Organizational Fundraising Evaluations: It’s not just about the numbers

Organizational Evaluations

Part of the process of good planning is evaluation and looking at what you’ve done in the past.  It’s how we learn to improve and do things better.  It’s no different in fundraising and donor giving data is one of the most tracked metrics in a lot of non-profits, particularly larger ones with more robust databases. 

That’s not all you can or should be evaluating though.  You should also, regularly be taking a closer look at your fundraising strategy and human resources.  Are your fundraising strategies still achieving the results you want?  Are you attracting younger donors?  Do your staff and volunteers have the skills to keep up with industry best practices? Do you need do look at some capacity building?  These factors all affect your ability to raise funds efficiently and effectively.

Over the next three weeks I will do a deeper dive into these three areas of evaluation: giving, strategy and human resources. I also have included an organizational assessment tool that you can use to help identify strengths and areas of potential improvement in each of these areas in your own church or organization. It is a good exercise to go through the process of both gathering the information and reviewing the results. 

Assessment Tools

There are different kinds of assessment tools you can use to collect the data you need.  In most cases however, a simple analysis will suffice to identify the pertinent info and trends needed to understand what is happening in your church or organization with respect to giving, fundraising strategy and human resources. 

Meaningful assessments deliver a snapshot of what giving levels are, what strategies are working well, and what skill sets are needed. When leadership has a good understanding of this assessment data, they are better positioned to make decisions that improve fundraising strategy and positively affect revenue outcomes.

Data-driven assessment is only valuable when the findings are actionable. A continuous feedback loop that consists of planning, executing, assessing, and adapting can help drive meaningful discipleship driven stewardship in any organization. 

Good analysis is based on accurate and complete information. So, it is important to

take the time to complete the assessment as fully as possible. Please ensure you fill out this assessment to the fullest of your knowledge. There are things you may or may not know, so you can use an estimate and note it.

If you do not have the data readily available in your database, or you are unsure how to get it out (no, you’re not alone in that) just obtain the giving data and use a data spreadsheet program like Excel or Numbers so you have the ability to manipulate the data according to different variables. 

It is always a good idea to have multiple people to both be a part of the process gathering the info and reviewing it. 

Giving Info: Donor Base Assessment

Donor Info – Column 1 & 3

Record donors (represented by numbers) and ages in columns 1 and 3 of your table.  You should list everyone individually who has the potential to give.  Also, to be included in this analysis are those who gave nothing.  Sometimes churches carry more non-givers on their church records than givers…and they don’t even realize it!  It is important to the analysis to show both. 

Total Annual Giving – Column 2

This is really the column that drives all others.  Once completed you want to sort the data according to this column and list your donors in descending order according to the largest gift. 

Church Tenure – Column 4

Church tenure looks at how long people have been attending your church and are they assimilating into the congregation. 

Giving frequency – Column 5

The pattern or frequency of giving is the final column and is a good indicator of a donor’s level of commitment to your mission and purpose. You can probably assume that donors who make monthly gifts are likely more invested in what you are doing than the person who randomly gives a few times a year.

Constituency Info

Constituency info is the demographic info that allows you to make some generalizations about who is in your congregations and how to make appeals to different subgroups. This is the section you may not have all the info you need, but you can make your best guess and note it.  It is here you will often identify gaps and subgroups in your congregation or constituency.

Current Strategy

This section is designed to help you evaluate what strategies you are currently using and how they are performing.  Please include in the notes or by using your financial statements, the accompanying totals raised in each category.  You can also include memorial gifts as a separate category.

In addition, please list any events you have on an annual basis and identify if they are used for outreach or fundraising. 

Human Resources

The final section is about the human resources you have working on fundraising and revenue generation. This is to establish the total human resources you have available both paid and volunteer to execute the fundraising strategies at your organization. Churches are often heavily reliant on volunteers and often struggle to find them these days, particularly in fundraising.

However, there are many roles in which volunteers can support campaigns and add to their success, without having to ask people for money.

When To Do An Evaluation

There are two ideal times to do an evaluation, now, in January at the end of the calendar year, or, at the end of your fiscal year.  I like January, and the calendar year for a few reasons.  First, donors give on a calendar year, so I like to track giving data on that schedule.  Secondly, January is a slow time of year in most fundraising and organizational shops.  So, it’s a good time to conduct this sort of internal evaluation.

Conclusion

This is the first of a four-part series on how to evaluate your fundraising and revenue development strategies.  Most churches and organizations stop at the financial totals, and the only question that gets asked is, “Did we make budget?” 

That’s not enough these days and this series will show you how you can implement the most effective strategies based on the evaluation.  It will also identify areas of opportunity where you can do more or do better taking into consideration your available resources.   

Use the assessment data as a conversation starter with your leadership.  When you have information gathered, trust me, you will find much to talk about.

If you need help with the evaluation or want to take it to the next step, give me a call and set up a meeting here, or email me at michelleharderinc@gmail.com.