{"id":29040,"date":"2022-01-12T11:05:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T16:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/?p=29040"},"modified":"2023-06-23T10:20:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T14:20:53","slug":"data-analytics-for-nonprofits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/data-analytics-for-nonprofits\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Data Analytics for Nonprofits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Once the hallmark of marketing professionals and financial analysts, data analysis has now infiltrated almost all aspects of our life from fitness trackers (got to make sure you get those steps in!) to the custom playlists created for us by Spotify (yep, they use data to figure out what similar songs you might like). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data analytics for nonprofits is just as valuable … and even more crucial. So why, exactly, is data so important to nonprofits? Donor data can help you understand your donors and reach new ones, set goals and track successes and ways to grow, and\u2014most importantly\u2014data can keep your nonprofit on track to fulfill your mission! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get started, let\u2019s go over some of the types of metrics your nonprofits can track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of\u00a0Data Analytics for Nonprofits\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Fundraising Metrics <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the most crucial data sets to keep an eye on are your fundraising metrics. After all, you can\u2019t support your mission without the funds needed to do so! Keeping track of metrics like donor acquisition costs and average donor gifts can help you stay on the right path, since sudden shifts can point you towards issues or even positives, like a large influx of monthly micro-donors that help your organization build a sustainable budget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other good metrics to track are donor retention rate<\/a>, matching gifts rate, percentage of recurring donors, total amount raised, percentage of major donors, and offline vs. online revenue. Donation source is another key metric; knowing if you\u2019re bringing in most of your donors through your website, social, or paid promotions can help you find more donors in the most cost-effective manner possible! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Social Media Metrics <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Social media posts were the #1 drivers of charitable giving<\/a> in 2020, and that\u2019s not likely to change any time soon. Tracking your social media metrics can make sure you\u2019re increasing both the reach and engagement for your posts, which helps you reach new supporters while keeping new supporters in the know and feeling appreciated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great social media metrics to track include your number of followers and\/or page likes, post engagement rate, post reach, and the click through rate on your posts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Fundraising Event Metrics <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fundraising event<\/a> metrics are extremely important, but often forgotten. After all, does you nonprofit really need to track the results from an event you only do once a year? Of course! How else can you make sure your event continues to improve and delight your supporters? Tracking year-over-year attendance–as well as percentages of new attendees and returning attendees\u2014will help you make sure your event remains popular with donors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For fundraising auctions, you can track additional metrics like income from your silent auction vs. your live auction, top paddle raise contributors, expected ticket sale income, and the results from revenue enhancers like raffles or other sub-events<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, peer-to-peer fundraising provides an opportunity to track additional metrics like top teams year-over-year, team fundraising averages, top individual fundraisers, and sign up timeframes (you\u2019ll learn the optimal time to start outreach to potential fundraisers!). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For any type of fundraising event, you\u2019ll want to track your percentage of returning sponsors, and the income expected from these corporate sponsorships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Email Marketing Metrics <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Email has the highest return on investment of any marketing channel, and keeping track of your email marketing metrics<\/a> is vital if you want to keep your email marketing campaigns effective.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll want to track the bounce rate\u2014or the percentage of people who didn\u2019t get your email\u2014as well as open rate, click-through rate, and the unsubscribe rate.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Paid Advertising Metrics <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If your nonprofit is spending your hard-earned donations on paid advertising, you certainly want to make sure you\u2019re getting the most bang for your donors\u2019 bucks. Even if you\u2019re involved in the Google Grants<\/a> program, you don\u2019t want to let that $10,000 monthly budget go to waste! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to make sure your ads are successful, you can track metrics like return on ad spend (otherwise known as ROAS), click-through rate, cost-per-click, and conversions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Website Metrics <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some of the most important metrics you can track are your nonprofit\u2019s website<\/a> metrics. These metrics help you track the success of your outreach programs and can help your nonprofit turn up the dial on donations. For example, if you\u2019re tracking your pageviews, sessions, and users, and those numbers start to decrease, you can look at your traffic sources and find the reason.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, I mentioned earlier that social media posts were the #1 driver of charitable contributions in 2020. Say this was true for your organization, but then you made some changes in your social media strategy and traffic to your donation form just dropped off. If you\u2019re tracking these metrics, you can notice issues and find the solution quickly \u2026 before they throw off your nonprofit\u2019s goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional important website metrics to track are new users, returning visitors, bounce rate, conversion rate, pages per visit, and your average session duration. These metrics will help you track not only whether or not your bringing in new supporters while keeping existing ones, but they\u2019ll also help you make sure your website is engaging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Track Your Fundraising Metrics\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ready to get started tracking your fundraising metrics? Great! There are lots of tools out there to help you do just that.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, if your website isn\u2019t set up with Google Analytics<\/a>, I\u2019d recommend\u00a0getting that tracking set up first, especially since the most\u00a0popular of\u00a0website tracking tools\u00a0is\u00a0completely\u00a0free<\/em>. I recommend taking this step first because Google Analytics is good, but not magical, meaning that it can\u2019t pull in historical data. The sooner you set up your analytics account, the sooner you can start tracking<\/a>!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, you can track fundraising metrics through your fundraising platform, your email marketing metrics through your email marketing platform \u2026 or you could look for integrations to help simplify all your tracking. Good integrations<\/a> can help you sync data between your fundraising platform, CRM, and email marketing tools, making reporting easier. From there, you just need to keep your data clean and you\u2019re nonprofit will be ready to track your data and grow! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nonprofit Analytics Glossary\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n