20 KPIs For Your Nonprofit To Track
The business world is all about that big data these days
SAS DEFINES BIG DATA Big data is a term that describes the large volume of data – both structured and unstructured – that inundates a business on a day-to-day basis
What are the KPIs?
A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a nonprofit (or another type of organization) is achieving its key organizational objectives
High-level nonprofit KPIs may focus on the overall performance of the nonprofit
Low-level KPIs may focus on processes or employees in various departments of the nonprofit
KPIs can also be specific to certain organizational processes/areas
Marketing KPIs can include tracking social media statistics
Why are KPIs important?
If used properly, KPIs can make a world of a difference to your nonprofit
THEY’RE NAVIGATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
THEY HELP ORGANIZATIONS ADAPT
KPIs provide the most important performance information that enables nonprofits to understand whether or not they are on track toward their stated objectives
Once nonprofits are able to assess where they are – with the help of KPIs – they can correct their course of action quickly and adapt to the changing conditions of the environment
THEY HELP ORGANIZATIONS MAKE DECISIONS Once a nonprofit gathers relevant and sufficient data, it’s much easier to make good decisions
Clearly defined
Quantifiable Adaptable Crucial to achieving organizational objectives Practical and actionable Providing incentives for staff
In order to be useful for your nonprofit, your KPIs should be
Fundraising KPIs for Nonprofits
GIFTS SECURED Choose any time frame that works best for your nonprofit. One year is the standard time frame
1
DONOR & DONATION GROWTH With donor growth and donation website growth metrics, we look at the increase in the size of donation revenue year-over-year or the increase in the size of the number of donors month-over-month
2
DONOR RETENTION RATE Donor retention rate is the percentage of donors who have given more than once. Recurring donors are incredibly valuable to nonprofits
3
FUNDRAISING ROI ROI or “Return on Investment” is essential, especially to nonprofits who often operate on a limited budget
4
DONATION CONVERSIONS BY CHANNEL This Fundraising KPI tells you how many donors took an action when prompted by your organization and where they took the action
5
Marketing & Communications
Nonprofit KPIs
WEBSITE PAGE VIEWS Page views are important because the higher the number of people that visit your website, the higher the number of individuals that click through on a CTA (call to action)
6
EMAIL OPEN AND CLICKTHROUGH RATES The email click-through metric (CTR) shows what percentage of recipients clicked on links included in your email
7
LANDING PAGE CONVERSION RATE This metric measures how many visitors to your donation page completed the donation process
8
AMPLIFICATION, APPLAUSE, AND CONVERSATION RATES These three metrics refer to social media, an inevitable part of marketing for nonprofits these days
9
Program Delivery Nonprofit KPIs
NUMBER OF BENEFICIARIES SERVED AND PROGRAM ATTENDANCE The number of beneficiaries served is exactly what it says it is – the number of targeted beneficiaries you served through your programs and activities over a specific period of time
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BENEFICIARY SATISFACTION RATE Used by for-profit organizations to measure satisfaction with their products and services, nonprofits can also choose to measure the satisfaction of their beneficiaries
11
PRE AND POST SCORES Pre and Post Scores refer to the changes in knowledge, skills, abilities, and/or behaviors amongst your beneficiaries
12
Human Resources Nonprofit Performance Metrics
EMPLOYEE RETENTION RATE Employee retention rate measures the rate at which employees leave the organization in a given time period
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EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION RATE Employee satisfaction rate can be somewhat gauged through some of the other metrics (e.g. employee turnover, percent of performance goals met, absenteeism)
14
PERCENT OF PERFORMANCE GOALS MET Employees should know how their work contributes to the entire company and they should also know how you monitor their work towards these goals
15
ABSENTEEISM RATE Absenteeism refers to employees missing part or whole days of work due to personal illness, personal business, or other reasons
16
Financial KPIs for Nonprofits
YEAR-OVER-YEAR GROWTH Year-over-year growth is the percent you increased your revenue or budget in one year when compared to the year before
17
OPERATING SURPLUS/DEFICIT This financial KPI will help you understand if your financial resources are sufficient and flexible enough to support your mission by comparing expendable net assets to total expenses
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LIQUID UNRESTRICTED NET ASSETS LUNA is the portion of unrestricted net assets that could be converted to cash relatively easily
19
PROGRAM EFFICIENCY Measure this KPI by comparing the program expenses against total expenses
20
Outreach & advocacy, IT, risk management and governance, and facilities Nonprofit to decide which metrics are the right ones for you Start by reviewing your mission, vision, and your strategic plans Choose a few kpis for each goal Once your kpis are set, the work is not done Be sure that you are consistent about measuring them, whether that’s once a week or once a month
There are many other metrics that can be tracked
MORE INFORMATION
Donorbox.org/Nonprofitblog/Kpis-for-yournonprofit/