Back To Basics: Lifetime Value (LTV)

March 30, 2017      Roger Craver

4 responses to “Back To Basics: Lifetime Value (LTV)”

  1. Have you looked at the Fundraising Report Card being put together by Zach Shefska? https://fundraisingreportcard.com/ There’s lots of useful data there, plus clear explanations of all sorts of fundraising KPIs and retention performance metrics. With that, Harvard’s free calculator and the Agitator Guide, there’s no longer a good excuse for not calculating these data points. I also happen to think it’s the development director’s responsibility to educate their organization in this regard. Absent such a staffer, it’s the job of the E.D. Ideally, it’s a partnership between them both.

  2. Matthew Sherrington says:

    My blog from 2015 on 101Fundraising, “Apples and Pears: the Curse of the ROI Fundraising Ratio”, lays out some basic pit-falls of measuring the wrong thing. I’ve had a few fundraisers let me know they’ve shared it with their boards, to good effect. http://101fundraising.org/2015/10/apples-and-pears-the-curse-of-the-roi-fundraising-ratio/

  3. Ben Miller says:

    There is also a free tool that the Fundraising Effectiveness Project call the Fundraising Fitness Test with over 100 metrics. http://afpfep.org/tools/ published on the web site. The Fitness Test is free and also allows users to compare against national averages.

    Of course I would be remiss if I did not also mention DonorTrends, where you can calculate these metrics and better yet, find tools to improve them. The free trial still stands for Agitator readers. http://datadriven.donortrends.com/donordashboard-the-agitator/

    I agree with Claire that there is no longer any excuse not to be able to calculate your retention and life time value.

  4. Gail Perry says:

    Roger, re board members: I think we need to start with some basic vocabulary words/concepts like “attrition” and “retention” and perhaps ROI of fundraising.

    I have worked with many board members who are surprised to learn these concepts – and even have to work at their understanding a bit.

    But I also find that board members are typically quite interested to learn how fundraising really works today. They’re open to education for sure, and they enjoy it.