Benchmarking

Raiser's Edge NXT includes two benchmarking experiences, each designed for a different purpose. Understanding the difference helps you choose the right one for what you're trying to learn — and helps explain why numbers between the two may not always match.

Benchmarking Dashboard

The Benchmarking Dashboard, available in Reporting (select Add, then Benchmarking, then Open), is best for comparing your organization to similar organizations and understanding industry-level trends over rolling time periods.

Use the Benchmarking Dashboard when you want to answer questions like:

• How do we compare to similar organizations?

• Are we trending up or down compared to industry norms?

The dashboard applies consistent data rules across all organizations so that peer comparisons are meaningful.

Home Page Benchmarks

Home Page benchmarks are displayed on four tiles on your Raiser's Edge NXT Home page. They are best for tracking performance within your own database, monitoring progress toward goals, and supporting day-to-day decision-making. They also power tailored recommendations in Strategy Assistant.

Use Home Page benchmarks when you want to answer questions like:

• Are we retaining more donors than last year?

• How is donor acquisition performing this year?

These benchmarks closely reflect your organization's internal data rules, which makes them well-suited for internal reporting and planning. The four tiles are:

• Revenue Growth — tracks how your total fundraising revenue is increasing or decreasing year over year

• Revenue Per Donor — measures average revenue generated per donor throughout the calendar year

• Active Donor Growth — monitors how your donor base is expanding through acquisition, retention, and recapture

• Sustainer Performance — shows the health of your recurring giving program, including growth and retention rates

Why numbers may differ

Even when a metric has the same name in both experiences — for example, Retention Rate — the numbers may not match. That is expected. Each experience is answering a different question. The most common reasons for differences are:

• Different timeframes — The Benchmarking Dashboard often uses rolling 12-month periods. Home Page benchmarks use calendar years. This alone can cause noticeable differences, especially mid-year.

• Different data included — Certain gift types, soft credit handling, and outlier filtering may vary between experiences.

• Different donor definitions — Some metrics use slightly different rules for who counts as a retained or acquired donor, including how far back historical data is considered.

• Different constituent inclusion rules — Some metrics may exclude deceased records, organization records, or deleted records; others include all constituents.

Neither experience uses better data than the other. Each is optimized for its purpose — peer comparison on one side, actionable internal insight on the other. Exact reconciliation between the two is generally not expected.

Which should I use?

Use the Benchmarking Dashboard when you want industry context, peer comparison, or high-level trend insights across rolling time periods.

Use Home Page benchmarks and Strategy Assistant when you want to track internal performance, set goals, or work with metrics that reflect how your organization defines donors and revenue. Using both together provides the most complete picture.

Tip: Use the Benchmarking Dashboard to understand how you compare. Use Home Page benchmarks and Strategy Assistant to understand how to act.