It’s event season! Are you looking at the right KPIs?

Fundraising events are a predominant way that Gen X and Boomers are supporting charities. (See our Next Gen study with Convio). Are you prepared for the reality that middle aged and younger donors more and more ‘just want to have fun’ while raising money. And what’s more – Gen Z are now becoming some of our best fundraisers through events.

We shared with you our new partnership with Gryphon Fundraising in an earlier e-newsletter. Building on hjc’s experience creating best-in-class fundraising campaigns and events, our partnership is making it easier than ever for us to see what’s hiding just below the surface of events and is helping charities with lean resources, who rely on the dedication of volunteers, to understand where to concentrate their efforts for maximum results.

It starts by knowing where you are or as we say here at hjc, your ‘current reality’. All too often event fundraisers are in the dark about metrics key to understanding their event’s success. Take a look at these 5 metrics to understand the health and potential of your event:

1. % of your participants who are actually fundraising – This is a great benchmark to understand how well you have delivered the message that fundraising is key to delivering the mission of your organization, and how easy it is to fundraise for you, i.e. what tools you provide, etc. You can take this one step further and look at the % of your participants who are fundraising online. Online fundraisers raise almost double to those who fundraise offline.

2. Median dollars raised/participant – Most event fundraisers look at the average raised per participant, but this can be misleading. We know that there will always be superstar fundraisers out there blowing the top off their fundraising goals. Median is a much better indicator of what the average participant’s experience is. Use this to benchmark your fundraising success.

3. Retention, retention, retention! – Retention rates speak to the quality of your event. If you have multiple locations for your event, be sure to break down renewal rates by each of them. After all, it is much easier to keep a participant than to find a new one.

4. Segmentation is key and Pareto’s Principle is alive and well for event participants. Take a look at who your top 2% of fundraisers are, then your next 8%. Do they stay the same from the year before? Did you lose a key player? With lean resources, honing on personal coaching and stewardship for these folks can create a huge pay-out.

5. Compounded annual growth rate – Simply looking at year-to-year growth isn’t enough to fully understand your event’s growth trend. It may expose a slower growth rate than you had anticipated.

For more information on best practice multi-channel stewardship techniques for pledgers and participants and the underlying data tools available to help you maximize your event’s potential, contact Heather McLean, Fundraising Innovation Consultant at heather.mclean@hjcnewmedia.com