The One-Page Board Fundraising Report

What should a board fundraising report include?

Six numbers. Each one is there because the board can do something about it.

1. Contributed revenue against goal. How much has come in so far this year, next to the goal and next to the same point last year. The board approved this number. Put it first.
2. Donor retention. Of the people who gave last year, how many have given again this year. This is the number most reports leave off, and it is the one that predicts next year. A new donor costs more to find than an old donor costs to keep. If retention slips, the goal gets harder every year, no matter how good the gala was. Renewal deserves its own plan. More on that in "Renewal is its own campaign".

   Reporting subscriber renewal instead? Use the one-page subscription renewal report.

3. New donors. How many people gave for the first time this period. Retention shows the leak. New donors show what is filling it.
4. Major gifts closed and in the pipeline. The dollars from your largest gifts that are signed, and the dollars still being asked for, with a date for each ask. For most organizations, a small number of gifts decides the year. The board should see them by name in a closed session or by total in the open report.
5. Pledges and grants still to collect. Money promised but not yet in the bank. This keeps the revenue number honest and tells the finance committee what to expect and when.
6. Board giving and board asks. The share of board members who have made their own gift this year, and the number of asks or introductions board members have made.

That is the list. If a seventh number earns a spot for your organization, add it. But every number you add makes the other six easier to skip.

What to include on a nonprofit board dashboard

Here is the template above, line by line.

Contributed revenue: pace against the goal and last year, not just a total.

Donor retention: last year's donors who gave again, with the next renewal step in the Note column.

New donors: a count, and where most came from.

Major gifts closed and in pipeline: signed dollars, then open asks added up. Ask dates stay in the staff report.

Pledges and grants: what is promised and when it should arrive.

Board giving: members who have given, their asks and introductions, and who follows up.

Keep each note to one line that says what happens next. If the page runs to a second page, something on it belongs in a staff report.

Which fundraising KPIs does the board need?

You can calculate every one of these from your own donor database. You do not need outside benchmarks. The most useful comparison is your organization against itself, same period last year.

Contributed revenue to date. Add up all gifts received from the start of the fiscal year to the report date. Leave out earned revenue like tickets and tuition. Compare it to the budget goal and to the same date last year.

Donor retention rate. Count the donors who gave in the last fiscal year. Of those, count how many have given again this fiscal year. Divide the second number by the first. Run it at the same point each year so the comparison is fair.

New donors. Count the donors whose first gift ever falls in this period. Pull it from first gift date, not from who is new to a mailing list.

Major gifts closed. Pick the gift size your organization calls a major gift and keep it the same all year. Add up the gifts at or above that size received or signed this year, and count them.

Major gift pipeline. List every open ask at that size, with the amount and the planned ask date. Add up the amounts. An ask with no date is not in the pipeline yet.

Pledges and grants receivable. Add up all signed pledges and awarded grants not yet paid. Your finance office should already track this. Use their number so the two reports agree.

Board giving participation. Count the board members who have made a personal gift this fiscal year. Divide by the number of board members. For asks and introductions, count each time a board member asked someone for a gift or introduced a new prospect to staff this period.

One rule for all of them: define each number once, write the definition in the staff notes, and do not change it mid-year. A KPI that changes its definition is a story, not a measure.

What to cut

This is where most board reports go wrong. They are not too short. They are too full. Here is what to take out, and why.

Activity counts. Number of emails sent. Number of letters mailed. Number of donor meetings. Number of social posts. Number of events held. These show that staff are busy. They do not show if the work is paying off, and the board cannot act on them. If 4,000 letters went out, the board needs to know what came back, not how many stamps you bought. Cut the count. Keep the result.

Vanity totals. Total names in the database. Total email subscribers. Total followers. Total event attendance. Big numbers that grow every year and say little. A list of 20,000 names with falling retention is worse news than a list of 8,000 that renews. If you want to track how subscribers become donors, that is a staff measure.

Gross event revenue on its own. A gala that grossed a large number but cost most of it to put on is not the same as a gala that netted it. If an event stays on the page, show what it netted. Better yet, fold the net into contributed revenue and drop the event line.

Every gift, listed. The board does not need a list of each gift received since the last meeting. Thank-you notes are a staff job. The board needs the total, the big ones, and who they should thank personally.

Percent changes with no base. "Online giving up 40%" means nothing if it went from a small number to a slightly less small number. Show the dollars. Let the board do the math if they want it.

Numbers nobody owns. If no one on staff or the board can say what they would do if a number went up or down, it does not belong on the page.

Narrative paragraphs. Stories about the fall show belong in the newsletter. On the board report, they push the numbers to page two.

Here is a fast test. For each line, ask: if this number were bad, what would the board do? If the answer is "nothing," cut it. If the answer is "ask staff to explain," it is probably a staff report item. If the answer is "make calls, approve money, change the plan," keep it.

Cutting is not hiding. Put everything you cut in the staff report, and tell the board where it lives. The ones who want detail can find it. The rest can spend the meeting on decisions.

How to report fundraising to the board

When it goes out. Send the one page with the board packet, at least a few days before the meeting. Same format every time. Board members should be able to find the retention line without hunting for it. If your board meets less often than monthly, send a short email update between meetings with just the first two numbers.

Who presents it. The development committee chair presents it, with the development director in the room to answer questions. When a board member presents the numbers, the board hears them as its own. When only staff present them, the board hears a staff report. Keep it to five minutes. The page has already been read.

The one question it should force. Every report should end with one question for the board to answer in the room. Not "any questions?" A real one. "Retention is behind last year. Which of you will make five renewal calls this month?" "We have nine major asks open and no board member on four of them. Who will take one?" The report exists to get to that question. If the board leaves without answering it, the report did not do its job.

If your board is about to approve next year's budget, read "What a board should ask before it approves the marketing budget" first.

The page is simple. The numbers behind it are the hard part. If you want this report built for your board, with the measures and definitions set up with your staff, get "help setting this up for your board".

Book 20 free minutes.