15 fundraising performance metrics every nonprofit should track

Most nonprofits know how much they raised from their last fundraising event. But that total is only the starting line. It doesn’t explain what’s working, where donors are dropping off, or what your team should do next.

The right fundraising performance metrics—and meaningful benchmarks—turn your existing data into a clearer story for your team and board. Still, knowing which numbers to use and where to start can feel confusing, especially for small, time-stretched nonprofits.

This guide covers 15 nonprofit fundraising metrics, complete with formulas and benchmarks to help you track your progress with confidence. We’ve even included a free fundraising metrics tracker with a board-ready dashboard to make reporting easier than ever.

Key takeaways

• Tracking metrics removes the guesswork 🤔 Monitoring the right fundraising performance metrics helps you make efficient, data-backed decisions.
• Start with the most important metrics 🧮 If you can only track a few fundraising KPIs, prioritize donor retention rate, average gift size, cost per dollar raised, and recurring donor rate.
• Review benchmarks 🥅 Use relevant fundraising benchmarks to identify opportunities for improvement and growth.
• Track your metrics over time 📈 Review your metrics regularly to see how your fundraising performance evolves.
• Simplify board reporting 📋 Use our free fundraising metrics tracker to calculate all 15 KPIs and create a board-ready summary.
• Streamline reporting with Givebutter 🧈 Givebutter can help you organize fundraising data, view performance metrics, and generate progress reports.

Why fundraising performance metrics matter

Tracking your nonprofit fundraising metrics helps you show your board what’s working—not just how much you raised. It removes the guesswork from your fundraising strategy, helps you measure your organization’s health and fundraising ROI, and makes it easier to use your resources efficiently.

Reviewing your metrics against relevant benchmarks can also help you demonstrate progress, identify opportunities for improvement, and keep your team focused on its most important goals. In short, it’s a strategic way to move your nonprofit closer to long-term sustainability.

💡 Pro tip: With Givebutter Plus, you can turn raw data into board-ready visualizations and charts.

More to explore

Discover how to set a SMART fundraising goal →

15 fundraising performance metrics to track over time

The list below provides a roadmap for evaluating your fundraising performance and informing your strategy. We’ll explain what each metric measures, why it matters, and how to use it to make better fundraising decisions.

Use these fundraising benchmarks as a guide alongside your organization’s own results over time. Don’t get disheartened if you fall below a benchmark—even a little progress can make a big difference to your fundraising effectiveness.

💡 Pro tip: You don’t have to track all 15 metrics at once. Start with 2–3 KPIs, review them regularly, and add more as your fundraising priorities and strategy evolve.

1. Donor retention rate ❤️

Donor retention rate measures how many supporters continue giving from one year to the next.

📐 Formula: (Returning donors ÷ last year’s donors) × 100
🎯 Healthy benchmark: Recent Fundraising Effectiveness Project data puts overall retention at 43.3%, making about 45% a useful sector benchmark. A rate of 50% or higher is strong.
🌟 Why it matters: According to the Nonprofit Learning Lab, nonprofits spend an average of $0.20 per dollar raised to retain an existing donor, compared with $1.50 to acquire a new one.

More to explore

Keep donors coming back with the top donor retention strategies →

2. Average gift size 💵

Tracking average gift size over time helps you plan for dips and growth in total revenue. Plus, you can estimate how many new donors you’ll need to reach a particular fundraising goal.

📐 Formula: Total donation revenue ÷ number of gifts
🎯 Healthy benchmark: There’s no universal target—look for stability or steady growth over time.
🌟 Why it matters: Even a small increase in average gift size can have a big impact on total revenue. Healthy gift growth over time can give you more resources to invest in your mission and programming.

3. Cost per dollar raised (CPDR) 🪙

Cost per dollar raised measures how much you spend to raise each fundraising dollar.

📐 Formula: Total fundraising expenses ÷ total funds raised
🎯 Healthy benchmark: Aim for less than $0.25 per dollar raised.
🌟 Why it matters: Alongside fundraising ROI, cost per dollar raised helps you evaluate fundraising efficiency and keep campaigns on budget. A lower CPDR means more of every dollar raised can support your mission.

4. Donor acquisition rate 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Your donor acquisition rate measures the percentage of your donor base made up of first-time donors.

📐 Formula: (First-time donors ÷ total donors) × 100
🎯 Healthy benchmark: 50% or higher
🌟 Why it matters: Tracking your donor acquisition rate helps you measure growth and evaluate the success of your outreach strategy, so you can spot downward trends before they affect your revenue.

5. LYBUNT & SYBUNT 🗓️

LYBUNT and SYBUNT identify donors who gave last year but unfortunately not this year (LYBUNT) and donors who gave in a previous year but unfortunately not this year (SYBUNT). It’s easy for these supporters to slip away unnoticed—but doing so means potentially missing out on significant donations.

📐 Formulas:
LYBUNT donors = Last year’s donors − donors retained this year
SYBUNT donors = Donors who gave before last year but haven’t given this year

🎯 Healthy benchmark: There’s no universal benchmark—focus on maintaining a steady decrease over time.
🌟 Why it matters: Tracking LYBUNT and SYBUNT donors helps you target your donor reengagement strategies where they’re most likely to be effective, transforming lapsed donors into retained supporters.

Dive deeper

Learn how to find & reengage LYBUNT & SYBUNT donors →

6. Donor lifetime value (DLV) 👵

Donor lifetime value helps you estimate the total long-term revenue you’ll receive from each donor.

📐 Formula: Average gift × average gift frequency × average donor lifespan
🎯 Healthy benchmark: There’s no universal benchmark—focus on maintaining steady growth over time.
🌟 Why it matters: DLV helps you consider the full value of each donor instead of measuring their support based on one campaign or gift. Plus, it can help you identify key donor segments and decide how much to invest in donor acquisition and retention.

7. Recurring donor rate ♻️

Your recurring donor rate measures the percentage of active donors enrolled in a recurring giving plan.

📐 Formula: (Recurring donors ÷ total active donors) × 100
🎯 Healthy benchmark: 20% or higher
🌟 Why it matters: Your recurring donor rate is a key indicator of financial stability. Tracking recurring donations helps you spot changes in recurring support and gives you more predictable revenue to plan for the long term.

Build recurring support

Launch your monthly giving program in just a few steps →

8. Donor upgrade rate 🌟

Your donor upgrade rate measures the percentage of retained donors who increased their total giving compared with the previous year.

📐 Formula: (Retained donors who gave more this year ÷ total retained donors) × 100
🎯 Healthy benchmark: An upgrade rate of 10%–20% of retained donors is a solid target.
🌟 Why it matters: A higher upgrade rate shows supporters deepening their investment in your mission. Monitoring upgrades helps you create more targeted engagement opportunities and strengthen donor loyalty.

💡 Pro tip: Givebutter’s customizable donation forms make it easy for donors to change their contribution from a one-time gift to a recurring donation in just a few clicks.

9. Campaign conversion rate 💛

Campaign conversion rate measures the percentage of campaign-page visitors who complete a donation.

📐 Formula: (Campaign-page gifts ÷ campaign-page visitors) × 100
🎯 Healthy benchmark: There’s no universal benchmark—track and improve your conversion rate over time.
🌟 Why it matters: Campaign conversion rate helps you identify the campaigns that turn the most visitors into donors, so you can use your resources more efficiently.

10. Revenue per campaign 💸

Revenue per campaign helps you compare the average amount raised across your fundraising campaigns.

📐 Formula: Total campaign revenue ÷ number of campaigns
🎯 Healthy benchmark: There’s no universal benchmark—compare similar campaign types to identify your strongest formats.
🌟 Why it matters: Measuring revenue per campaign helps you identify your most successful approaches and determine which campaign types are most likely to support specific fundraising goals.

Make your data count

Use nonprofit analytics to raise more →

11. Online giving rate 💻

Your online giving rate tracks the percentage of donation revenue received online compared with other giving channels, such as in-person events or direct mail campaigns.

📐 Formula: (Online donation revenue ÷ total donation revenue) × 100
🎯 Healthy benchmark: There’s no universal benchmark—look for stability or steady growth over time.
🌟 Why it matters: Tracking your online giving rate helps you understand your donors’ payment preferences and determine how much to invest in your digital fundraising experience.

12. Major donor concentration 💰

Major donor concentration measures the percentage of total fundraising revenue that comes from your largest donors.

📐 Formula: (Revenue from your top 10 donors ÷ total fundraising revenue) × 100
🎯 Healthy benchmark: 70% or less
🌟 Why it matters: If your major donor concentration is high, your organization is at greater risk if one or two major givers lapse. Tracking this metric can help you diversify your revenue streams and minimize that risk.

13. Average time between first & second gift 🎁

The time between a donor’s first and second gifts can reveal whether a new supporter is developing into a long-term donor. NonProfit PRO recommends focusing your second-gift strategy within the first 90 days, while your organization is still fresh in the donor’s mind.

📐 Formula: Total days between first and second gifts ÷ donors who made a second gift
🎯 Healthy benchmark: 90 days or less
🌟 Why it matters: Tracking this stage of the donor life cycle helps you anticipate how many new donors are likely to stay invested. It can also help you time your outreach for when they may be most likely to give again.

14. Lapsed donor rate 👋

Think of your lapsed donor rate as the inverse of your donor retention rate. It shows the percentage of last year’s donors who didn’t give again this year.

📐 Formula: ((Last year’s donors − returning donors this year) ÷ last year’s donors) × 100
🎯 Healthy benchmark: 50% or less
🌟 Why it matters: A high lapsed donor rate signals that it’s time to ramp up your donor reengagement efforts.

Dive deeper

How to avoid donor ghosting: Do’s & don’ts for nonprofits →

15. Average net revenue per fundraising event 🎉

This metric measures how much net revenue each fundraising event generates after costs.

📐 Formula: (Total event revenue − total event costs) ÷ number of events
🎯 Healthy benchmark: There’s no universal benchmark—look for steady or increasing net revenue per event.
🌟 Why it matters: Measuring net revenue per event helps you identify your most successful events, budget for future fundraisers, and make smarter decisions about which events to repeat.

Report your impact

Turn your results into a compelling nonprofit annual report →

Download your free fundraising metrics tracker

Ready to put these fundraising metrics into action? Our free fundraising metrics tracker does the math for you. Enter your nonprofit’s data to automatically calculate all 15 KPIs, compare your results with helpful benchmarks, and create a board-ready summary of your wins, priorities, and next steps.

Freebie alert!

Download your free fundraising metrics tracker →

Track your fundraising performance metrics with Givebutter

You don’t need to start with all 15 metrics. Begin with four key KPIs, review them over time, and add more as your strategy grows. Even a few small changes based on your data can have a major impact on your organization’s long-term financial stability.

Givebutter is an all-in-one fundraising platform and CRM that takes the heavy lifting out of data tracking. Its free core tools make it easy to view transaction data, create donor segments, access campaign reports, and export your data across fundraising campaigns and events. With Givebutter Plus, you can also create charts and visualizations, save report configurations, and uncover even deeper donor insights.

Sign up for a free Givebutter account and start turning your fundraising data into smarter decisions.

FAQs about fundraising performance metrics

What are the most important fundraising metrics to track?

Donor retention rate, average gift size, cost per dollar raised, and recurring donor rate provide a strong picture of your financial health. If your team only has the bandwidth to track a few metrics, start with these before branching out to KPIs like lapsed donor rate or revenue per campaign.

How often should nonprofits review fundraising metrics?

Review your core fundraising metrics monthly or quarterly, as well as after major campaigns and events. Comparing results over time will help you identify meaningful trends and give your board a clearer picture of your fundraising performance.

Do I need special software to track fundraising metrics?

No. You can start with a spreadsheet or a free fundraising metrics tracker. However, the right CRM makes it easier to keep donor, campaign, event, major gift, and recurring donation data organized in one place.

Givebutter’s free fundraising platform and CRM help you organize and export your data. With Givebutter Plus, you can also generate reports and save report configurations to monitor trends over time.