Fundraising performance is crucial to the long-term success of nonprofit organizations, and understanding how to measure that performance can help organizations make data-driven decisions. To provide a quick snapshot into an organizations performance, we've created the Fundraiser's Scorecard.
Our scoring methodology focuses on five key metrics: Retention, Acquisition, Reactivation, Upgrade, and Awareness. These areas provide a holistic view of fundraising efforts, from keeping existing donors engaged to attracting new supporters and increasing overall donor engagement. Each metric is graded based on year-over-year changes and reflects a nonprofit’s ability to grow and maintain its donor base.
A Weighted Grading Scale
In our grading system, we use a weighted rate of change to more accurately assess how nonprofit fundraising metrics are progressing over time. This approach recognizes that achieving the same percentage increase can be much harder when a metric starts from a higher base. For example, raising a retention rate from 60% to 66% (a 10% increase) is a more significant challenge than raising a reactivation rate from 5% to 5.5% (also a 10% increase).
Here’s how the weighting logic applies to each of the key metrics:
- Retention (Retention Rate): The percent change in retention rate is divided by 100% minus the most recent year's retention rate. We then divide that number by half to reduce the scale. For example, if your retention rate is 60% and there is a 10% change, the weighed scale would be 10% / (100% - 60%) / 2.
- Acquisition (New Donors Acquired): New donor acquisition scoring is a bit different. We evaluate the percentage growth as a factor of the number of new donors in relation to the total donor base. The ratio of new donors to total donors is factored into the weight, acknowledging the challenge of consistently growing the donor base as it expands.
For example, if there are 100 total donors in the current time period and 10 are new and we have a 50% increase in donors, the formula would be 50% / (100% - 10%) / 2. - Reactivation (Reactivation Rate): The same formula used for retention is used for reactivation. By utilizing the 100% - last year's reactivation, it allows it to be viewed within the same lens as retention.
- Upgrade (Percent of Donors Giving More): Similar to retention, increases in upgrade rates become harder to achieve at higher levels. We weight the percent change by how close the current rate is to 100% and factor in the percent change in the most recent time period. The same formula as Retention is used.
- Awareness (Audience Growth): This measures the percentage increase in audience size (e.g., email subscribers, social followers). The weighting is applied to reflect the difficulty of scaling large audiences versus smaller ones. This uses the same formula as Acquisition
Each score is then converted into a grade using our established letter grade system, ensuring that organizations receive a fair assessment based on both effort and outcome.
The Letter Grade
Once the weighted rate of change is calculated for each metric, we assign a letter grade based on the following breakdown:
- A: If the rank is 0.10 or higher – This indicates a significant improvement in the metric, showcasing exceptional performance.
- B: If the rank is between 0.025 and 0.10 – This reflects above-average improvement, with solid progress made in the metric.
- C: If the rank is between -0.075 and 0.025 – This indicates average performance, with little to no meaningful improvement or decline.
- D: If the rank is between -0.15 and -0.075 – This suggests underperformance, with a noticeable decline in the metric.
- F: If the rank is below -0.15 – This represents a significant decline, indicating poor performance in the metric.
These grades provide a clear and consistent way to assess performance across all fundraising metrics, allowing for easy comparison and targeted improvement strategies.