As fundraisers, we understand the necessity of measuring outcomes. The answer to “How’s the campaign going?” can’t be: “I think it’s going great. I feel like we’re doing well.” To be valid, the response should be quantifiable: “We’re 80% to goal and ahead of the timeline.”
But when it comes to donor relationships, do we give ourselves too much latitude to use anecdotes over measurable outcomes? We’re accustomed to basing our fundraising on metrics – dates and dollars, asking and receiving – but this is not the case for our donor interactions.
How good is your relationship-building program? How do we measure our progress and results? Is it based on our impressions and self-assessments or something more objective?
Here are a few ideas for quantifying our efforts:
Donor Satisfaction
One way to demonstrate you value donors for more than their money is to ask for their input. Online surveys allow for anonymity while providing an inexpensive and efficient way to gauge donor satisfaction. For example:
- “On a scale of 1-5, how appreciated do you feel as a donor?”
- “On a scale of 1-5, how well do your personal values align with the organization?”
- “In the last year, what means of communication has meant the most to you?”
- “In the last year, what demonstration of appreciation has meant the most to you?”
- “Are there any improvements you would suggest?”
Repeat Giving
Donor retention is one of the most cost-effective areas of focus for nonprofits, but related tasks can get pushed to the back burner because there’s no deadline or event driving them. At the very least, we can monitor and measure how many donors gave last year, but not this year. We can measure how many gave less (or more). These measurements can reveal trends and offer insights into what we need to do to increase retention, as well as the size of year-over-year gifts.
Increased Participation
How often do donors volunteer their time? How often do they invite their friends and family to attend events? Since we know involvement leads to investment, monitoring participation is a useful outcome we can evaluate objectively.
Anecdotal stories can tell us a great deal about individual donor experiences, but they become more useful when we can put them in the context of broader, measurable patterns.
Relationships are harder to measure than dollars raised, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Donor satisfaction, repeat giving, and increased participation can give us a clearer picture of whether our relationship-building efforts are actually working.
If donor relationships are as important as we say they are, we should be willing to measure them with the same intentionality we bring to the rest of our fundraising.
Jason B. Wood is the founder and principal of Cairn Philanthropy, a Kansas City-based consultancy providing senior fundraising counsel to nonprofits on feasibility studies, campaign strategy, development planning, and board engagement. Throughout his career in major gifts and campaign leadership, he has helped raise more than $300 million, including leading a comprehensive campaign, and previously served as Vice President of Philanthropy at Unbound. He holds an Executive MBA from Rockhurst University.
