Donor Metrics®
Using the tool below requires running reports out of your data base. Be sure to select a group of donors (ex. those acquired through direct mail) and include all of their gifts to assure you have a complete picture of their giving history.
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Average Gift Amount
Total amount of gifts last year: $
Total number of gifts last year:
Average Gift Amount: $
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Average Gift Per Donor
Number of individual gifts last year:
Total amount of gifts last year: $
Average Gift Per Donor: $
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Average Number of Gifts Per Donor
Total number of gifts last year:
Number of individual donors last year:
Average Number of Gifts Per Donor:
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Average Response Rate
Number of responses for last year: The number of responses you obtained, not the number of responders.
Number of households solicited last year: This is not the number of touches (or mail pieces) but the number of households/prospects you have solicited.
Average Response Rate Per Household: %
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Retention Rate and Attrition Rate
Retention Rate
(sometimes called Renewal Rate) is the percent of donors who gave a gift one year and also give a gift the next year. It is important to know your donor retention rate as it indicates how passionate your donors are about your mission and how healthy your annual fundraising efforts are.
Nonprofits with a high donor retention rate have long-term supporters who come back year after year. Nonprofits with a low donor retention rate need to continually acquire new donors or larger gifts to keep up.
Attrition Rate
Attrition rate tells the percent of donors who give a gift one year and do not give a gift the next year. It is important to know your attrition rate so you know how many donors you need to replace annually to stop your donor file from shrinking.
Note: Retention and Attrition rates can be calculated for each fundraising activity of your organization individually to better understand the impact for each activity or the whole program.
Number of individual donors who gave two years ago:
How many of those donors gave last year:
Your Retention Rate: %
Your Attrition Rate: %
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Life Time Value
Life Time Value
This metric tells how much income your can expect from a particular group of donors; it is a measure of donor commitment. Knowing the Lifetime Value of a donor will help justify the investment you make in acquiring donors. Pull data from a specific time period for example 5 years of data.
If your Lifetime Value is high or increasing:
- Your donors likely stay with you for a long time. You are doing a good job of donor retention.
- Your average donor likely gives through more than one channel during her lifetime. You are doing a good job of multi-channel fundraising.
- Your typical donor likely increases the size of her gift over time. You are doing a good job of donor upgrading.
If your Life Time Value is low or decreasing:
- You may be attracting the wrong kinds of donors in acquisition (one-gift, low-dollar).
- You may be over soliciting, or under soliciting.
- You may be treating your donors as ATMs, by not stewarding them as valued donors.
Average gift amount: $
Average duration of giving: Export data by donor, include year of last gift and year of first gift. Then calculate duration by record
Average number of gifts per donor (per year):
Life Time Value:
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Annual Value Per Donor
Annual Value
Keeping costs to gain a new donor under the annual value is advisable to have a profitable donor in the future.
Life time value: $
Average duration of giving:
Average Annual Value Per Donor: $