The Urban Institute Fundraising Effectiveness Project AFG 11 th Annual National Conference on Association Foundations and Fundraising May 9, 2013 Elizabeth T. Boris, Ph.D., Director Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy The Urban Institute

Fundraising Effectiveness Project FEP Helping nonprofit organizations measure, compare, and maximize their annual growth in giving

The Urban Institute Project Founding Sponsors Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at The Urban Institute

The Urban Institute AFP Donor Software Workgroup DonorPerfect Fundraising Software eTapestry (Blackbaud) GiftWorks (Mission Research) Metafile MatchMaker FundRaising Software PhilanthrAppeal (FundTrack Software) The Raiser’s Edge ® (Blackbaud) ROI Solutions Sage Software Telisma Fundraising/ Campus Management Corporation Telosa Software (Exceed!)

The Urban Institute For every $100 gained in 2011, almost $100 was lost Basic Fundraising Effectiveness Project concept: Growth in giving is the net of gains minus losses $Millions

The Urban Institute Gain/Loss Growth in Number of Donors For every 100 donors gained in 2011, 107 donors were lost

The Urban Institute Donor Retention By Overall Retention Rate ( )

The Urban Institute Overall Donor Retention Rates ( through )

The Urban Institute New and Repeat Donor Retention Rates ( )

The Urban Institute Key Finding on Donor Retention: According to Adrian Sargeant, improving donor retention by 10% can improve “lifetime value” between 150 and 200%. Dr. Sargeant defines “lifetime value” as “a measure of how much a donor will be worth to an organization over the duration of the relationship.”

The Urban Institute Only three fields for each gift transaction o Donor ID (anonomous) o Date of gift o Amount of gift 14 donor software firms have agreed in principle o Their combined clients are over 50,000 o Database to be housed at The Urban Institute Extensive growth-in-giving research possibilities Significantly Expanded Research Possibilities With the new gift-transaction data collection strategy

The Urban Institute Trends over time Gift ranges Size (total amount raised, total revenue) Nonprofit subsector (arts, education, etc.) Region (based on first digit of zip code) Age of fundraising program Rate of growth (dollars and donors) Performance indicators can be reported according to:

The Urban Institute What is the potential for giving in the United States in terms of percentage of GDP? More than the current two percent? What are the barriers that for more than 40 years have stood in the way of contributions achieving a higher share of GDP? What factors influence growth in giving? Can investing more money in fundraising result in corresponding increases in charitable giving? If so, how much investment would be necessary to move giving up to three percent of GDP or more? How much would the nonprofit sector need to invest in fundraising to reach its potential of X percent of GDP? Growth-in-Giving Research Questions Goal: To increase giving as a percentage of GDP beyond two percent

The Urban Institute Growing Future Donors and other research questions…

The Urban Institute Resources on Donor Attrition and Donor Retention: Tom Ahem and Simone Joyaux, Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications and Stronger Relationships, AFP Fund Development Series, John Wiley & Sons, Joshua M. Birholz, Fundraising Analytics, John Wiley & Sons, Penelope Burke, Donor-Centered Fundraising, Burk & Associates, Ltd./Cygnus Applied Research, Ken Burnett, Relationship Fundraising: A Donor-Based Approach to the Business of Raising Money, 2nd Addition, Jossey-Bass, Adrian Sargeant, Elaine Jay, Building Donor Loyalty: The Fundraiser’s Guide to Increasing Lifetime Value, Jossey-Bass, 2004

Elizabeth Boris, Ph.D., Director Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy The Urban Institute If you would like to learn more or would like to consider participating in the new FEP Analytics Initiative, contact Bill Levis,