1. Shining a Spotlight on the Growth in Giving Initiative and
the Human Services Sector
May 1, 2017
Nathan Dietz, PhD
Aggie Sweeney, CFRE
Erik J. Daubert, MBA, ACFRE

2. THIS PRESENTATION WILL BE UPDATED WITH NEW RESEARCH
BETWEEN NOW AND THE CONFERENCE!

3. Thanks for Joining Us! Erik J. Daubert, MBA, ACFRE Nathan Dietz, PhD
Aggie Sweeney, MPA, CFRE

4. Erik J. Daubert, MBA, ACFRE
Chair, Growth in Giving Initiative and Fundraising Effectiveness Project
Chair, AFP Research Council
Affiliated Scholar, Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute
Past-Chair, ACFRE Certification Board
Director, Fund Development Partnerships, YMCA of the USA
Instructor, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, LaGrange College

5. SESSION Goals www.afpfep.org
Understand what the Growth in Giving Initiative and Fundraising Effectiveness Project are and how they can help your organization make more strategic decisions when working a fund development plan
Understand how data is utilized in understanding trends in the Human Services sector and what some of these latest trends are
See and understand some case studies on how organizations are taking what they have learned and changing the way they raise money!
Erik

6. Growth in Giving Initiative: Organizational Sponsors
ERIK – please review if these are the right logos to include. Suggest others or ones to delete.

7. What is the Growth in Giving Initiative?
A set of charitable giving research projects involving many nonprofit and for profit partners.
Goal: understand and challenge the United States philanthropic sector to provide more resources to nonprofit organizations working to better serve our world.
ERIK

8. What is the Growth in Giving Initiative?
A set of charitable giving research projects involving many nonprofit and for profit partners.
Fundraising Fitness Test
Fundraising Analytics
Research
Database
Indices
Training & Education
Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP)
ERIK
Training and Education includes “Planning to Keep Your Donors” Workshop
More!

9. What is the FEP? Helps nonprofit organizations
measure and compare their
annual growth in contributions
by gains and losses in giving
Improving Retention: Nonprofits increase net growth in giving by maximizing their gains and minimizing their losses.

10. Metrics “Game Changers”
Billy Beane revolutionized metrics in baseball by looking at statistics as they pertained to players and finding “bargains” in players that others missed to build a high performing baseball team with little money.
Pic 1:
Pic 2:
Billy Beane, GM & minority owner of the Oakland As
Sabermetrics
Moneyball

11. Metrics “Game Changers”
Nate Silver, Statistician
Baseball Prospectus
Political Election Forecasting
Nate Silver – in his November 2008 presidential election predictions—correctly predicted the winner of 49 of the 50 states—won Silver further attention and commendation. The only state he missed was Indiana, which went for Barack Obama by one percentage point. He also correctly predicted the winner of all 35 U.S. Senate races that year – all using statistics and metrics based information.
Blog FIVE THIRTY EIGHT (538) . COM

12. What can we learn from Billy and Nate?
Erik

13. A Fundraising Metrics “Game Changer”
Bill Levis, Data Expert
Fundraising Fitness Test Creator
Founder, National Center for Charitable Statistics
Bill Levis is one of the creators of the original Form 990, founder of the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS)

14. Fundraising Metrics

15. How Do Many of Us Look at Fundraising Metrics?
Did We Make Our Goal of $X?
Is My CEO Content?
Is Our Board Satisfied?
Are the Budget Needs Fulfilled?
Is Our Mission Being Fulfilled (Enough?!)?
Other?

16. What is The Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP)?
Gains
Losses
Net

17. Gain vs. loss Gain 2014 2015 New No gift, no prior gifts Gift
Recaptured
No gift, but gift prior to 2013
Upgrade
Larger Gift!
Loss
2014
2015
Downgrade
Gift
Smaller gift
Lapsed New
Gift (AND they were new!)
No gift
Lapsed Repeat
Gift, and gifts prior to 2013

18. Gain vs. Loss Ratios $ Raised with percentage change from 2014 to 2015
262,290
+14.6%
New
267,135
+14.8%
Recapture
220,715
+12.3%
Upgrade
GAINS
750,140
+41.7%
(186,682)
-10.4%
Downgrade
(241,008)
-13.4%
Lapse New
(639,624)
-35.5%
Lapse Repeat
LOSSES
(1,067,314)
-59.3%
NET
$ Raised
(317,174)
-17.6%

19. What is the Fundraising Fitness Test?
The Fundraising Fitness Test is a tool that nonprofit organizations can use for free that enables them to understand and monitor their philanthropic metrics.
It works with any software and relies on only the most basic data to operate.
It is free and AFP wants you to use it!

20. How does the Fundraising Fitness Test work?
This slide shows FOUR fields…this nonprofit wanted to analyze only Annual Campaign information so they added a fourth field when they pulled their data from their database. It is shown here only to exemplify how this can be done for campaigns or for overall fundraising in a given period of time.
| PRESENTATION TITLE HERE | ©2011 YMCA of the USA

21. Fundraising Effectiveness Project: Fundraising Fitness Test
150+ Performance Indicators derived from 3 data inputs: donor ID#, gift date, gift amount
Allows organizations to use hard data rather than self-reported survey
All cash and pledge PAYMENTS – NO UNPAID PLEDGES!
Instructions to submit your data file are available at:

22. What does it tell us?

23. EXERCISE INSERTED HERE

24. Donors and Dollars…and Focus!

25. A Few Key Areas of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project…
Donor Acquisition
Donor Retention
Gift Retention
Upgrades
Downgrades
Lapsed Donors

26. Key Results: 2016 FEP Survey Report
Larger nonprofits perform much better than smaller ones
New gifts/donors generate the largest growth in gift dollars/donors
Downgraded and Lapsed new gifts/donors represent the greatest losses in gift dollars/donors for lowest performing organizations

27. How can my organization run the Fitness Test?

28. It is simple to use and FREE at AFP!
Download the Fitness Test at:
2. Follow instructions on the site and use the information to compare your organization…to yourself!
Remember, the ,most important benchmark…is your own nonprofit, but you can also compare with others through the FEP Reports!

29. Prepare your own Fundraising fitness test at www. afpfep
Prepare your own Fundraising fitness test at and compare with benchmarks at Thank you!

30. Nathan Dietz, PhD University of Maryland, Do Good Institute
Senior Research Associate, Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute
Member, AFP Research Council

31. Figure 1: Increase in Participating Organizations, Growth in Giving Initiative

32. Figure 2: Overall Growth in Giving HSOs Compared to Other Nonprofits , 2005-2015

33. Figure 3: Overall Growth in Giving, HSOs Compared to Other Nonprofits, 2005-2015 (Panel Data Only)

34. Figure 4: Number of Contributions HSOs Compared to Other Nonprofits , 2005-2015

35. Figure 5: Number of Donors HSOs Compared to Other Nonprofits , 2005-2015

36. Figure 6: Contributions per Donor HSOs Compared to Other Nonprofits, 2005-2015

37. Figure 7: Donors per Organization HSOs Compared to Other Nonprofits, 2005-2015

38. Figure 8: Dollars Contributed per Organization HSOs Compared to Other Nonprofits, 2005-2015

39. Figure 9: Overall Retention Rate HSOs Compared to Other Nonprofits, 2005-2015

40. Figure 10: Donor Retention Rate HSOs by Gift Size, 2005-2015

41. Figure 11: Repeat Donor Retention Rate HSOs Compared to Other Nonprofits, 2005-2015

42. Figure 12: Repeat Donor Retention Rate HSOs by Gift Size, 2005-2015

43. Figure 13: Lapsed Donor Rate HSOs Compared to Other Nonprofits, 2005-2015

44. Figure 14: Lapsed Donor Rate HSOs by Gift Size, 2005-2015

45. Figure 15: Retention Rate by Total Contributions Received, HSOs, 2005-2015

46. Figure 16: New Donor Acquisition Rate HSOs Compared to Other Nonprofits , 2006-2015

47. Figure 17: New Donor Acquisition Rate by Total Contributions Received, HSOs, 2006-2015

48. Figure 18: Percentage of Donations Received by Month, 2015

49. Figure 19: Percentage of Donations Received by Month, 2008

50. Benchmarking for Human Services
How do you compare?
July 27, 2016
NOREA

51. Aggie Sweeney, CFRE Senior Counsel, Campbell and Company
Chair, Giving USA Foundation
40 years working in and providing counsel to human services organizations
Based on the left coast!

52. From Research to Application
What we know about giving to HSO
Comparisons for small, mid-sized, and large fundraising programs
Recommendations for improving your organization’s results
AGGIE

53. 2015 contributions: $ billion by type of recipient organization (in billions of dollars – all figures are rounded)
AGGIE
Religious organizations received the largest share of charitable dollars in 2015, at 32 percent of the total.4
The education subsector received the second-largest share of charitable dollars in 2015, at 15 percent of the total.
Human services organizations received 12 percent of total charitable dollars in 2015, ranking third of total gifts received.
Gifts to independent, community, and operating grantmaking foundations amounted to the fourth-largest share of charitable dollars in 2015, with 11 percent of the total.
The health subsector received the fifth-largest share of charitable dollars in 2015, at 8 percent of the total.
Public-society benefit organizations received 7 percent of total charitable dollars in 2015, ranking sixth of total gifts received.
The arts, culture, and humanities subsector received the seventh-largest portion of charitable dollars in 2015, at 5 percent of the total.
Gifts to the international affairs subsector amounted to the eighth-largest share of charitable dollars in 2015, with 4 percent of the total.
Environment/animals organizations received 3 percent of total charitable dollars in 2015, ranking ninth of total gifts received.
Gifts made directly to individuals amounted to 2 percent of total charitable dollars in 2015.

54. Giving to human services, 19752015 (in billions of dollars)
AGGIE
Contributions to the human services subsector comprised 12 percent of all donations received by charities in
Giving to human services organizations grew 4.2 percent in 2015, totaling $45.21 billion. Adjusted for inflation, giving to human services increased 4.1 percent between 2014 and 2015.
Contributions to human services in 2015 totaled the highest inflation-adjusted amount recorded to date.
More human services organizations reported increases in giving in 2015 than in In addition, more human services organizations reported increases in giving than did the percentage of charitable organizations overall.42
Human services organizations analyzed by the Blackbaud Index saw a greater increase in online giving than giving received through all types of channels combined. Charitable receipts received in 2015 by this subsector increased the most during late summer, as compared with

55. Philanthropy 400 List for 2015 Rank Organization Contributions #2
United Way Worldwide
$3.71 billion, -4.2% #3
Feeding America
$2.15 billion, +6.6% #5
Catholic Charities USA
$2.01 billion, -4.2% #6
Salvation Army
$1.90 billion, -10%
#12
The Y
$1.20 billion, +28.6%
#13
Food for the Poor
$1.16 billion, +27.3%
AGGIE
Includes affiliates for each category
Share how Erik is Director of Fund Development Partnership for YMCA of the US
2015 was the first year that Fidelity Charitable was #1, and the first time that United Way lost that distinction

56. Let’s Hear Your Pain Points…
What are you interested in learning:
How to increase your average gift size?
Tips for increasing donor retention?
Successful acquisition strategies?
How your program compares to other organizations?
NOREA
Under $1,000,000
$1,000,000 - $2,499,999
$2,500,000 and up

57. Growth in Giving Initiative
AGGIE
Will start this and then turn it over to Erik for more background
For 30% off all Giving USA products, enter our firm’s special code: give4

58. 4 Benchmarks to compare your results to other human services organizations
Annual amount contributed per donor
Retention rate by gift size
Retention rate by size of giving program
Aggie
New donor acquisition rate by size of giving program

59. Annual Amount Contributed per Donor
Erik
Annual giving per donor in 2015: $1,000, up from just under $600 ($586) in 2005; 70.7% increase
Most organizations are not focusing enough on upgrading their donors

60. From the field…
AGGIE
FareStart story, implemented giving club of $1000 up, helped increase average amount as well as retention rate. Responding to annual gala attendees.
KATE
Food Lifeline

61. Retention Rate by Gift Size
Erik
Annual giving per donor in 2015: $1,000, up from just under $600 ($586) in 2005; 70.7% increase

62. From the field…
ERIK
larger gift amount = larger retention rate. Story: huge drop off when donations are under $250. Weren’t writing thank you notes to under $250. Changed practice and increased rate by 10% for under $250 group.
Data from fundraising effectiveness project
AGGIE and KATE – consider other examples to share
AGGIE can bring in YMCA example, unless Erik wants to cover that. Also, focus on stewardship and levels that constitute a major gift in various organizations (generally $500 - $5,000 in HSO)
KATE - ???

63. Retention Rate by Size of Giving Program
Erik

64. From the field…
AGGIE

65. New Donor Acquisition Rate by Size of Giving Program
ERIK
During recession, orgs weren’t confident about investing in acquisition strategies. Uptick in donor acquisition in last two years. Combination of donor and nonprofit confidence.

66. From the field…
FamilyWorks: Person to Person FamilyWorks bank story. Best-kept secret. Community Art Walk. Yes, We Can Canned Food Drive.
AGGIE:
Hopelink, marketing strategy, giving day.
ERIK:
AHP study on size and maturity of program, relationship to retention

67. How can human services improve giving results?
Annual amount contributed per donor
Retention rate by gift size
Retention rate by size of giving program
Tie back to 4 benchmarks
Fundraising fitness test plug
Can we also add a plug for asking software vendors to particpate in the GiG Initiative?
New donor acquisition rate by size of giving program

68. Your Turn!

69. t Thank You and Contact Us. Aggie Sweeney, MPA, CFRE aggie
t Thank You and Contact Us! Aggie Sweeney, MPA, CFRE Erik J. Daubert, MBA, ACFRE Nathan Dietz, PhD