For many people, dealing with numbers and analysis is painstaking. For me, it is fascinating! Global Impact recently hosted our Campaign Engagement team retreat and in one of the sessions, we determined our individual superpowers. Mine is “experimentation” which means that I love to identify new ideas and then test to see if they worked. You can’t do that without data! So, it’s fitting that I support the team and manage our pledge processing work.

Pledge data is one of the most important resources to measure your charity’s success in generating more revenue for your mission through employee giving programs. It allows you to learn about each workplace and the individual donors who pledged to your organization. You can also use it to more confidently forecast for the next giving season based on different sectors, companies, campaign dates and matching policies. Use the reports as a guide to direct your focus.

Where is my organization’s pledge data?
Most pledge data will come to you in two ways: through your federation or on technology platforms. There are many platforms that companies use to run their employee giving programs. Examples include Benevity, YourCause and Cybergrants/Frontdoor. These platforms provide the technology for employees to make pledges and for the distribution of funds to your organization. In the public sector, governments still often rely on federations to support the distribution of funds and reporting to members.

For Global Impact members, charity partners receive comprehensive reporting both in an annual partnership report and in real-time via our Charity Alliance Portal. Global Impact offers this for public sector campaigns and supports further analysis on employee giving revenues coming from the various technology platforms.

What data should my organization be tracking?
Each workplace and their employee donors control what data they will share so, unfortunately, information included in the pledge data reports will vary. Whether a report is simple or filled with information, we can measure and analyze the data that is available.

The most basic information that can be tracked amongst all programs include:

  • Sector (private, state, local, CFC)
  • Company or organization name
  • Gift size
  • Donor information
  • Matching gifts (if applicable)

When it comes to workplace giving, results are impacted by a few factors. These factors include the overall environment within the employment sector, the company and how they marketed the campaign on any given year, and any incentives such as matching gift programs that influence giving. By separating data into these categories, we have the ability to spot even the most macro of patterns to influence our strategy.

How do I analyze the data?
Okay, you collected the information listed above. Now what? While all pledge data varies by campaign, most reports are consistent every year. With that, you can depend on the same categories of information being shared. We recommend analyzing pledge data by these categories:

  • Year-over-year comparisons
  • Average gift amount

Some companies and platforms offer more specific information for an enriched analysis. Certain results will show what department you may want to increase your engagement or marketing tactics toward. Depending on the data available, you may also analyze by these categories:

  • Projects/cause gifts
  • Giving by agency/department/office location
  • Donation source
  • Donation frequency

Now to the fun part…strategizing!
Analyzing is key to forming a strategy around boosting your giving. Global Impact uses this kind of data analysis to support our members and their strategies. For example, if a charity partner’s average gift size is below our benchmark, we would encourage the charity to use language in their donor communications that speaks to increasing their annual gift amount. Another example is using the data to determine the best allocation of marketing resources. Through Global Impact’s Strategic Workplace Advertising and Email (SWAE) Program, charities can budget and make selections based on the data, ensuring the strongest messaging and most impactful campaign reach specific to your nonprofit.

Understanding your results and utilizing the knowledge that analyzing pledge data provides will help your organization build a stronger workplace giving strategy and maximize your revenue in the channel.

Need help analyzing your data? Reach out to your Relationship Manager for a consultation. Not a partner of Global Impact but interested in taking a more strategic approach to generate more revenue from employee giving programs? Reach out to [email protected].