Know Your Donor Base
No matter what time of year it may be, it is a good time to evaluate how well you know your donor base and reflect on fundraising goals. Looking at these two things is vital when trying to establish goals for the coming days, months or even years. It is extremely important to closely monitor the contributions that people have made, as well as the amount of money that the nonprofit is able to raise. However, how do you know what metrics to track and who your donors are? Listed below are the key metrics for evaluating donors and donations:
1. Donor Information. When evaluating the information around your donor base, it is important to ask yourself the following questions:
- What donors make up the largest portion of your donor base?
- When was the last time that your donors gave to your organization for at least one year? What are some ways they have helped you?
- Are all my donors listed in a database?
- Are there any of those who work for other nonprofit organizations that work closely with foundations? Or are they individuals who contribute resources to other nonprofits?
- If a donor is a major giver, is there a specific person or group who makes gifts to you on a regular basis? If so, who are these people and what are their roles?
- What is the average gift that your donors have made to your organization? What is the average donation that your donors have made?
- What are the characteristics of a donor base that will allow a nonprofit to have a strong foundation? What kind of giving habits do they have?
2. Donation Information. In addition to donor information, it is also important to ask these questions about the donations themselves:
- What is the average gift you get from each donor? What is the percentage of donors who withdraw their support?
- How much does each donor give? What does it mean if some people contribute more than expected?
- Does the amount of money your nonprofit receives from donors change each year? Are gift sizes increasing or decreasing each year?
- Who gives you gifts in kind or gives you financial support?
- What percentage of donors have given major gifts to nonprofits in the past three years? How often have they given gifts that have been given to charities in the past three years?
- Do the things that lead to a fundraising campaign that gives your organization nearly all the money it needs to reach its goals?
- Can the people you had support from givers in the previous year still contribute to a fund that you are trying to reach?
- How much of the money you plan to raise represents the gifts that they made? What are the potential costs of not collecting funds from lapsed donors?
3. Donor Communication. Finally, in addition to asking questions about donors and donations, communications with donors is also an extremely important thing to evaluate:
- What do you do to get people to donate? Is the message simply targeted to give the gift that is expected? Is the way you give gifts to donors different?
- Do they actually use the same giving methods?
- How many donors can you identify? For each of those donors, what are your plans to get them to give?
- Do any of your donors give at events geared toward helping people? Do they give because of a friend’s recommendation?
- If you know who of these people gives what you think they will give, how do you communicate with them?
- If a donor gives a gift by calling them or writing them a card, or if he/she visits, do that every time he visits?
- You are a volunteer at a foundation and you are the one who will determine how you spend the money you raise. Do not delay in taking the pulse of this vital organ.
If the questions on this list feel overwhelming, it is never too late to start tracking this information. The best way to track this information is through a donation management system. MyDonors is a robust and affordable way to track donors, donations and communication in one easy to use tool. MyDonors is also part of MyCommunity, which exists to build relationships and tools that equip organizations so that they can maximize their impact. Our suite of tools is designed to help organizations of all sizes focus on their mission without worrying about the logistics. We understand the importance of building strong relationships, so we provide the necessary tools to maximize impact and make a difference like our easy-to-use platforms MyDonors and MyVolunteers. Likewise, MyNonprofitCoach equips nonprofits with the training they need to be successful. Schedule a demo for any of our solutions here.For more information, click here.
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