Benchmarking allows nonprofit leaders and fundraising staff to determine the areas of their fundraising efforts where they excel and the areas where they can make improvements. Setting benchmarks can aid in strategic planning of fundraising efforts and donor management and create a roadmap of next steps.
While benchmarking can be a valuable exercise, nonprofit organizations may not know where to start. Identifying which key performance indicators to measure can be challenging, but there are tools to help.
Databases such as Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge NXT have data tools built into them and tools such as Microsoft Power Automate and AutomateGenius provide automation tools to help put together data reports. Begin by determining which data is most important to your nonprofit and build upon that.
What are some benchmarks you should consider? Many nonprofit organizations keep track of and review how many gifts they are processing in a day. Another good benchmark to establish is how many constituents a gift officer has in their portfolio. Additionally, data health is a key area to focus on when benchmarking your nonprofit organization’s success. Up-to-date and accurate constituent records and gift data will aid in meeting fundraising goals and relationships with donors.
Identify meaningful nonprofit benchmarks
To determine which key performance indicators your nonprofit organization should focus on, put together a list of frequent questions your team has about how you may be performing compared to other organizations.
Common focus areas include:
- Database Health
- Fundraiser’s Portfolio
- Gift Processing
Database Health
Raiser’s Edge (RE) once a year compares user organizations against a national consumer database and assigns a data health score of Great, Good, Average, or Below Average. Under the Tools tab, users can review the RE Data Health Scorecard to review how they compare to similar organizations.
Raiser’s Edge reviews and ranks these areas of data health:
- Address
- Deceased
- Phone
To learn more about data health within the RE database, users can visit this knowledge article on Data Health Scorecard.
Prenger Solutions Group (PSG) is one of Raiser’s Edge’s largest users and assists nonprofit organizations of all sizes with determining how they stack up against others in these areas. During the Raiser’s Edge Benchmarks- How Does Your Organization Compare webinar, the PSG team provided data on several questions they are commonly asked.
Some common questions around data health include how many donor records should have email and how many deceased or duplicate records should a nonprofit organization have. They recommend having email addresses for approximately 75% of constituent records. For duplicated and deceased records, it is a bit more complicated, but most organizations have opportunities to optimize data health in this area.
Regarding fundraising data health, PSG highlighted the importance of regularly auditing data and cleaning up duplicate and deceased records. As well as maintaining key communication information such as email addresses and phone numbers.
Data hygiene can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. This webinar Cleaning Your Donor Database – A Practical, Step-By-Step Guide – Prenger Solutions Group provides some pro tips to maintaining your database.
Database Administrators should keep a regular schedule of using available tools such as RE duplicate constituent management tool. Maintaining data health starts with regular audits and clean-up, so the task doesn’t become overwhelming. Remember data health touches every aspect of your fundraising efforts.
Fundraiser’s Donor Portfolios
After an organization establishes good data hygiene practices, the next step is establishing healthy practices around donor portfolio sizes for fundraisers. While the exact number may vary from organization to organization, it is critical to determine how many donors, and donor prospects a gift officer can maintain a relationship with.
A common benchmark is 100-150 prospects in a gift officer portfolio. Fundraising automation can assist with maintaining donor relationships by automating communication such as a welcome series of emails, sending birthday messages to donors, and creating a weekly digest of gifts made to help fundraisers determine who they need to contact that week.
Gift Processing Benchmarks
Efficient gift processing is a vital practice for every fundraising shop. The processing of donations impacts data health and donor relationships. It is vital that donations are processed in a timely manner and donors are appropriately thanked for their generosity, but how many gifts can be processed in a day?
As one of the largest consumers of Raiser’s Edge, Prenger Solutions Group has found that using Online Express, a database administrator should be able to process approximately 420 gifts in a day and 700 a day using Raiser’s Edge NXT. This assumes approximately seven hours of work.
Nonprofits should work to create gift-processing practices that are effective and efficient. Using automation tools can help move staff into high-impact roles that increase the amount raised for your worthy cause.
Expand your knowledge about Nonprofit Benchmarking and Fundraising Automation
Learn more about how to benchmark your organization against others in your industry by watching the recent webinar: Raiser’s Edge Benchmarks- How Does Your Organization Compare. And if you want to maximize your fundraising strategy and learn about fundraising automation and the endless possibilities, schedule a time to talk with the AutomateGenius team today.