The annual cycle of nonprofit fundraising can be very exhausting. We understand that your year end fundraising would be nothing short of busy, to say the least. Even as you plan your calendar for next year’s activities, you can find some time between January and February to look back and see what you did right and what you need to stop doing. This can help in clearing out the view and identify the factors that work for various areas of your nonprofit, it will also help you strategize better, thus turning your organization into a successful entity.
End-of-year fundraising is a process in which there is an outreach to donors, engaging them and asking them for feedback. This so happens when a quantifiable amount of charitable donations are collected in the past few months. EOY review and audit helps in reporting and communicating better; there is more transparency in terms of what your stakeholders, donors, volunteers and staff are able to see. The efforts of your organization also have more potential to grow and maximize.
Detailed campaign information
If you keep a record of all your fundraising campaign details on an excel sheet, then you are good to begin. If not, then begin by tracing back all the moves you’ve made this year, be it offline and online, details of the tasks assignment is an area that shouldn’t be missed. This should also include the name of the fundraiser, the purpose, target audience, date and time of event and most definitely, the net income.
Donor information
For a proper and well planned year end fundraising audit, donor information is one of the most vital components. It is true that analyzing donor data depends on the system or software that tracks the information. The donor management software that GiveCentral provides is an example of a good donor information storage, it also acts as a monitor. Your nonprofit should prioritize tracking of donor information for transparency, tax and accountability goals.
Gift data
This section will help you stay updated on the giving patterns of your donors. Some donors like to give annually while some give monthly, weekly and so on. Again, an advanced and modern donor management software is ideal as that would be able to track the needful. This way you will know when to send reminders to which group and also, it will smoothen the process of audience segregation.
Online activities
Since no fundraising campaign is complete without an online activity, the results of those activities will have to be tracked through Facebook Business Manager, Google Analytics or any tool that you use to track the same. Email conversions, open rates, social media engagement and social media conversions to website are the columns that you can make on your excel sheet. You can also record the number of touches (the number of times you reach out to obtain a gift/donation).
Other details
You can keep building the record on your spreadsheet by observing all the details that you’ve noted down. Analyze these facts and find out what worked for your organization from the perspective of your staff, donors and volunteers. Focus on the overall vibe of your campaigns and the new element that you brought in this past year compared to the one before that. Your year end fundraising analysis can also go bigger on donor/volunteer feedback by creating a feedback form through which you’ll get to know their opinion regarding your fundraisers and last year’s activities.
All the details and data that you gather on your record can be used in various ways. It will lay a foundation on which you will build the next nonprofit fundraising year; the better your record, the stronger your strategies will be. With the sky as the limit, you can then begin setting new goals and work towards achieving them.
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Last modified: December 19, 2019
