Some of the definitions are from the National Center for Charitable Statistics http://nccs.urban.org/glossary.htm.
Average: In statistics, the mean. This figure is calculated by summing the values from each respondent or reporting organization and then dividing by the number of respon dents. An average can be a good representation of a trend if the organizations in the group report amounts that are relatively close together. It can misrepresent a trend if the difference between the highest amount reported and the lowest amount reported is very large. In that instance, a median might be a better point of comparison. See also Median.
Charitable revenue: Philanthropic gifts received by a charity organization. Giving USA asks organizations that participate in its survey to report cash received or the cash value of inkind gifts. Where possible, we ask that unpaid pledges be excluded from the total reported charitable revenue.
Charity or charitable organization: In this book, charitable organization denotes an entity recognized as tax exempt under section 501(c)( 3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Charitable organizations are exempt from federal income taxes because of their religious, educational, scientific, and public purposes. They are eligible to receive taxdeductible gifts. See also Public charity, Private foundation.
Direct public support: As used on IRS Form 990, direct public support appears on line 1a and represents charitable revenue (gifts and grants).
Gift: Transfer of cash or other asset by an individual, corporation, estate or foundation. Gifts do not include government grants or contracts, allocations from nonprofit organi zations, such as United Ways or communal funds, or distributions from donoradvised funds.
Indirect public support: As used on IRS Form 990, indirect public support appears on line 1b and includes transfers from one nonprofit organi zation to another. This includes allocations from federated campaigns, distributions from donoradvised funds, and contributions from a religious organization to another nonprofit, among other transfers.
IRS Form 990: An annual return filed with the Internal Revenue Service by nonprofit, taxexempt organizations (even those that are not charities) with gross receipts for the year of $25,000 or more. May be submitted on a 990EZ (when receipts are from $25,000 to $100,000 and assets are less than $250,000). Private foundations use a variation of the form, the Form 990PF, with additional information required.
Large organization: Giving USA defines large organizations as those that had charitable revenue of $20 million or more.
Mean: See Average.
Median: In a summary of data, the median is the middle response. When the responses are organized sequen tially, onehalf of the responses given are lower than the median, and one half are higher. Typically, when the amounts reported in a survey are close together, the median and the
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