1. Community Reach
Are more and more people hearing about your cause and connecting with your organization each year?
Evaluating community reach – across social media, your email list, your volunteer and donor base, etc. - can help you not only get a sense of whether you’re successfully getting the word out, but what your future fundraising potential might be.
That’s because most of your donations are going to come from people with whom you’ve already connected and built some trust with (rather than complete strangers).
People have to feel like they know your cause to contribute to your cause.
And since only a small portion of your entire audience might donate every year, understanding how you’re expanding your reach can help you assess your capacity to meet your fundraising goals.
Take a look at:
- Social media growth since last year
- Email list subscriber growth since last year
- Volunteer and Donor base growth since last year
And if you’re worried your reach has stalled out, focus on making your website, content, and initiatives easier to find and connect to. Oftentimes, growth doesn’t stall because people aren’t interested. It stalls because new people aren’t finding clear ways to get involved.
For example, if your email list hasn’t grown much over the past six months, it’s worth asking how someone would actually discover your work or where they’re being invited to sign up. Is there a clear email list sign up on your website? Are you inviting people to join for updates on your social media?
Don’t expect people to work too hard to figure out how to connect with you - make it as easy as possible!
Growing your audience matters because it expands the number of people who could eventually become donors, volunteers, ambassadors, partners, or champions for your cause.
But reach alone isn’t enough.
A growing audience only becomes future fundraising capacity if people are actually paying attention, responding, participating, and staying connected over time.
That brings us to the next two metrics.
2. Donor and Community Engagement
A growing audience is a good sign, but it only matters if people are doing things (even small things).
Engagement helps you understand whether your community is moving from awareness to action. Are people opening your emails? Clicking your links? Replying to your questions? Sharing your posts? Signing up to volunteer or attend events?
These actions may not be donations yet, but they are signs that people are paying attention, building trust, and moving closer to your mission.
You want to take a look at:
- Email open and click rates
- Replies, comments, shares, or direct messages
- Volunteer sign-ups or event registrations
- Number of people taking a “next step” after hearing from you
Let me be clear: The goal isn’t to chase vanity metrics. A post with lots of likes does not automatically mean you’re building fundraising capacity.
Instead, look for signs that people are moving towards deeper levels of support::
Follower → email subscriber
Email subscriber → volunteer or donor
Donor → recurring donor
Supporter → advocate
And if engagement feels low, don’t just post more. Make your invitations more clear.
Instead of only saying, “Here’s what we’ve been up to,” try asking people to do one simple thing: reply to a question, click to read a story, forward the email, sign up for a shift, or attend a short update.
People are more likely to engage when the next step is clear, simple, and meaningful.
3. Donor Retention
The third metric to look at is donor retention.
In plain language: How many of your donors are coming back to give again?
This is one of the clearest signs of whether your fundraising system is building relationships — or just constantly chasing new people.
New donors matter. But if most donors give once and disappear, your organization has to work much harder every year just to replace the support it already had.
Some reports say only about 14-19% of first time donors give again.
But if you can inspire a second donation – that donors’ likelihood of giving again after that could triple!
Take a look at:
- How many donors gave last year and gave again this year
- How many first-time donors made a second gift
- How many monthly donors are still active
- How quickly donors hear from you after making a gift
If retention is low, start by improving what happens after someone gives:
Send a warm thank-you. Share one specific thing their gift helped make possible. Invite them into another connection point, like a volunteer opportunity, update, event, or behind-the-scenes look.
You don’t need a complicated process or big budget to do this well. Just a simple plan that helps donors feel NOT like they just bought something on the internet - but like they joined something that matters.
Try it this week 🚀
Think about: Which part of your future fundraising capacity feels weakest right now?
If reach is weak, focus on visibility.
If engagement is weak, focus on clearer invitations.
If retention is weak, focus on stewardship.
