Fundraising Heath Test
How heathy is your fundraising program? Below are 20 questions to determine how you grade out. If you answer with 20 yeses, then give yourself an A. However, if you have more than 8 nos, you may be in trouble and need to give me a call (360) 626-3632 or email me at tbaker@milwaukeedirect.com.
Have you redesigned your website in the last 3 years?
Did your Digital Revenue increase by double digits during the pandemic?
Is your overall Return On Investment (ROI) at least a 5 to 1?
Did you see at least 30% revenue growth during the pandemic?
Are you retaining at least 40% of your new donors?
Does most of your funding come from Mid-Major Donors ($1,000 +)?
Have you seen a net gain in active donor count for the last 3 years straight?
Is your overall donor retention rate at least 65%?
Do you have a branded monthly pledge program in place?
Are you acknowledging and thanking donors for their gift within 2 business days?
Did you experience at least 20% reactivation rate from lapsed donors during the pandemic?
If a donor asked you, what would you do with a very large donation, are you ready with a specific answer?
Do you have a specific process to upgrade regular donors into Mid and Major Donors?
Are you sending donor surveys at least every other year?
Are you receiving at least 4-5 estate gifts a year?
Do you know your top 50 donors by name?
Are you sending community influencers your newsletter?
Do you have a segmentation strategy in place for various campaigns?
Has your average gift size increased 3 years straight?
Are you looking at your results and donor trends at least quarterly?
Sit down with your team and take the test together. Keep in mind, you can always do better! Give me a call if you want to discuss fundraising at (360) 626-3632 or email me at tbaker@milwaukeedirect.com.
By Todd Baker
Baker is Vice President and Senior Strategist with MDM Fundraising. He is the author of the popular blog book, OrgMarketing.com, which is required reading for UCLA’s Digital Fundraising Course, which Baker teaches as part of the university’s Certification Program in Fundraising. He writes the Fundraiser Confidential series for Fundraising Success Magazine and he is also known for the Baker’s Dozen fundraising series for the Nonprofit Times. Baker is also a contributing author to one of the bestselling nonprofit Internet books of all time, Nonprofit Internet Strategies and is also the author of Champions of Philanthropy. He is a former member of the Association Fundraising Professionals Board of Directors for Washington State. Baker spent more than 13 years with World Vision. He can be contacted at tbaker@mdmfundraising.com