myriad	Space
Action	Entity	Nimble (adj.)	Stakeholders
Action Plan	Entrepreneur	Onboard (As a verb)	Strategy
Analysis	Environment	Operationalize	Structure
Around	Extrapolate	Out-of-pocket	Structured/Crafted
Assist	Funding	Outreach to/On the same page	Supports
At-Risk	Funding	Ownership	Sustainable
Baseline	Go-to (adj.)	Paradigm	Synergy
Benchmarking	Granular	Parameter	Systemic/Systematic
Best Practices	Grassroots/Grasstops	Partnership	Systems
Branding	Impact	Persons	Targeting
Buy-In	Incent/Incentivize	Planful	Technical Assistance
Capacity	Inclusiveness	Proactive	Thought Leader
Challenges/Challenged	Infrastructure	Provide/Receive	Throughput
Community	Initiative	Ramp Up/Roll Out/Windtunnel	Tools
Comprehensive	Intensive	Real-time	Traction
Conceptualize	Learnings	Resources/Resourced	Underserved
Consensus/Consensus Building	Leverage	Robust	Unpacking
Continuum	Linkage	Scale	Utilize
Convener/Convening	Mainstream	Sea Change	Value Added
Cultivate	Marginalize	Sector	Value Proposition
Dimensionalize	Maximize	Setting	Venture
Disincent	Mechanisms	Signage	Visionary
Dive/Drill Down

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