The board asks how fundraising is going. You spend three hours pulling numbers from spreadsheets, PayPal exports, and your accounting software. The totals don't quite match. You present something that's probably close and hope nobody asks follow-up questions.
Or you have fancy software with dashboards full of charts and numbers. You're not sure what any of them mean. You track everything and act on nothing.
Neither of these is useful.
Good fundraising reporting answers simple questions simply: Are we on track? Are we growing? What's working?
Five numbers that actually matter
You don't need 47 metrics. You need these five:
1. How much did we raise?
Total donations this month, this quarter, this year. Compare to the same period last year and to your goal.
This answers: "Are we on track?"
2. How many donors gave?
Count unique donors. Split them into first-time and returning.
New donors mean growth. Returning donors mean stability. If new acquisition drops, your pipeline is shrinking. If returning donors decline, you're losing people.
3. Average gift size
Total raised divided by number of donations.
If this trends up, donors are giving more. If it trends down, you're either attracting smaller gifts or losing major donors. Both are worth investigating.
4. Recurring revenue
How many donors give on a recurring schedule—weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual? What's the total?
This is your baseline. It's what you can count on before any campaigns. Growing recurring revenue creates stability.
5. Retention rate
Of donors who gave last year, how many gave again this year?
Industry average is around 45% for first-time donors and 60% for repeat donors. Low retention means you're working hard to find donors just to watch them leave.
That's it. Five numbers. If these are healthy, fundraising is healthy.
Reports for different people
Board reports
Board members need the big picture on one page:
- Total raised vs goal
- Donor count trend
- Top campaigns and their results
- One paragraph explaining what the numbers mean
Skip the details. Use charts sparingly. Make it scannable.
Day-to-day operations
Staff need actionable information:
- Donations received this week
- Failed recurring payments to follow up on
- Thank-you calls needed
- Upcoming campaign deadlines
Every item should suggest a next step.
Grant reports
Funders want specific data from specific time periods. Know what they need before you need to report. Build your tracking so grant reporting is a quick export, not a project.
Year-over-year matters more than month-over-month
December always beats February. One major gift can make a month look great (or terrible). Month-to-month comparisons are often misleading.
Compare December to last December. Q4 to last Q4. This year to last year. That tells you whether you're actually growing or just experiencing normal seasonal patterns.
Numbers that don't help
Some metrics look impressive but don't drive decisions:
Email open rates. Nice to know, but opens don't equal donations.
Social media followers. Large audience means nothing if they don't give.
Website traffic. Same problem. Visitors who don't donate don't help fundraising.
Total raised since founding. Great for a plaque. Useless for figuring out if you're on track.
If a number doesn't suggest an action when it changes, you probably don't need to track it.
Getting data out
Your donor software should let you export to spreadsheets and PDFs. If your data is trapped and you can't get it out easily, reporting becomes a fight.
Look for pre-built report templates so you're not recreating the same board report every month. Bonus if reports can be scheduled to arrive automatically.
The rhythm that works
Weekly: Quick operational check. Any problems? Any follow-ups needed?
Monthly: Performance review. How did we do? Are we on track for the quarter?
Quarterly: Trend analysis. How does this compare to last year? What's working?
Annually: Strategic review. What should we change? Where should we focus?
Stick to this schedule. Random checking creates anxiety without action.
The point
Fundraising reporting should take minutes, not hours. The answer to "how's fundraising going?" should be at your fingertips.
Track the five core metrics. Review them on a schedule. Act on what you learn.
More data isn't better. Better decisions from clear data is the goal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to common questions about this topic.
Focus on five things: total donations by period, donor count (new vs returning), average gift size, recurring revenue, and donor retention rate. These tell you whether fundraising is healthy.
Monthly for basic numbers (total raised, new donors). Quarterly for trends. Annually for bigger strategic questions. More frequent review usually just creates anxiety.
Good donor software lets you export to PDF or spreadsheet. Look for pre-built templates so you're not rebuilding the same report every month.
Industry average is around 45% for first-time donors and 60% for repeat donors. If you're above that, you're doing well. Below that, focus on keeping donors before finding new ones.
Written by
Matt Elliott
We help community organizations, recreation centers, and nonprofits streamline their operations with software built for how they actually work.
Related Guides
Donor Management Software for Nonprofits
What to look for in donor management software, what to ignore, and how to avoid the common mistakes we see organizations make.
Online Donation Forms That Work
What makes a donation form actually work. Recurring giving, processing fees, mobile, and why simple beats fancy.
Automatic Tax Receipts for Donations
How to stop generating tax receipts manually. What automatic receipts look like, CRA compliance requirements, and the setup that actually works.