subject: Ways to measure success in your donor campaigns [print this page] Ways to measure success in your donor campaigns
Any nonprofit's fund-raising arsenal should include donor campaigns as an extremely effective means of raising income. However, in today's charitable marketplace, it is increasingly more expensive and time-consuming to find new donors. In years past, nonprofits could simply "prospect" for new donors and make money, but donor campaign success is far from a given occurrence today.
As noted management consultant Peter Drucker puts it, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." Even so, measuring the success of your donor campaigns can be difficult because of the complexity of weighing many factors.
What does it cost to bring a new donor into your constituency?
What is that donor really worth to your organization after you subtract your fund-raising costs?
How effective are your campaign efforts in the long term?
Painting a reliable and accurate picture of your effort is required for measuring the success of your donor campaigns. One way to begin is to frame your objectives in terms of the number of new donors you hope to acquire versus the acquisition costs you anticipate. For example, state your goal this way: "Acquire a minimum of 2,000 new donors at a cost per donor of $25."
When you complete your campaign, review the results carefully. Did you reach the level of new donors set forth in your objective, and were acquisition costs in line with your predictions?
Response rate
One fundamental measuring stick of campaign success is found by calculating response rate. Ask how many people responded versus the number of people you contacted. If the percentage of response is low, you should carefully review your methods of outreach.
For example, many nonprofits make the mistake of believing that their promotional materials should look modest and unassuming because prospective donors will worry that their money is going toward publicity and fund raising rather than program work. The opposite is true, however.Good paper, color photos and compelling copy go a long way toward differentiating your materials from the competition.
Learn additional ways to Measure success in your donor campaigns.
