What are the best ways to measure donor satisfaction?

1 Survey your donors

One of the most common and reliable ways to measure donor satisfaction is to ask them directly. You can use online or offline surveys, phone calls, emails, or social media to gather feedback from your donors. You can ask them about their satisfaction with your communication, recognition, impact reporting, and overall experience. You can also ask them about their motivations, preferences, and suggestions for improvement. Make sure you design your surveys with clear and relevant questions, and use a consistent scale to measure satisfaction levels. You can also segment your donors by different criteria, such as donation amount, frequency, channel, or program, to get more specific insights.

2 Track your retention rate

Another way to measure donor satisfaction is to look at your retention rate, which is the percentage of donors who continue to support your organization over a period of time. A high retention rate indicates that your donors are satisfied and loyal, while a low retention rate suggests that they are dissatisfied and disengaged. You can calculate your retention rate by dividing the number of donors who gave in the current year and the previous year by the number of donors who gave in the previous year. You can also track your retention rate by different segments, such as new or recurring donors, to identify which groups are more or less satisfied.

3 Monitor your net promoter score

A third way to measure donor satisfaction is to use the net promoter score (NPS), which is a metric that gauges how likely your donors are to recommend your organization to others. The NPS is based on asking your donors a simple question: How likely are you to recommend our organization to a friend or colleague? You can use a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means not at all likely and 10 means extremely likely. You can then categorize your donors into three groups: promoters (9-10), passives (7-8), and detractors (0-6). You can calculate your NPS by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. A positive NPS indicates that you have more satisfied and loyal donors than dissatisfied and disloyal ones.

4 Analyze your donor behavior

A fourth way to measure donor satisfaction is to observe and analyze your donor behavior, such as their engagement, responsiveness, and participation. You can use various tools and metrics to track and evaluate your donor behavior, such as email open and click rates, website visits and conversions, social media likes and shares, event attendance and feedback, and volunteer involvement and referrals. You can also use donor personas and journeys to map out and understand your donor behavior across different stages and touchpoints. By analyzing your donor behavior, you can identify what drives their satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and how you can optimize your fundraising tactics.

5 Benchmark your performance

A fifth way to measure donor satisfaction is to benchmark your performance against other organizations or industry standards. You can use external sources and data, such as reports, studies, surveys, or awards, to compare your donor satisfaction levels and practices with those of your peers or competitors. You can also use internal sources and data, such as historical trends, goals, or best practices, to compare your donor satisfaction levels and practices with those of your own organization. By benchmarking your performance, you can learn from others, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and set realistic and achievable targets.

6 Test and improve your strategies

A sixth way to measure donor satisfaction is to test and improve your strategies based on the data and insights you collect. You can use various methods and techniques, such as A/B testing, experiments, or pilots, to try out different approaches and measure their impact on your donor satisfaction. You can also use feedback loops, action plans, or dashboards, to monitor and evaluate your results and make adjustments as needed. By testing and improving your strategies, you can ensure that you are always meeting and exceeding your donor expectations and needs, and delivering value and impact.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?