August Audit, One Eyed Jacks, and Fundraising Performance

Many have heard the term One-Eyed Jacks, but in case you have not here’s a Wikipedia reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_playing-card_nicknames#One-eyed_royals

Fundraisers are, for the most part, moving into a new fiscal year. Before doing so have you completed an August Audit (known to some as a Development Audit)? Like a nonprofit fiscal audit a Development Audit looks back over fundraising performance data from the past fiscal year.

Sure your supervisor, development committee and board might ask whether you met your dollar goal. But without a Development Audit you are like a One-Eyed Jack, seeing only part of the fundraising picture. Are you asking other questions such as . . .

1. What is your donor retention rate?
2. If retention is not what it should be which donors are not renewing and why?
3. How much time are we spending on events, time that has a cost that we may not be counting when we calculate the cost to benefit?

If you have such information you might also look at birthdates for you donors and number of years which they have given. Why? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fundraisers-why-should-year-2029-your-mind-sophie-penney

Have you performed a Development Audit? How has it helped you achieve your goals? FYI one of my consulting clients learned that its donors are dying, literally! For a nonprofit whose donors skew older a planned giving strategy is imperative as is a focus on donor acquisition.

Want to know more? Sophie Penney is the founder and President of i5 Fundraising https://i5fundraising.com/,  sophie@i5fundraising.com.