Webinar Recap: Fundraising Metrics for Success

On June 15th, we welcomed our special guest, Jenny Mitchell, the Chief Visionary Officer at Chavender. Jenny has extensive knowledge in fundraising, and her nonprofit experience spans many sectors, including health, social services, arts and culture, science, community groups, and sports and recreation. During our Fundraising Metrics for Success Webinar, we touched on many important points pertaining to fundraising metrics. Continue reading below to learn 5 key takeaways from our chat with Jenny:

1: What are the trends occurring in the nonprofit space today?

With the pandemic being a big factor, Jenny says that the pace of change has accelerated with nonprofit organizations today. With this in mind, many organizations are forced to modernize and adjust their strategies; some examples include launching a new capital campaign, a new online program, or even a data transformation project. While it may seem uncomfortable to some people, Jenny finds these new ideas exciting, and emphasizes that we’re going to have to get comfortable with the quick pace of change in the industry.

Jenny also touches on the importance of digital transformation, and that it’s here to stay. The pandemic has shifted many organizations to an online format, and Jenny doesn’t think we’ll ever fully move back away from the online world. She explains that donors are starting to happily meet over Zoom, and that she’s excited to see charities trying new things, and also grabbing opportunities that are now available as a result of the online transitions.

2: How do you see the shift at the leadership level with the pandemic? What are the priorities?

Jenny is starting to see leaders in various organizations shift their mindsets to think more long-term, and are trying to amortize investments over a couple of years. Although there may be a considerable price tag attached, leaders are starting to see substantial results from their investments. She encourages us to shift our perspective; rather than asking how much it costs today, think about how much impact the revenue side will gain. Leaders are starting to finally see the correlation, and that it’s going to be a constant balance between cost to the bottom line versus return on investment.


Additionally, Jenny points out that people who don’t adapt to changes due to the pandemic are going to find themselves behind the curve. She says to adapt, organizations can’t stick their heads in the sand - they will have to try new strategies. Some tactics include inviting more people to the conversation, and reaching out to the resources within your circle. Jenny further explains that the information is usually out there, we just have to find it!

3: What are some of the professional metrics you’d suggest for nonprofit organizations?

A few key metrics that Jenny suggests tracking include revenue, donors at various levels, and long-time donors. For smaller organizations, she recommends noting how many donors you have in each tranche (for example, $1,000 and under, $1,000 to $5,000, $5000 to $25,000, etc.). Tracking long-time donors is also an effective approach, as this can give you insight into who truly supports your organization on a continual basis. Taking the time and effort to look into these details may help you in the long run. Jenny brings up the concept of “fishing in your own pond”. We always want to find the brand new donor somewhere else, when mostly, the donors that really matter are already in your “pond”. However, to effectively fish in your own pond, you need to know your own data. By keeping track of the metrics that are most important to your organization, you can get one step closer to finding those individuals who are truly loyal to your organization.

4: In a world where more and more data is being captured, and people can be stuck in analysis paralysis, what are your recommendations on how much data should be captured?

To boil this concept down, Jenny presents two more questions: what do you need, and how are you going to use that data to influence others? For the first question, Jenny expresses that imperfections are unavoidable. To beat analysis paralysis, we need to accept that things might be slightly imperfect, and just track a ballpark estimate of what is essential to our organization.

Next, to best leverage our data, we need to present it in a tactful way, while also tying it back to our initial strategy. By using this type of circular thinking, we can ensure that we’re tracking the data that’s actually consistent with our goals, while also making sure that our goals are supporting the data that we’re tracking. Jenny stresses that more information doesn’t mean more comprehension - it actually dilutes it. As a result, make sure that you give only the information you need to your stakeholders, and to always focus on your key points when presenting your data.

5: How do you cultivate a culture of metrics within a team or organization?

Within the conversation of culture, it’s important to breed a culture of accountability as well. Jenny says that in her experience, people who don’t embrace accountability are actually fearful of being accountable. She advises to figure out what metrics you want to track - start from a few, then work towards more at a later time. When referring to non-performing employees, Jenny says that you can convert them into goal-oriented and hardworking individuals with the right type of support and structures in place. She further says that at times, their inability to perform can come from a lack of understanding of the goals and metrics that they are being measured by.

Cultivating an environment where feedback is regularly provided, not only creates a culture of engagement and improvement, but your team members will also feel more passionate about the metrics that they set for themselves (as long as it’s relevant to your goals). If we are the only people that care about these specific metrics, reaching our goals by ourselves will undeniably be a very steep climb.

Thank you for reading our Fundraising Metrics for Success Webinar recap; we hope that you learned some nuggets of knowledge for your nonprofit organization! If you’d like to stay in touch with Jenny, you can visit Chavender’s website, and follow Jenny’s LinkedIn and Instagram. Our upcoming webinar will be a great segue from this one, as it will be about AI data analytics and fundraising - make sure to follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to stay updated! In addition, you can find a video recording of the webinar here. Both past and future webinars will also be featured on the Belmar YouTube channel, so subscribe to our channel to stay in the loop!