Acronyms

ADA
Americans with Disabilities Act
CEO
Chief Executive Officer
APS
Annual Program Statement: often used by the Federal government to announce intent to fund certain types of projects in the future. An APS may be issued preliminary to more specific RFPs.
CA
Cooperative Agreement is one of the primary instruments used by USAID to fund projects. A CA is similar to a grant (the two terms are often used interchangeably) but generally has a higher level of funder involvement in implementation and evaluation.
CDBG
Community Development Block Grant: federal funds allocated to municipalities, counties and states for infrastructure development. Funding may be available to for portions of a nonprofit's capital project. Check with your city government.
CFDA
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance contains detailed program descriptions for Federal assistance programs.
CFO
Chief Financial Officer
CO
Contracting Officer: the individual at a federal agency (or overseas embassy) responsible for overseeing grants.
CFR
Code of Federal Regulations: rules and requirements published by administrative agencies and departments.
CoC
Continuum of Care: "McKinney Act" programs administered by HUD to provide an array of services to the homeless.
COF
Council on Foundations
CSBG
Community Services Block Grant allocates formula-based funding to entitlement cities and counties, as well as states, for smaller cities and rural areas. Funds can be used for human services, job training and other projects that benefit low-income people.
DHHS
Department of Health and Human Services: The federal (or state) department charged with programs relating to health and services for low-income, homeless and disabled people, among others.
DOL
Department of Labor
FBO
Faith-based Organization: an organization that provides human services but is affiliated with a religion or religious movement.
FEMA
Federal Emergency Management Agency: disaster relief, recovery and planning.
FFO
Federal Funding Opportunity: another way to announce that funding is available from the feds.
FHA
Federal Housing Administration: part of HUD that often subsidizes housing purchases and building.
FOA
Funding Opportunity Announcement: another acronym for RFP.
FOIA
Freedom of Information Act
GPO
Government Printing Office
HUD
Department of Housing and Urban Development: charged with overseeing issues related to low-income housing, public housing, FHA financing, etc.
LOI
Letter of Inquiry is a one to three page letter that briefly explains who your agency is, what they do, and the project they are proposing. The LOI is the starting point for many foundations, requiring an LOI to determine if the want to request a complete proposal from you.
NOFA
Notice of Funding Availability: a type of RFP
npo, NPO
non-profit organization
NPOs exist to serve a charitable, educational or scientific purpose. Typically, they are incorporated as a charitable entity under their state's laws, and are recognized as exempt from some taxes under IRS code section 501(c)(3). The term "non-profit" is a misnomer. NPOs may make, actually should make a "profit" (raise more money that they spend), but may not distribute this money to "shareholders" or "owners."
NSF
National Science Foundation: charged with improving and researching science and technology. Another source of federal funding.
OJJDP
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: part of the DOJ responsible for distributing federal formula grants to the states for various juvenile justice programs. OJJDP also administers a number of direct competitive grant programs and periodically issues RFPs for them.
RFA
Request for Funding Assistance: a grant proposal, often to a government entity.
RFP
Request for Proposals: the primary mechanism by which funders publish the availability of and criteria for awarding grant funds. See grants.gov.
SAMHSA
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a part of DHHS.
SF-424
Standard Form 424, the basic cover form for most federal grant applications. Different agencies use variants of the SF-424, and SF-424s included in grants.gov application files differ from the paper versions.
USAID
United States Agency for International Development; your tax dollars as foreign aid.