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 Human Services lens
In a shop this small, the five numbers are close to the whole picture, and a rising average gift is usually the first honest sign that major-donor cultivation has finally started, not just a lucky year. With almost no acquisition budget, retention is close to the entire growth strategy, and the forward number is nearly always net revenue per donor rather than a formal pipeline this stage of shop has not yet built.
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.
More in this stage
Major & Principal Gifts
Building a Major Gifts Portfolio
Move from reactive asks to a managed portfolio: qualification, moves management, and a caseload you can defend.
Donor Communications & Stewardship
The Case for Support That Writes Itself
One master case document that powers every appeal, proposal, and conversation, built from your mission's real evidence.
Annual Giving & Direct Response
Annual Giving Systems: Calendar & Segmentation
Graduate from one-off appeals to a segmented, scheduled program with lapsed-donor recovery built in.