All right, we've got another guest post comin' in hot! Thanks to OneCause for helping support our nonprofit partners, diving in deep to help event planners and development teams in the nonprofit world measure fundraising success. This leads to data-backed decisions and incremental improvement, helping nonprofits such as museums, recreation groups, healthcare orgs, private and public schools, and higher ed institutions. Let's jump in!
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So there you are: hosting a successful event for your nonprofit. What comes to mind? You might see a large crowd, smiles on faces, an audience excited to contribute. Maybe you envision a high-stakes auction with paddles raised and loud cheers when a bidder wins. These events sound like successes, but you won’t know for sure until you look at the numbers.
It’s important to define metrics ahead of time to accurately gauge success, no matter what kind of fundraising events your organization plans. In this guide, we’ll cover eight basic key performance indicators (KPIs) you can use for your next event.
1. Total Fundraising Revenue
First and foremost, how much money did your event raise? Total fundraising revenue is the most basic and vital metric to track. It tells you whether you met your monetary goals and how much you ultimately inspired donors to give. You can easily determine your event’s effectiveness by measuring total revenue against your fundraising goal and totals from previous events.
How to calculate
This metric is easy to calculate—just add up all the revenue you earned from ticket sales, auction item bids, food and merchandise sales, and other donations made during the event.
Why it’s important
You must track fundraising revenue to determine if your event met its goals. Without it, you won’t know how much support you earned or how you can use the proceeds to further your mission. Plus, you’ll need this number to calculate many other metrics on our list.
2. Return on Investment (ROI)
Event ROI measures more than just fundraising revenue—it factors in expenses to give you a more accurate picture of the event’s value. This KPI answers the question: What was the sum total your nonprofit earned, considering the costs involved?
How to calculate
Use the following formula to discover your event’s return on investment:
- ([Total fundraising revenue] - [Event expenses]) / [Event expenses] = [Sum]
- [Sum] x 100 = ROI
For example, say you spent $20,000 on an event that ultimately raised $70,000. Your ROI calculation would look like this: (70,000 - 20,000) / 20,000 = 2.5. 2.5 x 100 = 250% ROI. This means that for every dollar your nonprofit spent, it raised $2.50.
Why it’s important
Your event’s ROI gives you a better understanding of success than your fundraising total alone, since it accounts for costs. This metric can indicate money well spent or raise the alarm that your events are too expensive to be worthwhile.
If your ROI is lower than expected, consider ways to decrease costs or increase revenue without spending more. Try strategies like:
- Corporate sponsorships: Secure donations from value-aligned businesses to cover certain event costs in exchange for marketing opportunities.
- Additional revenue channels: Increase your event’s fundraising potential by selling on-hand merchandise, homemade snacks, etc.
- Peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising: Use a P2P fundraising platform so any supporter can raise money on your organization’s behalf with a personalized giving page.
3. Average Gift Size
The average donation made by each guest helps you understand the giving potential of attendees and how successfully your event inspired them to support your cause.
How to calculate
Divide your total fundraising revenue by the number of guests who donated at the event. For example, say your auction had 200 guests and raised $150,000. Your calculation would look like this: 150,000 / 200 = $750 average gift size.
Why it’s important
Average gift size gives you valuable insight into how much each supporter is willing to give at your nonprofit’s events. It can help you improve suggested giving amounts for future events, set more realistic fundraising goals, and identify prospective major donors. For instance, if one guest gave significantly more than average, they may be willing to provide even larger gifts later.
Use your fundraising database or event management solution to track individual donations and compare them to the average. According to OneCause, your platform should provide donor insights at the individual level and help you develop targeted messaging for them.
4. Number of New Donors
If donor acquisition is a priority for your nonprofit, you’ll want to know how many people gave for the first time at your event. Of all your guests, how many were brand-new supporters? How many existing supporters (volunteers, advocates, etc.) made their first-ever monetary donation?
How to calculate
Track event attendance and collect the email address or phone number of each person who attended. Then, see if these guests already have donor profiles in your database. Add together the number of people without existing profiles and those with no previous giving history.
Why it’s important
This metric indicates whether your event succeeded in attracting new donors and convincing them to give. Once you know how many first-time donors you gained, you can develop stewardship plans and dig deeper into how they discovered your event to improve future marketing. It’s also why it’s important to use a platform like Field Day for volunteer tracking that can also fit into your existing workflow. Being able to draw outcomes from how many volunteers are also giving, without having to manually track volunteers in your donor database, will provide you with the data to influence your next campaign.
5. Number of Retained Donors
The focus on attracting new donors will depend on your goals for each specific event—as such, it’s also important to track the number of existing donors who attended your event and, more importantly, how many event guests you retain as donors long-term.
How to calculate
Subtract the number of new donors from the total number of people who attended your event. Or, if you want to know how many guests continued giving after the event, add up all the guests who donated again within a year of attending the initial event.
Why it’s important
Highly successful events inspire donors to support your organization long-term. For instance, a 2025 auction report found that 64% of auction donors said they were likely to become a monthly donor, while 91% said they were likely to make a one-time donation within 12 months of attending. This metric will help you understand how your events impact donor retention long-term.
6. Guest Lead Sources
A “lead source” refers to where someone first heard about your event. This metric tells you how guests discovered your event and what ultimately led them to attend. Your lead sources may include:
- Email or direct mail outreach
- Social media marketing
- Google ads
- Volunteer programs
- Physical flyers
- Word-of-mouth marketing
How to calculate
Lead sources can be difficult to track accurately, but you can get a general idea by including a question on your event registration form or post-event survey that asks, “How did you hear about our event?”
Why it’s important
Guest lead sources tell you which channels your audience is active on and what kinds of marketing materials successfully reach them. This information can guide your future marketing strategies, indicating which avenues to explore further.
For instance, if multiple guests discovered your event while volunteering, you might invest more in building out your volunteer program, targeting both companies and the general public.
7. Donor Participation Rate
How many of your nonprofit’s active donors (i.e., those who donated within the last 12 months) attended the event? Of those who attended the event, how many actually participated in everything your event had to offer? You can answer either of these questions by tracking donor participation rate.
How to calculate
You might calculate this metric in one of two ways, depending on the information you’re looking for:
- To get the percentage of current donors who attended, divide your organization’s number of active donors by the number of event guests. Then, multiply the result by 100.
- To see how many guests participated in an activity, divide the total number of guests by the number of attendees who engaged, such as bidding on auction items. Multiply by 100 to get a percentage.
Why it’s important
Donor participation rate points to how widely your event appealed to your donor base. For instance, you might evaluate how many guests paid attention to your silent auction and submitted bids. Even if only 25 guests ultimately won items and donated, over 100 attendees may have participated in the auction, indicating that your event resonated with a large audience.
8. Number of Ways Guests Engage
Do guests participate in other activities besides events? Calculate the number of ways guests engage to discover how actively your guests are involved in other aspects of your organization’s work.
How to calculate
First, clarify all the ways supporters can engage with your nonprofit beyond attending events, such as:
- Giving
- Volunteering
- Participating in advocacy campaigns
- Filling out feedback surveys
- Serving as peer-to-peer fundraisers
- Sharing your social media posts
- Donating items in-kind
- Serving on the board of directors
Then, look at the donor profiles for each guest to see their giving and involvement histories. How many ways have they engaged with your organization?
Why it’s important
This metric demonstrates how involved your guests are in your organization’s other activities. If most attendees are highly engaged supporters, you know your event successfully appealed to your core audience’s interests. If many guests are disengaged outside of events, you might want to dig into why in follow-up communications.
Analyzing Fundraising Event Metrics
Regardless of which metrics you track, make sure to discuss your event’s results as a team. These KPIs will give you a better picture of success, and it will be your ability to translate key takeaways and insights into iterative improvements that will set you apart as an organization.
