A lengthy in-person conversation and a single email blast might each qualify as “1 contact” in your computer, but lumping them in together could skew your data. There is no calculation necessary for this metric, just a simple tabulation of donors belonging to each group. Use this metric in conjunction with some of the others on this list to determine exactly why your number of donors isn’t growing. Say you had 65 donors last year, and 20 of those donors also contributed this year. This shows you that 95% of all the pledges promised during your walk-a-thon turned into actual donations.

Planning a nonprofit budget: Example and best practices

• The best way to avoid such situations is to know your individual prospects’ giving capacities, or how much they’re able to give.
• Calculate Your Fundraising Event ROI Cross-check this fundraising goal with the amount you’ve budgeted for the cost to run your event.
• For example, your nonprofit might have 135 individual donors who are between the ages of 20 and 30, 200 donors who are between the ages of 40 and 50, and 600 donors between the ages of 50 and 60.
• These tips will guide you through budgeting basics, and recommend new ways to stay on top of your finances, like supplementing your marketing budget with the Google Ad Grant.
• Their supporters pledge to donate a certain amount of money per mile walked.
• By diversifying, nonprofits can access a wider range of resources, including grants, corporate sponsorships, individual donations, and more.

Funds pledged are accounted for as cash in your annual budget; if the cash never appears, you may be going over budget. If donors are consistently backing out of pledge promises, you may need to reevaluate your pledge-acquiring strategies. To find your matching gift rate, simply divide the number of donors who secured a donation match from their employers by your total number of donors. If cost-cutting is a priority, nonprofits would likely be more interested in CPDR. If strategic planning for future fundraising efforts is the focus, fundraising ROI would be preferred. Moreover, recurring donors provide nonprofits with the financial stability needed to pursue their mission, calculate revenue forecasts, and make critical organizational decisions.

Fundraising and Grant Writing

If you’re new to Google Ads or low on staff resources, consider reaching out to a Google-certified Ad Grants partner. These experts can help you apply for the program, create your ads, maintain compliance, and maximize your results. Your Google Ads click-through rate (CTR) refers to the percentage of people who see each of your nonprofit’s ads and click on them to access your landing page, whether that’s your donation form or volunteer sign-up page. A high CTR is a good indicator that your ad aligns with user search intent and includes compelling copy that encourages them to click through.

Additional Resources

A lower score is better here, with the top-rated charities generally having ratios of less than 30%. An increasing leverage ratio could be a sign of financial trouble for an organization. However, nonprofit ratios can be a useful tool to monitor an organization’s performance—especially in identifying trends that may be negatively impacting an organization. The net margin ratio measures an organization’s ability to operate at a surplus. In simple terms, it’s what is left at the end of the day to reinvest into an organization’s mission.

Overall, watchdogs can be instrumental https://nerdbot.com/2025/06/10/the-key-benefits-of-accounting-services-for-nonprofit-organizations/ in improving nonprofit performance, increasing public trust and inspiring philanthropy. Watchdogs also highlight legitimate, well-run nonprofits, and they give nonprofit boards a basis for how to evaluate themselves in this area. Watchdogs may or may not consider the type, size, and structure of the nonprofits they’re monitoring in their assessment.

• Measuring conversion rates can help your organization better understand your supporters’ giving preferences as well as the relative success of each of your outreach methods.
• While these allocation games can raise program percentages and lower the appearance of administrative costs, and result in better rankings with various watchdogs, there are consequences.
• A deficit occurs for a nonprofit organization whenever its expenses exceed its revenue.
• A solid foundation is critical to the success of any nonprofit fundraising campaign.
• By examining these factors, you’ll understand what to account for while designing and executing your fundraising strategy.
• The simple step of involving your development lead in the full budgeting process will increase their comfort level in explaining your organization through numbers.

How do small nonprofits make money?

This finding aligns nicely with the Pareto Principle and means our hypothetical organization is likely focusing enough attention on major gifts and bequests relative to other appeals. Second, let’s remember that even among smaller nonprofits that make up the majority of orgs in our sector, those led by marginalized communities are even more reliant on foundation support. Many orgs led by marginalized communities rely heavily on foundation dollars.

For example, if an organization’s typical payment terms are net 30 days, then you would expect the accounts receivable turnover to be around 12 times per year (every 30 days). The accounts receivable turnover ratio is used to show trends in the aging of an organization’s accounting services for nonprofit organizations accounts receivable. In its simplest form, it shows how many dollars of current assets an organization has to cover its current obligations. It’s the tried-and-true strategies that will get you where you want to go. No one wants to be judged or called out for spending too much on overhead. If you are a small nonprofit that spends next to nothing on fundraising, you are hardly alone.