Fundraising Evaluation and Analysis

Fundraising Analysis

WHO should be using data to drive fundraising strategy?

If your organization has limited resources and if your organization is working for an important cause (which should be everyone!), you should be looking at data.
With limited resources, you need to use resources as efficiently as possible.
If working for important cause, data can help to maximize effectiveness to generate more funds for your work

WHY should we use data?

Data analysis is using the numbers to help guide your actions, set fundraising goals, and measure progress so you can maximize funds to support your mission
When resources are limited, using your time efficiently and effectively is even more important!
Example: Look at time spent on different fundraising activities to compare how effective each activity is. Can see that board outreach is more time-efficient. This is not saying that you should only focus on your most efficient activity, but this can help you be more efficient and help you stay on track with your fundraising goals.

Fundraising Activity	Time Spent on Activity	Total Donations from Activity
Email outreach	10 hours	$1,000
Board outreach	3 hours	$1,000
Social media	5 hours	$300

WHEN should you use data to set goals?

Example 1: Set a goal before a particular campaign/event – Bonus Day

How much money can your organization raise on Bonus Day?

Step 1: First, let’s use historic data from a similar event to estimate average gift size. We can assume that the average will be the same for the upcoming Bonus Day
Step 2: Now let’s set a goal for the number of donations we can get on Bonus Day. Consider:
- Who are your potential donors?
- What strategies will you use to reach out to various groups of these donors?
- What portion of these donors will likely donate as a result of your outreach?
- What is you goal? Do you want to increase or maintain email donation rate?
Plug in numbers in this equation: Number of donations x average donation amount = total funds raised/your goal for Bonus Day
- Can use this for each of your fundraising strategies (email, board, social media, etc).
- Use concrete strategies and reasonable assumptions to set goal

Step 3: Evaluate.
- After the campaign, evaluate data to test the validity of your assumptions and learn which strategies were most successful. You can look at what happened to see what was effective, what you did to influence changes.

Bonus Day Evaluation Strategy	# of Donations	Average Donation Amount	Total Raised
Goal – Email outreach	18	$50	$900
Actual – Email outreach	24	$40	$960
Actual vs. Goal	+ 6	-$10	+$60

Example 2: Set goals for annual strategy planning and throughout the year – Donor retention

Step 1: Use historical data from previous years to calculate donor retention in 2013 as a benchmark for performance
Step 2: Set goal for donor retention in 2014? Do you want to improve or maintain donor retention?
Step 3: Measure progress throughout the year

How frequent should we be setting goals and measuring progress?

Incorporate data into goal-setting and performance measurement all year-round
Discuss explicitly on specific occasions throughout the year
Try to weave data into daily decision-making, communication, and strategy on an organizational and individual level to maximize learning

Example: GlobalGiving’s frequency of setting goals and measuring progress

Specific occasions throughout the year:
- Annual all-staff strategic planning retreat
- Mid-year step-back
- Quarterly goal progress check-ins
- Monthly goal progress check-ins
- Individual team goal progress check-ins
Daily basis:
- Weekly staff meeting: trends in donation activity
- Analysis of individual campaigns and outreach strategies
- Individual staff experimentation and knowledge-sharing
- Time tracking and activity-based costing analysis

Tools

Read the full article at Global Giving.