As your nonprofit grows and changes, it’s inevitable that your operations must change with you. You may outgrow systems that previously worked or expand beyond the scope of your original . When the time comes to make that change, how will you decide what’s the next best step for your nonprofit?

When it comes to improving your operations, data-backed decision-making is one of the best ways to go. With key information at your fingertips, you’ll make adjustments that ensure you connect with more supporters, host your most profitable fundraisers, and ensure your nonprofit has the revenue you need to support your mission.

To help you determine the most useful data for your organization, this guide will go over the top four categories of fundraising metrics your nonprofit shouldn’t ignore. Let’s get started!

1. Donation Metrics

Since your nonprofit needs revenue to fulfill its mission, donation metrics are a key starting point for improving your operations. In particular, track metrics that will help you increase your donations, such as your:

• Average donation amount. This number refers to the average size of the donations your nonprofit receives. In 2022, the average one-time gift was $121—if your average is lower than that, you may want to adjust your nonprofit’s strategies.
• Donation growth rate. This metric refers to your change in donation revenue year over year. You can use this information to evaluate your fundraising efforts and see if the changes you’ve made previously have had the desired impact.

With these metrics, you’ll glean more insights into your nonprofit’s donation revenue and how to improve it. For example, if your average donation amount is lower than usual, you might look into securing higher-value gifts. That might mean soliciting more major donors or adding suggested amounts to your donation page.

2. Donor Metrics

While donation metrics may narrow your fundraising needs, information about your donors themselves will help you gauge how you can best make appeals. That’s why the next category we’ll look at is donor-related metrics. If you’re seeking more insights into your most loyal supporters, take a look at this information:

• Donor acquisition rate. You can calculate your donor acquisition rate by dividing the number of new donors by your total number of donors. Multiply that number by 100 to get a percentage. This metric is useful after you’ve just hosted an event or campaign that’s meant to bring in a good number of new donors, and it helps you determine how effective your efforts were.
• Donor retention rate. Your donor retention rate measures the percentage of donors who continue to give to your nonprofit beyond their first contribution. You can calculate this by dividing the number of donors who gave this year by those who gave last year and multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.
• Donor attrition rate. Calculate your donor attrition rate by subtracting the number of donors from this year from the number of donors from the previous year. Divide that number by the previous year’s total donors and multiply by 100 to get a percentage. If this rate is higher than you would like, you may need to rework your donor engagement and stewardship strategies.

Aside from providing a holistic view of donor loyalty, specific donor data can help you make more informed marketing decisions. If you already have a nonprofit donor management system, you can access essential information such as demographic data, donor interests, giving history, and more. That way, you can create more targeted events and campaigns to generate interest.

If you’re looking for a solution that will help you collect and store this information, consider Charityproud. Our tools offer dashboard overviews of each constituent’s status, allowing you to track touchpoints with donors and discover relationships among your constituents to find new opportunities for appeals.

3. Engagement Metrics

After you’ve gotten yourself up-to-date on donor metrics, you may identify areas that could be improved, such as supporter retention and acquisition. Start the process by considering your nonprofit’s engagement metrics. This data informs your improvement strategies to make learning about and participating in your organization’s programs more accessible.

Start by taking a look at engagement metrics for:

• Your website. Review metrics including your website’s traffic volume, page views, average session duration, bounce rates, and more. You can also track how individuals found their way to your website through emails, social media posts, Google Ads, or other channels.
• Email. These metrics include your delivery rate, open rate, click-through rate, number of subscriptions, unsubscribe rate, and engagement over time.
• Social media. Metrics include the number of likes or comments on each post, the number of unique users who see your posts, the number of followers your social media account has, and number of views your video content receives.

Aside from marketing engagement, consider how supporters engage with your events. For example, if you see a lot of attendance at certain events, give them a permanent spot on your annual fundraising calendar. Or, if you don’t see the engagement you want, consider looking at other ideas for fundraising events that your supporters may enjoy more.

4. Impact Metrics

Nonprofits must inevitably spend funds on costs associated with running their organization. However, remember that your mission is the most crucial part of your organization, and it’s well worth it to keep abreast of metrics that relate to your nonprofit’s impact on your beneficiaries.

Whether you need help budgeting for increased impact or want a big-picture look at how your nonprofit has helped your beneficiaries, consider tracking these metrics:

• Number of beneficiaries helped
• Amount of funds supporting programs
• Program growth rate

Let’s say your nonprofit offers educational opportunities to students in underserved communities. In this case, you might want to note that your nonprofit has helped over 12,000 students graduate from middle school and that you’ve used over $50,000 to purchase school supplies and textbooks. You may also record that you initially supported your nonprofit’s local county but have since expanded to offer opportunities to students throughout your state.

Tracking these metrics gives you quantifiable data to present to stakeholders, donors, and supporters, proving your nonprofit’s efficacy and trustworthiness. Plus, this information reinforces that your mission is worthy of support and encourages them to participate in your fundraising efforts.

You can make informed, data-driven decisions to improve your nonprofit’s operations by tracking metrics in these four categories. You’ll know when your strategies aren’t working and when to adjust your existing processes. Use this information to glean key insights into your nonprofit’s health and increase your fundraising potential for the future.