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Some Non-Profit Questions:

So normally we don’t handle non-profits but we’ve had thing clients that does stuff with us on a project basis not a regular basis.

We helped them with their end of year appeal. But it’s hard to know if we did well for them when I don’t have any other data to compare things too? I’m not finding many nonprofit industry averages out there. We definitely had some challenges but I’m trying to figure out if it was because of the holidays, second year in a pandemic or what. I’m looking for some general statements. You don’t have to give exact numbers just looking for some overall statements.

 

Did you meet your fundraising goals in 2021? Yes or No

Did you meet your Q4/Holiday fundraising goals in 2021? Yes or No

Did you do better or worse than 2020? 2019? Better or Worse in 2020            Better or Worse in 2019

Dealing with the second year in a pandemic did you have a harder time in 2021 raising your fundraising goals?

 

 

If anyone has any sources for non-profit goals data I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Hey Raven! GREAT questions, all. And you make a super valid point - comparing non-profit engagement metrics to for-profit ones may be like comparing apples vs. oranges. I’d love to bring @caracbbb here into this conversation - seeing her expertise in non-profit marketing and communications.

Cara, I know you’re kinda new here, so, welcome again 🙂. At Sprout, we have a mutual admiration society going on with Raven, and I think the two of you are going to have a lot to talk about! Looking forward to being a fly on the wall here, so, over to you - Cara.

Hi @raven.gill, @gshukla,

It IS challenging to measure fundraising efforts! Even more so when pitting it against other non-profits. One thing I think is important is to find non-profit types within your same category and size. EX: If you are working with a 501(c)3 try to reach out to other 501(c)3’s to compare. Not only will this help you compare against a similar industry but it also impacts donation frequency/timing/amounts because some donations are tax deductible while others are not. For size, employee or volunteer count can be a good indicator, or annual revenue.

Once you find specific organizations to measure yourself against, find their annual report! A lot of non-profits are required to publish one annually! For example, here’s one from the Red Cross. These probably won’t give you exactly what you need but you may be able to gain some insight for creating goals.

(With that being said, here is some good generalized data I found.)

Did you meet your fundraising goals in 2021? Yes

Did you meet your Q4/Holiday fundraising goals in 2021? No

Did you do better or worse than 2020? 2019? Better in 2020   Worse in 2019

Dealing with the second year in a pandemic did you have a harder time in 2021 raising your fundraising goals? Yes and no - we had more donations from our internal members but it was harder to solicit external donations. (I work for a hybrid 501(c)3/501(c)6 so we have a weird set up LOL)

Thank you for your response. I appreciate it! 

 

Raven Gill 

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