fundraising data & trends: putting it all together

Fundraising Data and Trends: Putting it All Together PRESENTED BY:

ANDREW WATT, FINSTF &

MELISSA S. BROWN

for the Association of

Fundraising Professionals

No longer trying to catch up

to for-profits…

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We have:

• Technology

• Best practices

• Expertise

• Innovation

• Benchmarking

…And we have data!

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SO

MUCH

DATA!

But what’s important?

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Our Presentation Today

I. The Fundraising Landscape

II. Why Measure?

III. Which Metrics?

IV. What to Track

V. Benchmarks

VI. Data Collection

VII. Challenges

VIII. Big Picture

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I. The Fundraising Landscape

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Giving USA

• Americans donated an estimated $335.17

billion

• An increase of 4.4% - $18.94 billion

• The fourth straight year of gains

• Not at 2007 prerecession highs, but

increased 22% since end of recession

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Giving USA 2014

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www.givingUSAReports.org

Giving USA 2014

www.givingUSAReports.org

Shifting Donor Interests

II. Why Measure?

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Effectiveness

But what is your definition of effectiveness?

Whose idea of effectiveness?

Does effectiveness matter that much to

everyone? Yes, but…

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Interest in ROI

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Wealth Engine: “Measuring Fundraising Return on Investment and the Impact of Wealth Intelligence”

Efficiency

Efficiency is critical, but again, being efficient

at WHAT?

• Overall costs?

• Specific program costs?

• Internal/external costs?

• Program delivery?

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Other factors

• Internal management

• External benchmarking

• Lifetime value of a donor

• Institutional/Long-term investment in

fundraising

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Measurements Depend on Application

• Organization’s plan

• Management of your FR program

• An identified peer group

• ID opportunities, strengths

• Your organization’s subsector

• Is your boat rising with the tide?

• All nonprofits

• ID trends in other sectors (“threats”)

Who decides what we want to

measure?

We ALL need to play a role

here!

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III. Which Metrics?

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Performance Metrics

• Inputs

• Activities

• Outputs

• Outcomes

• Impacts

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Greenfield’s The Big Three Data Items

1. Number of donors (or donations)

2. Income from this appeal or group of

appeals

3. Expenses, including staff time and indirect

costs, for this appeal or group of appeals

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Greenfield: Key Metrics

• Percentage participation: Donors/Number of

asks

• Average gift: Amount of income/Number of

asks

• Net income: Income - expenses

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Two Sides of the Same Coin

• Return on investment: Revenue/Expenses

• Cost to raise a dollar: Expenses/Revenue

• MUST compare in different ways:

• Short-term

• Long-term

• Against original goals

• Against other programs

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Donor Retention

• Donor retention: Number of donors in this

year/Number of donors in previous year

• Increasingly important metric with

increasing competition and fewer donors

• Retaining existing donors much less

expensive than finding new ones

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Other Key Metrics

• Upgrades

• Acquisition

• Donor interaction and conversions

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Outside the Box: What About Loyalty

• Donor satisfaction/commitment and trust

• Exit polling

• Number (and categories) of complaints

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Other Metrics

• Monitor percentage of new donors who

report learning of organization from existing

donor or volunteer

• Track MEDIAN, not mean, gift amount

--dzo Strategies

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Actionable Information

• Phases of a donor relationship that can be

measured without tracking money

contributed

• Engagement

• Solicitation, specific ask

• Pending (status of continuing gift negotiation)

• Stewardship

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What do donors want in terms

of impact?

Fashion your metrics

accordingly!

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IV. How to Track?

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Data Entry

• PLAN data entry to support selected metrics

• Gift level

• Donor level

• “Cohort” level – “Class of ‘1x” or “Grateful patients”

• Program / department level (costs, ROI, etc.)

• Do: Test runs for entry, output

• Check: Assess usefulness of test runs

• Act: Make changes, put into action

Data Analysis Resources

• Built into software

• Proprietary

• Fundraising Effectiveness Project

• Download selected data points

• Growth in Giving at www.APFNet.org/GIGTemplate

• Retention analysis

• Analysis by cohort or subset

• More to come in Fundraising Fitness Test

V. Benchmarks

Examples of Comparison Resources

Giving USA • Total changes in giving, by donor type and by sub-sector type

Nonprofit Research Collaborative (AFP co-sponsorship)

• Semi-annual, changes by type vehicle (online, direct mail, etc.)

FEP (AFP co-sponsorship)

• Annual, retention and upgrades

Blackbaud Giving Index • Monthly, changes in total

Percentage Change Comparison

2.3

12.7

1.4 2.3

5.8

4.4

2.2

5.4

-0.04 1.0 0.9 1.3

4.1

3.9

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Giving USA

Health NPO

Percentage Change, Trend Comparison

2.3

12.7

1.4 2.3

5.8

4.4

2.2

5.4

-0.04 1.0 0.9 1.3

4.1

3.9

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Giving USA

A Health Org.

Using NRC for Analysis by Vehicle

17% 26% 24% 30%

39% 35% 24% 18% 19% 18%

27% 25%

10%

19%

23% 25% 33%

37% 33% 31%

56% 49%

66% 51%

38% 40% 43% 45% 47% 51%

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Respondents by Change Reported, Direct Mail Receipts, Year on Year

Increased

Stayed thesame

Decreased

Fundraising Effectiveness Project

Median Gain/Loss Ratios, All FEP Participants

46.8% 53.1% 52.7% 50.7%

-60.4% -56.5% -57.7% -59.5%

-5.6%

1.1% 1.8%

-2.5%

Gain Ratio

Loss Ratio

Rate of growth

2009 2010 2011 2012

Blackbaud Giving Index

Other Benchmarks

• Blackbaud. State of the Nonprofit Industry

• NTEN/M+R. The 2014 Nonprofit Benchmarks Study,

focuses on online giving

• NTEN. The 8th Annual Nonprofit Technology

Staffing & Investments Report

• CASE and Association for Healthcare Philanthropy

have industry-specific benchmarks.

AFP Summary of Benchmarks

• CTRD: $0.32 for hospitals (AHP)

• % of dollars from top 10% of donors: 95%

(Median per CASE Campaign Report)

• Direct mail response: house list: 3.6%

• Direct mail response: prospects: 0.9%

(DMA)

• Member Access at AFPNet.org

VI. Data Collection

Challenges to Metrics for Gifts Received

No universal solutions.

Consider how your organization:

• Links gift to appeal(s)

• Credits couples – before, during, after

• Gives soft credit

• Tracks planned gift commitments

Challenges to metrics for CTRD

Again, no universal standards.

• Does your organization consider staff time?

• Development staff?

• Other organizational personnel in fundraising work?

• Do you track total costs, marginal costs, or both?

• Volunteer investment of time?

VII. Big Picture

Plan, Do (Test), Check, Act

Goals for Metrics

• Part of management strategy and controls

• Measure things organization can change

• Set benchmarks ahead of time

• Use free or low-cost resources at first

• e.g., Services from software vendor or

GIGTemplate

Back to the “Why”

• We are under considerable pressure by

different audiences to benchmark and

analyze: • Funders and donors

• Board of directors

• Executive staff

• The public

• There are benchmarking/trend “standards”

in place but we need to take control of: • Our message and story

• What makes the most sense for our organization

Fundraising Data and Trends: Putting it All Together QUESTIONS?

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