Chances are, you’re still working through the chaos that was year-end fundraising. You’re probably also knee-deep in meetings to prepare your fundraising calendar, budget, etc. for the upcoming year. Yes, I know all too well just how exhausting the annual fundraising cycle is for you and other nonprofit professionals.
However, there is a silver lining because (most of the time) fundraising efforts do begin to die down some in January and February— giving you time to evaluate what did and didn’t go well last year.
You may be laughing about the idea of “free-time”, but hear me out.
Conducting an end of year (EOY) fundraising review and audit is vitally important, not just in helping you recap your year and report the numbers back to stakeholders, but to help you grow as an organization. Fundraising efforts can vastly improve when you understand what is inspiring, activating, and rallying your supporters into action.
With that, let’s get started!
It’s impossible to get a big-picture idea of the successes and struggles of the previous year without an in-depth analysis of each resource development activity.
If you’ve kept a detailed fundraising calendar, then you’re already set up for success (if you haven’t, consider starting one this year). Otherwise, it’s time to dig into your records and create a list of every fundraising activity you completed, from online fundraisers to recurring giving campaigns, major gift efforts, email marketing, etc.
*Note: When completing an audit of this size, our CauseVox team has found that spreadsheets work best.
Ideally, the analysis of your fundraising activity isn’t just a task completed by your development team. On the contrary, sometimes it’s your loyal volunteers, board members, and others who were most active in your fundraising efforts that will give you accurate and honest feedback.
To start, create a spreadsheet with basic information about each “fundraising activity”, including:
Your chart/spreadsheet will look something like this:
Donor information is key for a proper fundraising audit. The way you analyze donor data depends entirely on your donor tracking system. Many nonprofits and charities choose to use nonprofit CRM, while some smaller organizations use a spreadsheet. No matter your method, it is vital to track donor information for tax, accountability, and transparency purposes.
Mine your data to find the following information and add it to your ongoing audit spreadsheet.
To find information on your website and social media analytics, head over to Google Analytics, Facebook Business Manager or whichever tool you use to track online activity.
Capture:
Now, start building out your spreadsheet with the following:
At this point, you documented major details of every fundraising activity and can now use this information as a tool for analysis and growth. Here are some suggestions:
And the list goes on. The sky’s the limit in terms of how you use this data to improve your fundraising efforts moving forward.
As you plan your fundraising calendar, look back to this EOY fundraising review to determine the fundraisers you should plan and which ones need reconsideration.
While it’s easy to stop where you are because, let’s face it, you just compiled just about every bit of information you could gather to evaluate last year’s fundraisers. But your EOY fundraising review & audit isn’t yet complete.
Now is the time to look at the past year as a whole to help determine not just the individual fundraisers you need to perform, but get a bigger picture idea of your resource development strategy.
For starters, take our your budget and evaluate your income sources, including:
Next, calculate the total received from each source and the percentage of total revenue.
As you know, a diversified revenue stream indicates a healthy nonprofit or charity. Of course, it’s impossible to quantify exactly what an idea proportion is as each organization operates under different circumstances. However, it’s safe to say that it’s not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket. For example, if you’re relying too heavily on individuals contributions and don’t have income from other sources, you run the risk of being ill-prepared to tackle economic ups and downs that all too often impact charitable donations.
Diving into this year, have an idea of ways to further diversify your revenue streams to create an even stronger financial situation for your cause.
You looked at donation and donor metrics above when you analyzed your fundraising activities, but this doesn’t give you the scope of your accomplishments. Again, open up your CRM or other donor tracking program and pull this data:
By establishing a baseline of data on donors and their gifts, you now have a place to work from. But it’s not just collecting and organizing the data that’s important—you have to do something with it.
Here are a few suggestions improve your fundraising with information from your review:
Yes, these numbers are important to track for a number of reasons. They can help you grow as an organization, fix what isn’t working, and build on your established momentum. At the same time, don’t live and die by the data you collect in your EOY fundraising review & audit.
Instead, consider a supporter’s lifetime value. A new donor may only give a $10 gift the first time or a new website visitor may spend a few minutes on your website without giving, but that gift or visit doesn’t equate to worth or potential. Gifts are important, but a relationship is what your organization needs to focus on.
So take all this wonderful information and use it to build a plan for retention. Follow a donor engagement cycle that supporters follow that inspires, educates, engages, asks, thanks over and over again.
Here are a few more action steps to take as you close out your EOY fundraising review & audit:
Have you conducted an EOY fundraising review & audit? If so, what metrics have helped your organization grow?
If you liked this post, you may find these posts helpful as you close out last year’s fundraisers.
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