Metrics

Most nonprofits are seeking ways to expand their online fundraising and successfully access the new funds that are moving online each year. Here are three onling-giving performance indicators to measure.

For a resource-strapped nonprofit, taking on data analytics can seem like a monumental challenge. With the field of data analytics booming and salaries skyrocketing, attracting top-tier talent can take massive financial resources from organizations that may already be forced to make sacrifices just to operate. Second, without prior experience, it can be difficult to know what, if any, insights data can generate that would empower your organization to better achieve its mission. Here are some tips on how your organization can learn — and grow — from data.

To measure the effectiveness of a brand based on a single channel or a single campaign strategy is a terrible mistake. And, honestly, I'd like to see the media report on what matters — not just something that has a shock factor.

There are all types of metrics out there to measure donor loyalty. In our January issue this year, Adrian Sargeant and Kevin Schulman cautioned that some metrics can be too simplistic when "Measuring Donor Loyalty."

Two critically important accounting issues for fundraisers are joint cost allocation of fundraising costs and long-term return on investment (ROI) vs. campaign-specific ROI.

Do you have a report monster? It's OK, you can admit it. What is each of your metrics helping you do? How is it informing you? If you don't have a good answer then kill the metric. There's not enough time in the day.

As with every evolutionary process, it's time to go to the next stage — moving from focusing on all the data to focusing on the right data. That's where the confusion comes in — what exactly is the right data to measure?

Nonprofits can learn a lot from the way the Obama campaign approached performance measurement. For although the campaign’s resources dwarfed those of the typical nonprofit, the measurement practices it followed mirror those of high-performing organizations. By following these measurement practices, the Obama campaign focused its resources on the most effective interventions, made smart resource allocation decisions, and adjusted rapidly as the context changed.

Loyalty runs deep, and metrics such as the Net Promoter Score can be too simplistic. Measuring donor loyalty takes a more in-depth look.