You’re probably sitting on a goldmine of fundraising data - most charities are. You track donations, you know who gave when, and you probably have a CRM brimming with supporter activity. But if you’re not translating that data into insight, and that insight into action, you’re missing a huge opportunity to grow support and improve ROI.
Too often, important insights get buried in spreadsheets or are only looked at when something’s gone wrong. Meanwhile, metrics that could be driving smarter fundraising strategies go unnoticed—quietly signalling where you’re gaining ground, or losing it.
That’s where the Fundraising Fitness Test comes in.
What is the Fundraising Fitness Test—and why does it matter?
The Fundraising Fitness Test (FFT) is a fast and effective analysis tool that turns raw donation data into clear insights about the health of your fundraising programme, empowering charities to better measure and manage their fundraising KPIs.
It looks beyond total income or number of donors to ask more meaningful questions:
- How many of your donors are returning?
- What’s the lifetime value of your supporters?
- Are you replacing lost income - or just replacing donors?
- Are you growing sustainably, or relying on one-off spikes?
Let’s explore what’s being missed - and how to make smarter decisions with the data already at your fingertips.
You already have the data. Now use it to ask the right questions.
Here are just a few examples of insights charities uncover when they use FFT to analyse their donor data:
-
Are you losing more donors than you’re gaining?
You might be acquiring plenty of new supporters - but what if your overall retention is sliding backwards? The FFT highlights how many donors are being retained year over year, and whether growth is being driven by volume or loyalty.
Insight: Our 2024 fundraising report found that while new donor acquisition was at 49%, new donor income was only at 37%, down from the previous three years. This demonstrated a need for charities to target both the quantity and quality of new supporters, with more campaigns focused on higher gift values.
-
Are you seeing hidden growth?
Sometimes things are going well - but the signs get missed. Maybe your second-year retention rate is climbing, or lapsed donors are coming back in higher numbers. These wins are easy to overlook when only looking at top-line income.
Insight: Our 2024 fundraising report showed an 18% increase in repeat retained donors since 2019. With such a large proportion of annual revenue coming from this group, strategies to increase yield and minimise losses from retained repeat donors could be a major driver of consistent income growth.
-
Are you spending money to stand still?
Donor acquisition takes effort - and budget. If you're spending on ads or events but losing those donors before a second gift, your cost per lasting donor might be far higher than you realise.
Insight: Our 2024 fundraising report revealed an important trend: across the sector, an average of 44% of revenue came from new acquisition, compared to just 12% from newly retained income. That’s a big gap - and a strong argument for prioritising second-gift conversion.
It’s not just about data - it’s about action
Once you see the patterns, you can act on them. That might mean:
- Prioritising stewardship for high-retention segments
- Re-engaging lapsed donors based on giving history
- Building more meaningful upgrade journeys
- Setting goals beyond acquisition - like increasing donor lifetime value
- Reviewing the performance of changes or campaigns to monitor actual impact
And importantly, these are changes based on your real data - not generic advice.
Make your data work harder for you
If you’ve never run a Fundraising Fitness Test, or haven’t revisited your results recently, this is your sign to take another look.
It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You’re already collecting the data - you just need the right lens to interpret it.
And once you see what’s really going on behind your top-line income, you’ll be in a much stronger position to:
- Forecast your year-end income more accurately
- Build compelling internal cases for investment
- Retain more donors and grow your supporter base sustainably
Because the goal isn’t just to have more data - it’s to make smarter decisions with it.
Curious what your data might be trying to tell you?
Let’s talk about running a Fundraising Fitness Test and uncovering the insights that could transform your next campaign.
Discover the Fundraising Fitness Test
Schedule a demo
Share Article