At a Glance
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are extremely important for your charity or non-profit, that measure how your efforts are leading to results. From donor retention rate to landing page conversions, explore 14 of the most common KPIs used by non-profits that help them inch closer to their goals.
More and more non-profit organisations are embracing digital tools, using the data they generate to help them plan their next step towards their goals.
Alongside their own data, they also have access to information outside their organisation. But without using it to measure impact or track progress toward their goals, this wealth of information can quickly become overwhelming and of limited value.
If you’re new to this journey, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are an excellent starting point. When applied effectively and supported by the right set of tools, KPIs can be groundbreaking for your non-profit organisation.
In this guide, we explore 14 common non-profit KPIs and how a CRM solution like KindLink can help you achieve greater impact.
Why are Charity KPIs Important?
In simple terms, KPIs are metrics that tell you if your efforts are paying off. By tracking these metrics, you can see how you can improve your strategies, campaigns, and ultimately raise more money for your cause – provided that you act on the information you collect.
You should track your non-profit’s KPIs to:
- Understand whether or not your charity is on track to achieve the set objectives
- Take timely corrective action and adapt to changing circumstances
- Make informed decisions that move your organisation in the right direction
KindLink is an all-in-one CRM that makes it easy to track KPIs and metrics in Fundraising, Donor Management, and Volunteer Management.
14 Most Common Non-Profit KPIs
This guide highlights 14 of the most common key performance indicator examples for nonprofit organisations grouped into four categories.
Donation and Fundraising KPIs for Charities
1. Donor Retention Rate
Donor retention rate is the percentage of donors who have given more than once. Recurring donations are invaluable to non-profits for two reasons:
- Most donations come in from existing donors, and
- Onboarding new donors is costlier than developing existing ones
How to calculate?
Donor Retention Rate = (returning donors in year 2/ all donors in year 1) x 100
2. Donor and Donation Growth
These metrics focus on either the increase in the size of donation revenue year on year or the increase in the number of donors month-over-month.
How to calculate?
Donor Growth Rate = ((Current year donors – last year donors) ÷ last year donors) × 100
Donation Growth Rate = ((Current year donations – last year donations) ÷ last year donations) × 100
A high donor and donation growth value is a good indicator that your non-profit is fulfilling its mission.
3. Fundraising Return on Investment (ROI)
Non-profits that operate on a limited budget usually focus on this metric. It measures how many pounds you raise for every pound spent on fundraising.
How to calculate?
Calculate this by dividing the total costs by the total funds raised.
Volunteer KPIs for Charities
4. Volunteer Turnover Ratio
This metric measures how effectively your charity attracts and retains committed volunteers.
How to calculate?
Volunteer Turnover Ratio = number of new volunteers/ number of departing volunteers. This metric is expressed as a percentage.
5. Percentage of Performance Goals Met
Before measuring this KPI, ensure you have set performance goals. If you haven’t already, set these goals in collaboration with your employees to let them have input and ownership in the overall process.
Check for:
- The percentage of critical performance your employees met
- The percentage of tasks they completed
- The percentage of goals they abandoned/found unattainable
6. Absenteeism Rate
Absenteeism refers to employees missing whole or part days of work due to various avoidable or unavoidable reasons. Calculating this KPI is important as it’s an indicator of how engaged and motivated your employees are. A high absence rate is an indicator of a low-motivated employee/volunteer.
How to calculate?
(Total number of absent days per employee/total number of working days) x 100
Where the ‘Total number of absent days per employee’ = Total number of absent days/ total number of employees
Financial KPIs for Charities
7. Annual Revenue
Keeping track of various financial KPIs helps you understand how well your charity is doing financially.
Total annual revenue gives you the total income your non-profit has generated.
How to calculate?
It’s the sum of donations, collected fees, corporate sponsorships, and government grants.
Also note the recurring revenue, the income received weekly or monthly or quarterly or annually.
8. Year-Over-Year Growth
Year-over-year growth calculates the percent you increased your revenue or budget in one year when compared to the year before.
9. Number of Donations
This measures the number of donations and/or the financial amount donated for a given time period.
10. Overhead Costs
Overhead % is one of the least talked-about non-profit financial metrics. However, it’s important that your non-profit organisations aim to be transparent and share this value with their donors. Calculating this metric signals accountability to your stakeholders and donors.
How to calculate?
Overhead % = overhead costs / annual revenue
Digital Strategy KPIs
11. Landing Page Conversion Rate
This KPI measures the number of visitors to your donation page who completed the donation process. A tracking tool like Google Analytics shows how many visitors reached a specific page, how they arrived there, and how many completed the action.
How to calculate?
(Total number of visitors to your donation page/ Total number of donations made) x 100
12. Click-through/Open Rate
For emails, the rates refer to the percentage of those successful emails versus those that aren’t opened.
13. Impressions
Impressions are the number of times your content is displayed, no matter if it was clicked or not.
14. Reach
Reach is the total number of people who see your content.
Once your KPIs are set, the work is not done; it’s time to use and make sense of the data using a non-profit CRM.
Analysing Non-Profit KPIs in KindLink’s CRM
Of the multiple charity KPIs, not all are equally important to your non-profit’s goals. While this makes the process of choosing KPIs crucial, it also brings into focus the need for a reliable platform to track, manage, and control all this information.
KindLink’s CRM platform helps you collect information on fundraising, marketing, and outreach, all in one place. You don’t need multiple tools to track different types of information when everything is available on one platform, with features including:
- Project impact updates
- Export and import of financial data
- Beneficiary progress history
- Managing volunteer hours
- Donor/supporter history and log
Moreover, we give charities the option of choosing between a Free or Premium Plan.
Sign up your charity today and get started.
Iskren Kulev
CEO
Iskren has been leading for the past 10 years a SaaS business providing services for corporate philanthropy, CSR management, volunteer, and sustainability software. In addition, his company (KindLink) supports thousands of charities with a fundraising and non-profit CRM platform. Iskren's career started in online payment processing and mobile POS solutions helping SMEs accept digital payments.
