Learn more about analytics and research best practices, as well as real world examples and solutions for nonprofits.

RECENT POSTS

Sep 30, 2014

We Don’t Have a Retention Problem Part 2

My last blog we talked about how we don’t have a retention problem, we have a generational communication problem.

This blog is going to introduce a new retention metric that we believe is more relevant than donor retention. It’s REVENUE retention.

It’s simply looking at how much revenue you retained from the previous year.

Here’s the same client we discussed in my previous blog, but comparing donor retention and revenue retention.

A mid 30 percent second year retention is pretty good.

But look at revenue retention! It’s over 50%. And really, isn‘t that the most important metric?

For this client, it means they are retaining the higher value donors. OK, obviously we want high retention. But if you are retaining over 50% of the revenue from your new donor class, you are doing great.

So add this as a metric of things you should start to track.


Top 5 Mistakes: #5 CRM Expectations

I have been analyzing the fundraising business for nearly three decades and over the years I keep seeing nonprofit organizations making the same mistakes. These errors hold organizations back. If you are new to fundraising, please commit yourself to avoiding these...

read more

One More Gift from Sustainers

I think we’d all agree that sustainers are great. Having a group of donors that have committed to giving every month is like money in the bank. And, not surprisingly, a lot of organizations are careful to limit additional appeals to this group so not to alienate any...

read more

Early Returns

We are knee-deep in analyzing last fall’s results. While there is of course some variation in results by organization, the general narrative is that last fall wasn’t great . . . but it wasn’t awful either. It was just OK. What we are seeing is that overall revenue was...

read more

ARCHIVES

© 2020 Analytical Ones