Fundraising Performance Tile

Key performance indicators (KPIs) measure how well an organization performs against its goals. They are used to monitor progress and adjust strategies. Benchmarking compares an organization's performance to others. Both are tools that help social impact organizations improve and make strategic decisions about their fundraising and are included on the Fundraising performance tile on the Home page.

To help identify gaps in your organization's fundraising effectiveness, it's valuable to understand how others perform. In order to do that, your performance is compared to your peers as determined by your vertical (higher education, healthcare, school, etc.) and relative annual revenue size. The whole of your peer group is evaluated and ranked. Your goal is to be performing as well as or better than your peers. If you are not performing as well, it can be valuable to compare what you are doing to your peers.

For consistent comparison across all organizations, the benchmarks include:

  • All donors, including those now marked as inactive or deceased

  • Calendar years only — not fiscal year

  • Cash-in-hand giving — not soft credits — through:

    • One-time gifts

    • Payments toward matching gifts, pledges, and recurring gifts

    • Gifts of stock and sold stock

Benchmarks are used to identify growth opportunities and make targeted improvements.

The Blackbaud Philanthropic dataset used to derive these benchmarks is the most robust in the world, tracking billions of dollars across thousands of organizations.

Each of the three charts for Revenue growth, Active donor growth, and Revenue per donor are the most important indicators of fundraising health and effectiveness.

Within each KPI, you can monitor how your organization is performing. For example, if you have 2.5-3 dots filled in purple, then you are at the median of the benchmark for this metric. That's right in the middle with most peer organizations in your cohort.

You can then drill into each KPI by selecting the information icon to read tailored recommendations on how to interpret your results and review specific strategies to act on to improve.

Your overall benchmark position may not change much right away as you act on these recommendations and improve, but that doesn't mean that those new strategies aren't having an impact. Observe your monthly performance trend (up, down, or steady) to understand if you are improving month over month relative to the benchmark.

Tip: The data on this tile is updated monthly.

Compares how much a donor gives in total — on average — during the current year. If you are trending down or not performing as well as your peers, you may be leaving money on the table and may need to focus your efforts on increasing how much donors give. Review the benchmark recommendation in the chart for strategies on how to ensure you are asking donors for the right size gifts based on their capacity. If your donors already give more than others' on average, focus on donor acquisition and retention to bring more into the fold.

Compares how fast your organization’s donor file is growing against the benchmark. It is a roll-up benchmark that considers the following:

  • Acquisition rate – gave for the first time during the current calendar year,

  • Recapture rate – gave during the current calendar year and the two-to-five calendar years prior, but not last year, and

  • Retention rate – gave during both the current calendar year and its previous year.

Tip: Coming soon, you’ll be able to drill into this benchmark to see where you should focus efforts to grow your active donors.

Compares how much of your organization's revenue is growing during the current year. If you are trending down or not performing as well as your peers, you may be leaving money on the table and may need to focus your efforts donor acquisition and retention to bring more into the fold. Then, make sure to ask donors for the right amount aligned to their capacity to give. Review the benchmark recommendation in the chart for specific strategies to focus on.