While there are many metrics that an organization can use internally to evaluate the effectiveness of its fundraising strategy, we suggest 3 key fundraising performance metrics for both internal and external use.

It is the amount of money that can be spent on an organization's mission as a result of its fundraising efforts. It is the ultimate measure of fundraising success. If it's not enough to fund the organization's work, then the other two metrics don't matter. Here's how it's calculated:

Total amount raised - Total cost of fundraising =
Total net fundraising amount

Example. If an organization raised $10,000 and spent $2,000 on staff and other expenses to make it happen, the total net fundraising amount would be $8,000 ($10,000 - $2,000).

A measure of risk, the dependency ratio measures the extent to which an organization depends on its major donors to fund its work. It is an indicator of how vulnerable an organization may be to changes in the priorities of its major donors and partners. Here's how it is calculated:

Amount of contributions from top 5 donors / Total Organizational Expenses = Dependency Ratio

Example: if an organization's top five donors have contributed $250,000 over the past three years, and the organization's total expenses over the same three-year period were $1,000,000, the dependency ratio is 25% (250,000 /1,000,000), meaning that the organization would have to replace 25% of its budget if it lost its top five donors.

This is an efficiency indicator of how much fundraising costs your organization. We measure the average net cost of raising one ruble for the entire organization. In general, organizations will tend to have a lower cost of fundraising, indicating that they are investing effectively in fundraising. Here's how it's calculated:

Total Cost of Fundraising/Total Funds Raised (net) =
Cost of Fundraising

Example: if an organization spends a total of $50,000 on fundraising for a total of $150,000, its cost of fundraising is 50% (50,000/(150,000-50,000)). Or, expressed in dollar terms, it spent between $0.50 and $1.

Organizations with the most strategic and sophisticated fundraising strategies work to create a robust program that balances the risks and benefits of various fundraising tactics through grants, online fundraising, and business outreach. It is dangerous to evaluate an organization's fundraising strategy based on a single tactic - a single fundraising event or mailing. Interdependencies and the building of tactics over time point to the importance of looking at results across an entire strategy or portfolio of channels over a reasonable period of time; three years is recommended.

It is also important to evaluate the effectiveness of fundraising campaigns, events. On average, a fundraising campaign is considered effective if 4 dollars are raised for every 1 dollar spent. For example, you have collected 1 000 000 dollars within the framework of the race, spent 300 000 dollars (here the labor hours of the organization's employees are also taken into account, not only the costs of organization and promotion), so for 1 spent dollar you have attracted 3.3 dollars. Not a bad indicator, but a bit under-performed!