Sharpening Your Fundraising Through Comparison
You might be small, but you can learn from 'the big guys'
Target Analytics divides the 80 nonprofits it studies into eight verticals (health, animal welfare, for example). If you fall into one of these verticals, you'll see trends of what nonprofits doing similar work are experiencing. While you won't be given specifics by agency, you can measure your own performance against your vertical and use this to help you select the one or two things you want to focus on for the next quarter or year. For example, according to Target Analytics, for environmental groups "reactivation rates rose significantly for the sector in the first half of 2011." If you're an environmental group, are your reactivation rates on the rise? If not, what kinds of strategies can you put in place to make this a priority for improvement?
Pamela Barden is an independent fundraising consultant focused on direct response. You can read more of her fundraising columns here.
