Gift Count Trends Among All Current Donors Analysis

Gift Count Trends Among All Current Donors

How to use the Gift Count Trends Among All Current Donors analysis

This analysis provides a comprehensive overview of how the giving patterns of your current active donors have evolved over the past four fiscal years, with a particular focus on the number of gifts made each year and how recent activity aligns with previous trends. By examining all donors who made a gift in your most recently completed fiscal year, you can quickly identify whose engagement is increasing, holding steady, or declining-essential for sustaining and growing donor relationships.

The analysis draws on gift transaction data, using fiscal year calculations aligned to your organization s calendar, and summarizes each donor s annual gift count and total giving for up to four years. For each active donor, you'll see their constituent ID and name, giving totals for the last fiscal year and the three prior years, average gifts per year in the previous three-year period, and a flag indicating whether their gift count last year dropped below their three-year average. Supporting fields such as the donor's name and organization affiliation are included to help you quickly personalize your outreach and tailor stewardship strategies.

Key metrics include the number of gifts per year, the average annual gift count over the previous three years, and a comparison of last year's gifts to that average. These calculations matter because a downturn in gift frequency can signal waning engagement or satisfaction, while increases may highlight donors ripe for cultivation or upgrade. The inclusion of total and average giving amounts provides further context, allowing you to see if lower gift counts are offset by larger gifts or if both frequency and value are declining.

Strategically, you can use this analysis to prioritize intervention with donors whose participation is slipping, ensuring you don t lose valuable supporters. Development officers can identify donors whose giving patterns suggest a readiness for deeper involvement, while stewardship staff can recognize and acknowledge those who maintain or increase their support.

You should review this analysis regularly, at a minimum quarterly, ideally as a core part of your Constituent Intelligence routines. Development directors, gift officers, and stewardship managers should use it to inform portfolio assignments, outreach planning, and personalized communication. For example, donors flagged as giving less frequently may benefit from a personal call or targeted stewardship. At the same time, those with growing engagement might be strong candidates for special appeals or leadership giving programs.

Evaluate success by tracking year-over-year retention rates, the percentage of donors whose gift counts rebound after targeted outreach, and the number of at-risk donors re-engaged as a result of your interventions. Monitoring these measures will help ensure your use of Constituent Intelligence directly supports stronger donor relationships and improved fundraising outcomes.