Metrics That Matter: Your Development Dashboard
Five numbers that predict your year, one dashboard your board will read, and the discipline to ignore the rest.
Through the Faith-Based lens
Retention in a congregation tracks attendance as much as giving, so a family that quietly stops coming often stops giving in the same season, and the two signals arrive together if you are watching. A parish rarely has a formal major-gift pipeline, so the forward-looking fifth number is better read as net revenue per giving household than as a pipeline dollar figure built for a shop that has none.
Continuing education
1.25 points · non-fundraising
Leadership and Management · Current and Prospective Donor Research
Learning objectives
- State the five numbers that predict a development year, donor retention rate, active donors, average gift, gifts per donor per year, and one forward-looking pipeline or net-revenue-per-donor figure, and explain why total raised is the wrong headline.
- Build a one-page dashboard in a spreadsheet that shows each of the five with year-to-date, same point last year, and a trend arrow, and update it in thirty minutes on the same day each month.
- Report to a board by leading with the plain-language read, naming a bad month in the first sentence, and attaching a correction with an owner and a date.
- Forecast next year's revenue by projecting the retained base from retention and average gift, banding each addition as conservative, likely, and optimistic, and stress-testing retention two points in either direction.
Designed for CFRE continuing education. Not yet accepted; no CFRE points can be claimed.
Lessons
- 19 minStart →
Video lesson
The five numbers that predict your year
II See · Current and Prospective Donor Research
- 20 minStart →
Template· XLSX
Development dashboard template
II See · Leadership and Management
- 16 minStart →
Field guide· PDF
Reporting to the board without spin
VII Multiply · Leadership and Management
- 22 minStart →
Worksheet· XLSX
Forecasting for small shops
III Discern · Leadership and Management
Each lesson opens on its own page. Complete written lessons are available now. Downloadable editions open as each one clears review, and video editions follow.
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