Metrics – Some Key Philosophical Concepts

Debbie Meyers
Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer, EDiT!

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

Much of what we do in donor relations involves feelings. We acknowledge donors’ gifts to show our gratitude and to make them feel valued. We recognize them so they feel good about supporting our mission. We want to strengthen their loyalty, pride and affiliation so they feel inclined to continue giving and serve as ambassadors for our institutions.

Feelings are great. But how do you measure them? How do we know we’re doing a good job?

Add to that, donor relations can be viewed as a cost center rather than as a revenue generator. A short-sighted but common view is that we don’t make money, we spend money – on events, tchotchkes (have to look that one up every single time), publications, donor walls and other industry standards. And when budget negotiations come around, we have to justify our existence ten times over.

So we turn to our old friend Metrics. If we could just get leadership to understand the value we add, we would get the budgets we need for staff, projects, equipment, software and other basic necessities.

But what do we measure? How many acknowledgment letters we generated? How many annual endowment reports we created? How many people attended our event? How many gift agreements we drafted or proposals we wrote? That’s a start.

To make sure you measure the right things, consider these three philosophical concepts that may prevent you from falling into faulty logic.

1.     The plural of anecdotes is not data.

Wonderful stories may warm the heart but they are not data. The danger with basing decisions on stories is that one story from one person, or even several stories from many people, fall short of painting the complete picture. Stories are isolated reports that often lack context and depth. So while four alumni told you they had a good time at the reception, that’s not a good reason – in and of itself – to repeat the event. Instead, check their records and see if their giving began, continued or increased after they attended the event.

2.     Don’t confuse output with outcomes.

Last fall you mailed out 1,500 endowment reports, generated 400 acknowledgments and sent welcome packets to 2,000 first-time donors. That’s output. It’s good data to have, but those numbers don’t show any return on investment.

After mailing your endowment reports last fall, 28 donors made gifts totaling $2 million to their endowed funds. Of the donors whose gifts you acknowledged, 55 percent made repeat gifts and 35 percent of them increased their giving. And 90 percent of those first-time donors gave again. Those are outcomes. We want to report on impact and show compliance so donors will continue to support our mission. We want to acknowledge their generosity so they’ll stay loyal and become more generous. We want to let first-time donors know that we noticed this was their first gift and that we think it’s a big deal so they will develop the habit of giving every year.

3.     Correlation is not causation.

Joe and Jenny Jones, two of your top loyal, leadership annual donors, come to lots of your events. They consistently give $2,500 a year. At your most recent event, they are visibly moved by one of the speakers and talk with their gift officer about making a $50,000 gift. If Joe and Jenny tell us, “We gave because we loved your speaker,” we can claim causation. Our efforts caused them to give. Otherwise, we can draw logical conclusions about correlation.

To learn more about the marvelous world of metrics, check out Cheryl Lintner’s webinar here.

Having worked in advancement for more than 30 years, Debbie Meyers has honed her editorial skills by writing countless acknowledgments, talking points, proposals, gift agreements, and impact reports. 

During that time, she created or enhanced operations, communications, donor relations, and stewardship programs at Chautauqua Institution, the University of Maryland, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Florida. She also built communications and development programs for a Catholic high school, an art museum, and a health center development office. An ADRP founding board member, she chaired the international conference in 2011 and has presented at every other one. 

Living in married bliss in Mayville, NY, with her high school drum major, Paul, she has four grown children and three grandchildren, along with two rescue mutts: Bo, a pit-lab, and Marco Polo, a chihuahua.

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