5 Ways to Test the “Fitness” of Your Fundraising Program

Your fundraising program is the lifeblood of your non-profit. Just like your own physical health, its fitness level plays a significant role in determining your organization's sustainability and ability to fulfill its mission. How do you test its fitness? What does a 'fit' fundraising program even look like? These questions are critical for non-profits to grapple with, so we have provided five actionable ways to test the maturity and effectiveness of your fundraising efforts.

1. Assess the Efficiency of Your Donor Onboarding Process

One of the most telling signs of a robust fundraising program is how quickly and effectively a donor is brought into the fold after their first donation, no matter how small. A healthy fundraising program swiftly acknowledges the donor's contribution, expresses gratitude, and makes them feel valued and welcomed to your organizational family. In addition, it should provide them with insights about how their donation is making a difference. To evaluate this, check how long it takes your organization to send a thank you note or acknowledgment after a donation is received. Aim for a turnaround time of 48 hours or less.

Further, measure the effectiveness of your onboarding communication. Is it personalized? Does it resonate with your donors, or does it feel like another generic thank you note? Personalized phone calls for the sole purpose of saying ‘thank you’ can also go a long way. Regularly review and refine your onboarding process based on feedback and results.

2. Monitor the Health of Donor Relationships

The strength of your donor relationships is an essential indicator of the fitness of your fundraising program. Just like how regular workouts are essential to maintaining your physical fitness, regular engagement with donors—through updates, newsletters, events, and other personalized communication—helps maintain and deepen these relationships. Similar to physical fitness, once you “fall off the wagon”, it will be much more difficult to try to bounce back to where you were before after a long break. Trying to restart the process from scratch is much more difficult than just being reasonably consistent in maintaining either kind of “fitness”. Track engagement levels by measuring metrics such as email open rates, event attendance, and response rates to surveys. A mature fundraising program maintains high engagement levels over time, indicating strong donor relationships.

3. Evaluate Your Fundraising Diversification

Depending solely on one source for your funds can be risky, especially if that source is primarily events which do not have a proven track record for success. A fit fundraising program is one that is diversified with multiple streams of revenue. While Major Gifts is where you want to devote the bulk of your time as a fundraiser (and will account for 80% or more of your revenue), other sources such as such as corporate partnerships, estate gifts, and even some grants can allow you to consistently bring in money from multiple areas. Assess the diversity of your funding sources and identify areas where you could potentially expand.

4. Review Your Donor Retention Rates

Donor retention is a key metric to measure the health of your fundraising efforts. A fit program not only attracts new donors but also manages to retain existing ones. High donor attrition can be a sign of issues in your donor engagement or communication strategies. Keep a close eye on your donor retention rates and investigate any significant changes.

5. Analyze the Impact of Your Fundraising Efforts

Lastly, consider the ultimate objective of your fundraising: to enable your non-profit to make a difference. Regularly measuring the impact of your programs and communicating this to your donors is an integral part of a fit fundraising program. You cannot achieve a goal you are not aiming at. Think of the process of becoming “fit”: Do you want to lose weight? Put on muscle? Be able to run a certain distance? All three of these goals require wildly different planning and benchmarks. Just as in fundraising, setting the right goals and measuring the effectiveness and impact of your results is critical for your fundraising success. This will also not only demonstrates transparency and accountability but also helps motivate donors to continue supporting your cause.

Testing the fitness of your fundraising program requires regular evaluation of your practices and outcomes. The process may seem daunting, but remember that like any fitness journey, the goal isn't overnight transformation—it's gradual improvement. By systematically assessing these areas, you can ensure your fundraising program remains robust, flexible, and ready to face any challenges that come your way.

Need more help assessing the “fitness” of your fundraising program? Schedule a call with us! We would be happy to get more information to get even more accurate and refined results of where your fundraising program is at.