Jumping Off Metrics

Dashboard in Apteco Orbit · 5 tabs · 29 insights

What are the handful of numbers a board should watch every quarter? A board that watches six honest numbers every quarter asks better questions than one that gets a new slide deck each time.

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Donor Health - Board ReportCharts show donors moving up or down in value, retention, cost to raise a dollar by channel, gift frequency, first-gift size and lifetime value bands.OverviewA fundraiser would use it as a starting point to understand the donor base and choose who to contact.Donations - This YearA fundraiser would use it to track this year's giving month by month and welcome new donors.Donations - HistoricCharts show gifts by month across 2024 and 2025, average gift by month, and side-by-side bars for each year showing donor status, donor stages, Capacity Signal, how often people give, first-gift size and whether gifts are going up or down.Individual - Donor InvestigationCharts show gifts by quarter and the average gift by month.

Jumping Off Metrics · Donor Health - Board Report, in Apteco Orbit: The Donor Health - Board Report tab, with cards on new, repeat and regular donors, charts of retention, value changes and cost to raise a dollar. — **Jumping Off Metrics · Donor Health - Board Report** The Donor Health - Board Report tab, with cards on new, repeat and regular donors, charts of retention, value changes and cost to raise a dollar. A board sees whether the charity is keeping its donors and where to focus.

Jumping Off Metrics · Overview, in Apteco Orbit: The Overview tab, with lifetime giving cards above a grid of charts on when donors last gave, how often and how much, and their status. — **Jumping Off Metrics · Overview** The Overview tab, with lifetime giving cards above a grid of charts on when donors last gave, how often and how much, and their status. A fundraiser starts here to learn the donor base and choose who to contact.

Jumping Off Metrics · Donations - This Year, in Apteco Orbit: The Donations - This Year tab, with cards for giving so far, charts of gifts and new donors by month, a Capacity Signal and a monthly table. — **Jumping Off Metrics · Donations - This Year** The Donations - This Year tab, with cards for giving so far, charts of gifts and new donors by month, a Capacity Signal and a monthly table. A fundraiser follows this year's giving month by month and welcomes new donors.

Jumping Off Metrics · Donations - Historic, in Apteco Orbit: The Donations - Historic tab, comparing last year with the year before through headline cards, monthly gift charts and paired bars for donor status, stages and giving habits. — **Jumping Off Metrics · Donations - Historic** The Donations - Historic tab, comparing last year with the year before through headline cards, monthly gift charts and paired bars for donor status, stages and giving habits. A board member sees how the donor base changed year on year.

Jumping Off Metrics · Individual - Donor Investigation, in Apteco Orbit: The Individual - Donor Investigation tab, with a Donor Details card for one supporter beside totals for all giving, gifts by quarter and average gift by month. — **Jumping Off Metrics · Individual - Donor Investigation** The Individual - Donor Investigation tab, with a Donor Details card for one supporter beside totals for all giving, gifts by quarter and average gift by month. A fundraiser filters to one donor and reads their story before a call.

Sample charity: the people and numbers in these screens are made up, so the picture shows the tool, not a result.

What it answers

Jumping Off Metrics was built as a board report: retention, repeat giving, the second gift, lifetime value, and data hygiene. It is the dashboard a fundraising director opens before the quarterly meeting.

Jumping Off Metrics has six tabs.

tabs, each with its own cards and charts

insights Orbit works out for it

tables it reads: Addresses, Campaigns, Donations, Emails, Supporters

What it is built from

Every insight is worked out by Orbit for every supporter. Click one to read it in the Field Guide.

Insights

Gave before, not yet this year (SYBNT)A list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Your wider win-back pool. Leave out the LYBNT audience to find people who stopped longer ago. People who have never given can't get in.
Gave last year, not yet this year (LYBNT)A list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Your year-end recovery list. It and Retained donors add up to everyone who gave last year.
New donors this yearA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Welcome them. Chart them by the month of their first gift, so each new donor counts once.
New donors last yearA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. Last year's new donors: the bottom of the new donor retention sum.
New donors last year, retainedA list Orbit keeps up to date by itself. Every dashboard tile that counts this list shows the same number, because they all read the same list. New donor retention is this audience divided by New donors last year. It uses calendar years, first gift last year and a gift this year, so each donor is counted in the right year.
First gift dateOrbit lines up each supporter's gifts by date and takes the earliest one. Find new donors by the year of their first gift. Chart new donors by the month of that first gift, so each one counts once.
Lifetime ValueAdds up all donation amounts across all of the supporter's donations. Group your donors by total giving to prioritize stewardship. Identify your top 10% of lifetime givers for personal thank-you calls or major gift cultivation.
First Donation DateLooks up the date of the supporter's very first donation. Compare retention rates between donors who started giving in different years. See which campaigns brought in the most loyal supporters over time.
Latest Donation DateTakes the most recent all donation dates across all of the supporter's donations. Quickly see who has given recently and who has gone quiet. Separate active donors from lapsed donors in any campaign list.
First Donation ValueTakes the earliest all donation amounts across all of the supporter's donations. Understand entry-level giving. Compare first gift amounts across acquisition channels to see which sources bring in higher-capacity donors from day one.
Latest Donation ValueTakes the most recent all donation amounts across all of the supporter's donations. Compare a donor's most recent gift to their history. Use alongside Giving Trend to spot donors whose giving is climbing or declining.
Smallest Donation ValueFinds the smallest all donation amounts across all of the supporter's donations. Identify the floor of a donor's giving range. Useful for setting minimum ask amounts in targeted appeals.
Largest Donation ValueFinds the largest all donation amounts across all of the supporter's donations. See the peak gift a donor has ever made. When their latest gift is much lower than this, it signals recoverable capacity for a targeted upgrade ask.
Number Of Lifetime DonationsCounts the number of records across all of the supporter's donations. Group by engagement depth. Donors with 1 gift need a different retention strategy than donors with 10+. Build different stewardship journeys for each group.
Average Lifetime Donation ValueAverages all donation amounts across all of the supporter's donations. Set personalized ask strings in appeals. A donor averaging $250 should see different suggested amounts than a donor averaging $50.
Lifetime Value BandedPlaces each supporter into a value tier based on their total lifetime giving. Use in any module to compare retention, engagement, and giving patterns across value groups.
Days Since Last DonationCounts the number of days between Latest Donation Date and today. The core recency metric. Use to trigger automated re-engagement sequences at 365, 545, and 730 days, or to prioritize phone outreach to recent lapsers.
Donor StatusCategorizes supporters based on days since their last gift. Active = within 1 year, Lapsing = 1-2 years, Lapsed = 2-3 years, Deeply Lapsed = 3+ years, Never Given = no donation on record. Sort any report by Active, Lapsing, Lapsed, or Deeply Lapsed. The starting point for year-end appeals or re-engagement campaigns.
Donor Development StageLooks at three things: whether the donor has ever given, how many times they have given, and how recently. Based on those answers, places them into a stage: Non Donor, New Donor, Lapsed First Gift, Developing, Established, or Loyal. Build lifecycle-specific journeys. New donors get a welcome series, Developing donors get deepening asks, Loyal donors get recognition and legacy giving conversations.
Giving TrendCompares the supporter's most recent gift to their lifetime average. If the latest gift is 25%+ above average, they're Trending Up. Within 25% either way is Stable. Below 75% of average is Downgraded. Spot donors trending up for upgrade conversations. Spot donors trending down for stewardship calls before they lapse.
Giving ConsistencyLooks at how many times a supporter has given relative to how long they have been on file. Someone who has given 10 times over 3 years is more consistent than someone who has given 3 times over 10 years. Placed into groups: Highly Consistent, Consistent, Occasional, or Infrequent. Identify your most reliable givers for sustainer conversion asks. Highly Consistent donors are your best candidates for monthly giving programs.
First Gift BandedPlaces each supporter into a group based on the size of their first ever gift. Use in any module to compare long-term performance of donors who entered at different giving levels.
Capacity SignalCompares the supporter's largest ever gift to their most recent gift. If the largest is more than double the latest, they are marked as having demonstrated higher capacity. Find donors giving below their demonstrated capacity. A High Capacity signal means they've proven they can give more. Build a targeted upgrade appeal around these supporters.
All SupportersA simple starting point that includes everyone in the system with no conditions applied. The default starting point for any chart in a module. Shows everyone with no conditions applied.
Donor RetentionUses Returning Donor Flag: one gift ever goes in New Supporters, two or more in Returning Supporters. Split one-time donors from repeat donors in any chart, like New vs Returning Donors on Campaign Performance. For the share of last year's donors who gave again this year, use the Retained donors audience divided by Gave last year.
Donor MovementCompares each supporter's number of gifts last year with the year before. New and Re-engaged both gave last year after a year with no gifts; the split between them uses today's date (see What it tells you). Build a donor movement waterfall for your board: how many supporters are new, re-engaged, increased, unchanged, decreased, or lost. Read New and Re-engaged together: between them they hold everyone who gave last year after a year off, including last year's first-time donors.
Donor Median Interval DaysFinds the median number of days between consecutive donations for each supporter. If a supporter gives every 30, 45, and 35 days apart, the median interval is 35 days. Understand each donor's personal giving rhythm. A donor with a 90-day median gives roughly quarterly. Use to time asks to land when the donor naturally gives.
Donation Value This YearAdds up all donations this supporter has made so far this year. Live year-to-date revenue per donor. Use to build current-year value tiers and track progress against annual fundraising targets.
Donor Value MovementTakes the year-over-year score and turns it into a label: New, Lapsed, Stable, Upgraded, or Downgraded. See which donors upgraded, downgraded, lapsed, or stayed stable between last year and this year. Build targeted outreach for each group.

Fields from your data

Which CRMs can feed it

The Field Guide maps every insight to the fields each CRM keeps. This is how many of this dashboard's insights each one can build.

Filter the Field Guide by your CRM

Learn to use it

Each quarter, read the Board Report tab top to bottom and write one sentence per card. LYBNT is your lapse list: those people are an audience. Donor Retention (Overall) and Reactivated Donors come from Donor Movement, so read New and Re-engaged together, as in Part 2. Midway through a year, every "this year" rate covers part of a year: say so when you share it. Data Hygiene is for your data owner: every bar in Missing Fields is a field Connect could not fill, and a fix there improves every other dashboard.

Learn Mission: Jumping Off Metrics: the board report

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Questions people ask

What does the Jumping Off Metrics dashboard show?

Jumping Off Metrics has six tabs.

Which data does it need?

State Province, Postal Code, City, Email, Date of Birth, First Name, Supporter ID, Last Name, Campaign Type, Donation Source, Donation Amount, Donation Date, Donation Type, Contact Type, Job Title.

Which CRMs does it work with?

How many of its 29 insights each CRM's data can build, by the Field Guide's mapping: Raiser's Edge NXT: 29 of 29; Salesforce NPSP: 29 of 29; Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud: 29 of 29; DonorPerfect: 29 of 29; Bloomerang: 29 of 29; Little Green Light: 29 of 29; CiviCRM: 29 of 29; HubSpot: 29 of 29; Givebutter: 29 of 29.

How do I use it?

How do I get the Jumping Off Metrics dashboard?

Send a request with the form on this page. An Apteco Architect gets in touch to set it up with you. To learn it first, open the course stop.

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