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This glossary is adapted from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation www.rwif.org, the original document can be found on the RWJ website. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, N.J., is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care.

Activities: Tasks that the project undertakes in order to meet the objectives.

Appendices: Components of a grant application which supplement the narrative. If requested, appendices may include CV’s, a list of board of directors, letters of commitment, statistical data and other documentation.

Budget Narrative: An explanation that supports each budget category or line item, and the activity the funds are supporting. Also explains major costs and those marked by complex calculations.

Budget Period: Usually 12 months; one or more budget periods make up the Project Period.

Collaboration/Partnership: One of our selection criteria. As applicable, two or more organizations or disciplines working together, each contributing a specialized service or capability, where the desired end-product requires both to be present for success.

Close-out: The official end of a grant. Usually symbolized by a meeting between the grantor and grantee in which all aspects of the grant are discussed along with any final tasks that must be completed.

Consultant: An individual retained to conduct specific activities such as training, evaluation, or other functions, but not as a continuing or regular employee. Technical assistance grantees will receive up to $35,000 worth of consulting hours, for up to one year, to enhance their project proposal.

Experience: One of our selection criteria. The experience of a team is made up of their collective skills and knowledge and their track record of accomplishing projects in the past.

Outside Experts:  A team of professionals with expertise in a priority funding area or public health research who will be participating in our grant review process.

Form 990 / Form 990PF: The IRS forms required to be filed annually by public charities and private foundations respectively. The form requires information on assets, income, operating expenses, contributions and grants, paid staff and salaries, priority funding areas and grants.

Fringe Benefits/Rate: Fringe benefits are direct costs associated with salaries and wages and include the following items: FICA (Social Security); retirement; insurance for medical, dental, life, unemployment insurance, long-term disability and employee liability coverage; and worker's compensation. The fringe rate is a percentage of each staff member’s salary. Usually an organization has a set fringe rate that is added onto the direct cost of staff salaries. Please identify separately from salaries/wages.

Full-Proposal Track:  One of two funding tracks that are part of Affinity’s grant-making program. Full proposal track applicants will demonstrate the full complement of skills and abilities necessary to conduct and generate findings from their project, will be sorted into this group, and potentially considered for full grant funding.

Full-Time Equivalency (FTE): The percentage of time each staff person will spend on a project funded under a grant. For example, if the project director will be spending one fourth (1/4) of his/her time on the project during the first year, the FTE would be .25 or 25 percent of their salary.

Geographic Eligibility: Affinity will consider funding for programs that serve residents of New York City, and the five surrounding counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland and Orange.

Goal: A statement of the overarching intention your project hopes to achieve.

Grant Agreement: A contract entered into by a grantee and a grantor. Typically based on the application submitted by the grantee, the Grant Agreement commits the grantee to carry out certain activities, within a stipulated time frame, for a specific amount of money. The Grant Agreement often refers to, or incorporates, policies that govern the use of grant funds. It is important to note that the Grant Agreement may include more restrictive conditions than were proposed by the grantee or are required by law.

In-Kind: Refers to a contribution of services or items that an organization donates instead of a monetary sum, in order to help support the project (e.g., contributing a staff member's time).

Indirect Costs: Those costs that are not easily identified but are necessary to conduct the grant, such as payroll processing, accounting support, human resource department costs, etc. It can also be referred to as overhead.

Indirect Rate: Affinity’s indirect rate is eight percent (8%) for reasonable costs.

Innovation:  One of our selection criteria. The act of introducing something new.  Doing things differently, exploring new territory, taking risks. A novel set of behaviors, routines and/or ways of working that are directed at improving health functioning, health outcomes and/or efficiency.

Institutional Review Board (IRB): A group of scientists, doctors, clergy, and consumers that participates in health services and/or behavioral research and clinical trial.  IRBs are designed to protect study participants. They review and must approve the action plan for every study.  They check to see that the study is well designed, does not involve undue risks, and includes safeguards for patients.  Affinity requires that an IRB review any studies involving human subjects.

Letter of Agreement (LOA): A legally binding agreement to provide expertise to conduct research, writing, education, or other services. 

Letter of Intent (LOI): A preliminary application that we ask groups to submit online to ensure the proposed project is eligible and fits with Affinity’s guidelines and mission. We will review the LOIs and select projects to advance to the next phase of the grant selection process.

Letter of Commitment: A letter from a partnering/collaborating agency or organization that documents and commits in writing their specific contribution to and/or support of your proposed project.

Legal Signatory:  An officer of the organization receiving funds and accountable for the project.

Logic Model: A logic model is a high level depiction the flow of resources and processes to produce the outcomes desired by the organization or program. The model can be very useful to organize planning and analysis when designing outcomes-based evaluations of programs.

Narrow Funding Opportunities: One of our selection criteria. We prefer to support projects that are less likely to access traditional funding streams.

Objectives: Objectives are a statement of how you will measure success, your intended results.  An objective should include: target group (who), level of achievement (what), and a timeframe (when).  Objectives establish measurable benchmarks for success. An example of an objective is: By August 2007, fifty percent (50%) of the elementary school’s participating in our program will have nutrition guidelines approved by the school board.

Organizational Commitment: One of our selection criteria. The extent to which a program has the organizational commitment (resources, support from parent organization, staff time, space, overhead) to support the proposed project.

Outcomes: Outcomes, which must be measurable, are the results of your project and assess the extent to which your objectives are being met. The actual impacts, benefits or changes that occur in conditions, participants, and policies as a result of an organization’s or program’s project activities.  An example of a measurable outcome is: Participants will decrease their consumption of high calorie drinks during the school day.

Problem Statement:  One of our selection criteria. A statement that objectively addresses a specific opportunity, challenge, issue, or need the project will address and the community or population it will serve.

Project Period: The total time approved by the funding organization for a supported project, including any extensions approved by the funding organization.  The project period consists of one or more budget periods which are usually 12 months each.

Research:  An active, diligent, and systematic process of inquiry aimed at discovering, interpreting and revising facts—producing new knowledge.  Exploratory research identifies a new problem; constructive research results in the development of a new solution to a problem, and empirical research provides empirical evidence on the feasibility of an existing solution to a problem.

Research Methods: Research methods are part of the study design; they are the systematic application of one or more techniques to investigate your research problem. You can also think of them as the procedures to achieve your project objectives and outcomes. Methods can include the selection of a study population, sample design and sample size. They also include a plan for the analysis, collection, and handling of data.

RFA (Request for Application): An announcement from a funding source that describes a specific grant award program and the corresponding requirements.

Scope of Work: A part of a Grant Agreement or Letter of Agreement that details the range of work to be completed by the grantee.

Site Visit: Visit by persons responsible to the funding organization to obtain additional information before the possible award of a grant. Site visits can also be made after a contract or grant award to determine effectiveness of the program.

Study Design:  The science and art of planning how an experiment will be conducted to get the most valid and reliable results. 

Subcontract: A legal agreement to transfer part of a grant or contract from the awarded institution to another organization. Terms and conditions of the original contract/grant also apply to the subcontract and sub grantee.  Subcontracts must be approved by Affinity Health Plan. 

Technical Assistance Track:  One of two funding tracks that are part of Affinity’s grant making grogram. Technical assistance track applicants do not necessarily demonstrate the full complement of skills and abilities necessary to conduct and generate findings from their project but have a truly innovative idea and will be sorted into this group and potentially considered for technical assistance.  Technical assistance will be provided in the form of methodologic, grant-writing or other support and if that process is successful, the grant has the potential to be fully funded.