Conservation grant writing glossary: 40+ terms defined
Overview
Writing successful conservation grant applications requires an understanding of grant-specific vocabulary. Whether you're deciphering donor guidelines for the first time, trying to understand the difference between direct and indirect results, or need to explain what makes a logframe different from a work schedule to your team, this glossary provides clear definitions of essential grant writing terms.
Access the full glossary when you download the Grant Writing for Wildlife Conservation best practice as part of the course.
Understanding grant writing terminology helps project teams avoid common mistakes: confusing objectives with indicators, setting targets for indirect results outside project control, using passive tense when active tense strengthens credibility, or overwhelming applications with conservation jargon donors cannot follow. Clear communication through consistent terminology can improve application success rates.
Source: WildTeam. (2026). Grant Writing for Wildlife Conservation v2. WildTeam UK, Cumbria, UK.
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Access the full glossary when you download the Grant Writing for Wildlife Conservation best practice as part of the course.
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Glossary of terms: Grant Writing for Wildlife Conservation
A
Acronym: An abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words. Acronyms should only be used when they are familiar to the donor or essential for helping the flow of the application content, as excessive use can make content difficult to understand.
Active tense: A writing style where the subject of the sentence carries out the action. Using active tense creates clear, confident, and consistent content, making it easier for donors to understand the application.
Activities: The work that will be carried out as part of work packages to achieve the project's planned impact. Activities are typically organised into work packages and described with their schedule, rationale, and connection to previous successful approaches.
Adjectives: Words that describe a characteristic of something. Excessive use of adjectives can diminish their effect through repetition or make points seem exaggerated, so they should be used judiciously in grant applications.
Adverbs: Words used to modify or describe other words such as adjectives. Like adjectives, adverbs should be minimised in grant applications to maintain credibility and avoid exaggeration.
Anecdotes: Brief stories or examples used to bring content to life and show the importance of the work. Anecdotes can be used to demonstrate stakeholder perspectives on the need for work, support for proposed changes, endorsement of activities, or inclusion in the application process.
Application guidelines: Documentation provided by donors that outlines the requirements, criteria, and procedures for submitting a grant application. Project teams should extract key information from guidelines to create a checklist of requirements.
B
Biodiversity area: The geographical area within which the project team will focus their conservation efforts. Some grants may only be available for work in specific geographic areas such as particular regions or countries.
Biodiversity target: The species or habitat that the project is helping to conserve. Examples include specific species or ecosystem types. Some grants will only be available for work on particular biodiversity targets.
Boxes: Highlighted sections within an application used to draw attention to important information such as quotes, definitions, or survey results. Boxes help make key information stand out to donors reviewing the application.
Budget: The planned expenditure and income for the project. Budgets should cover all allowable costs including salaries, infrastructure, equipment, consumables, transport, accommodation, food, training, services, insurance, charges, taxes, fixed costs, administration, and contingency funds. Budgets can be organised by category or by work package.
Budget narrative: Additional text that explains or justifies the planned expenditure and income in the budget. Budget narratives may cover costs, income sources, and cost-effectiveness calculations.
C
Charts: Graphics used to show the status or trend of something relating to the application content. Examples include pie charts showing stakeholder demographics or line graphs showing population trends. Charts should use legible text, contrasting colours, and minimal blank space.
Contingency fund: A portion of the budget that covers the staff time and other costs needed to manage unforeseen risks and issues that emerge during the project. The contingency fund should normally make up five to ten percent of the total budget.
Current situation diagram: A visual representation documenting the biodiversity targets, threats, behaviours, and influences in the situation the project team is trying to change. Current situation diagrams can be included in grant applications to help explain the conservation challenge.
D
Diagrams: Graphics used to present information in an engaging and easy to understand way. Common diagrams in grant applications include work schedules, project team structures, current situation diagrams, and planned change diagrams.
Direct results: Results that will be directly attributable to the work the project team carries out and that are inside project control. Objectives should only be set for direct results, not indirect results, to help manage donor expectations.
Due diligence: The effort taken to assess a donor organisation before agreeing to work together. Due diligence involves reviewing the donor's ethical standards with respect to environmental impact, animal welfare, human rights, and legality.
E
Evaluation method: The method used to better understand what conditions lead to actual change and how project work contributed to that change. Evaluation methods assess the cause-and-effect relationship between project work and impact.
F
Feasibility: An assessment of whether work packages can be carried out based on available capacity (skills, processes, and physical resources) and consent (permission from key stakeholders). Work packages with higher feasibility ratings may be prioritised in grant selection.
Figures: Any photo or graphic used to present information in an engaging and easy to understand way. Good figures use legible text, contrasting colours, minimal blank space, appropriate keys, and sufficient resolution without creating excessively large file sizes.
G
Grant: Funding provided by a donor to support conservation work. Grants typically have specific criteria, requirements, and restrictions on eligibility, funding levels, budget expenditure, and administrative obligations.
H
Human well-being: The state of human welfare that can be affected by conservation work. The five types are security relating to personal safety and access to resources, basic material for good life relating to adequate livelihoods, health relating to mental and physical health, good social relations relating to social cohesion, and freedom of choice and action.
I
Impact: The desired change caused by conservation work. Impact is measured through changes to biodiversity targets, threats to those targets, behaviours driving the threats, and influences affecting those behaviours. Grant applications should describe both direct and indirect results.
Indicator: A specific, observable, and measurable attribute that can be used to show the achievement of an objective. Indicators help assess progress towards achieving planned impact and should be included in monitoring and evaluation sections of applications.
Indirect results: Results that the project team's work will contribute to but that will not be in their control. Indirect results should not have objectives set for them in grant applications, as this helps manage donor expectations about what the project can directly achieve.
Influences: Factors that encourage or discourage people to carry out behaviours that drive threats to biodiversity targets. Understanding current influences helps demonstrate the rationale for planned activities and expected impact pathways.
J
Jargon: Specialist terminology used by a group that is difficult for others to understand. Conservation jargon should be avoided in grant applications and replaced with plain language that donors can easily understand, unless the project team is confident the donor uses the same terminology.
L
Logframe: A special type of table that shows how activities are linked to impact and how the progress of work will be monitored. Logframes should only be used to summarise an existing project plan, not as a framework to generate a project plan, because they are a limited tool for planning.
M
Maps: Graphics used to show geographic information such as the location, shape, size, and important features of the area the work will affect. All maps should include a north arrow, scale, and key where needed.
Monitoring method: The method used to measure actual change in biodiversity targets, threats, behaviours, and influences. Monitoring methods describe how information on each indicator will be collected and analysed.
O
Objective: The measurable, timebound, desired future state of a direct result. Objectives should only be set for results inside project control to help manage donor expectations about what the project can achieve.
Overhead: A broad budget category that may include grouped costs such as administration, fixed costs, and other general expenses. Some donors may require or prefer certain costs to be presented under overhead categories.
P
Passive tense: A writing style where the action is done to the subject of the sentence rather than by the subject. Passive tense should generally be avoided in favour of active tense to create clearer, more confident content.
Photos: Images used to effectively show such things as the place where work will take place, biodiversity targets, threats to those targets, or proposed activities. Photos should be clear, appropriately sized, and help strengthen the application content.
Planned change diagram: A visual representation showing the planned impact the project aims to achieve and the work packages that will be carried out to achieve that impact. Planned change diagrams can be included in grant applications to illustrate the conservation strategy.
Project: An effort to achieve a measurable impact within a defined schedule and budget. The term is used throughout grant writing best practices to refer to any type or level of conservation work including project, programme, and organisation level efforts.
Project plan: The blueprint for the project containing all the major information required to carry out and assess the project. The project plan includes elements such as conservation strategy, monitoring and evaluation approach, team structure, schedule, risks, and budget.
Project team: Made up of a number of roles that are collectively directly responsible for carrying out the project. Grant applications should document team roles, responsibilities, ability, experience, learning, relationships, and resources.
Q
Quotes: Direct statements from stakeholders used to bring content to life and show the importance of the work. Quotes can demonstrate agreement with the need for work, support for proposed changes, endorsement of activities, validation of team skills, or inclusion in the application process.
R
Risk: Anything that may happen that could have a negative effect on the schedule, budget, or impact of the work. Grant applications should describe current risks and how they will be managed, including increasing schedules and budgets to account for potential delays and unforeseen issues.
S
Stakeholder engagement: The process of involving individuals and groups who affect or are affected by conservation activities. Grant applications should describe how stakeholders have been consulted, what their perspectives are, and how they support or are included in the proposed work.
Summary: A condensed overview of the grant application content typically covering need, impact, monitoring and evaluation, activities, stakeholder engagement, and budget. Summaries should always be written after all other content is complete to ensure all necessary information is available.
Sustainability: The continuation of impact after grant-funded work is complete. Grant applications should explain what will be done to maintain results after the work supported by the grant finishes, such as changes to laws, sustained behaviour changes, or ongoing institutional capacity.
T
Threats: Factors that are directly degrading biodiversity targets. Examples include poaching, habitat loss, or pollution. Some grants will only be available for work addressing specific threats such as illegal wildlife trade or climate change.
Tolerance limits: A range of acceptable values for an objective. Tolerance limits help manage donor expectations by showing what range of outcomes would be considered acceptable given the uncertainties inherent in conservation work.
W
Work packages: Collections of related activities designed to directly achieve planned results. Grant applications should describe work packages including their rationale, schedule, and connection to impact. Work packages are typically organised by the type of intervention or result they aim to achieve.
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