Fundraising & Donor Retention KPIs:

Putting Data into Action

July 24, 2018October 3, 2018

Agenda

Key takeaways:• What are the Fundraising KPIs? • How to benchmark your nonprofit’s performance with

the KPIs• How to use data improve your fundraising & donor

retention strategy

Bonus:• Free resources from Fundraising Effectiveness Project• Q&A

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About me

Tim SarrantonioDIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

• 13+ years working for nonprofits• Raised over $3 million• Raiser’s Edge, Salesforce background• Current NeonCRM admin

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First, a key shout out

Why is data important?

Understanding your data

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Data tells us stories we care about

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At a nonprofit, “data” represents our people:• Donors• Members• Volunteers• Event attendees• And more

Paying attention to this data helps us get to the core of how we are engaging with our best supporters.

Deep relationships = deep data

http://afpfep.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-Fundraising-Effectiveness-Survey-Report.pdf

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Data is linked to performance

• You can’t solicit who you can’t reach

– Without ongoing data hygiene, donation campaigns suffer as 11% of

Americans change their address each year*

• You can’t message what you don’t know

– Targeting donors on a 1:1 level increases response rates up to 50%

or more - which requires ongoing data planning and capture

• You can’t measure what you can’t connect

– Average nonprofits store data in more than five places - limiting

their ability to truly measure and improve

* https://nonprofitssource.com/online-giving-statistics/

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What are the Fundraising KPIs?

Building a framework

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To achieve $10,000 in donations from this fundraising campaign, we need to achieve an average gift of

$50 from 200 donors this year.

Goal

KPIs

Benchmarks

Key Performance Indicators

By tracking performance with benchmarks that roll up to larger goals,KPIs help you focus on what matters most all along the way so you can adapt to get there.

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Why do they matter?

• Gives you and key stakeholders focus in a sea of data

• Tells you what success looks like when you lack that

historical data

• Enables fundraising strategic planning with realistic

goals and fewer surprises

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The FEP KPIs

• Average Annual Giving Per Donor• Average Gift• Donor Retention Rate• Donor Attrition Rate• Donor Participation Rate• Donor Reactivation Rate• Donor Recapture Rate

• Donor Reacquire Rate• Donors in Database• Donors this Year• Estimated Donor Lifetime• New Donor Acquisition Rate• Rate of Growth in Donors• Rate of Growth in Giving

How to benchmark your nonprofit’s performance with the Fundraising KPIs

Measuring your performance

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Using benchmarks

1. Scheduled performance reviews by an assigned

“leader” for bringing data into your org

a. Where are you underperforming?

b. What would the impact be if not addressed?

c. How much improvement is needed from now until

end of quarter/year/campaign to hit target?

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Testing strategies

2. Set time to create hypotheses behind any

under-performing KPIs

a. What’s different this time?

b. What’s different from your approach and others?

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Making an action plan

3. Brainstorm changes based on hypothesis and

implement plan to address

a. Who

b. What

c. Where

d. When

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How to use data to improve your fundraising & donor retention strategy

Examples & Best Practices

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Building campaign models

Use your goals and industry benchmarks to build a performance model

● Compare your previous performance

against benchmarks

● Identify areas to focus on for

improvement

● Align organization around goal backed

by underlying numbers everyone agrees

to up front

● Know what you need to measure

throughout campaign to stay on top of

performance and adjustModel courtesy of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project.All rights reserved.

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Reports and dashboards

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Visualizing your KPIs in a dashboard or report

● Top of mind every day

● Can see positive and negative changes quickly and react

● Granting access provides transparency and data to key stakeholders

Donor Retention

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Data point Performance Potential Improvements

Donor Retention Rate Below average● Start a monthly giving program● Consider a membership program● Re-evaluate your appeals

Donor Attrition Rate Above average● Try tweaking your thank you letters● Send more impact-driven updates

Donor Reacquire Rate Below average● Launch a re-engagement campaign● Create automated trigger email

campaigns for nearly lapsed donors

Donation Amount

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Data point Performance Potential Improvements

Average Gift Below average● Leverage gift strings and calculated

asks in your appeals

Average Annual Giving Per Donor Below average

● Add additional fundraising events or P2P campaigns throughout the year

Rate of Growth in Giving Below average● Seek out corporate donors or major

gift opportunities

Connecting the Dots

Leverage your great donor loyalty and create a giving society or giving levels to celebrate your best supporters. Donors will feel even more appreciated,

but you’ll be able to more easily move them “up” to higher donations.

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Donor Retention Rate

Average Gift Amount

AND

Potential Solution:

Diving deeper

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● Combine standard, external, and custom data● Get deep insights from cross-platform reporting● Cut down on manual reporting & analysis

Any questions?

Q&A

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Bonus: FEP Resources

Download:afpfep.org/reports/downloadafpfep.org/tools

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Thank You!

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