Children’s Museums Benchmarking
Using Data to Drive Strategy
Deb Ashmore
Hi! I’m Deb Ashmore
At Blackbaud: 5 years
Hometown: Philadelphia
Launched and managed a successful sustainer program before joining Blackbaud
Provide data analysis across a variety of nonprofit sectors
I love my job, but if I had to do something else, I’d be a pirate.
Compare your
organization to peer
organization
benchmarks and
national industry
trends
Key Session Goals
Understand the
importance of data
collection in your
database
Evaluate the
performance
differences of
various supporter
types – ticket
buyers, members,
donors
US Fundraising Trends
Tumultuous Fundraising Landscape
(not a complete list!) US-China trade relationship.
Economic uncertainty – tariffs
Tax changes
Recession
Data privacy
Self-curation of news
Climate change
Political issues
Decline in Donors The number of donors in the U.S. was highest
in 2005 and has been in decline since.
56% of Americans give – that was 68% five
years ago (Charities Aid Foundation)
Decrease of $4.9-$13.1
billion
Tax Policy and
Charitable Giving
Report
Decrease of $12-$20
billion
Tax Policy Center
Decrease of $16 - $24
billion
Council on Foundations
1.7% - 4.6% 4% – 6.5% 5.3% - 8%
Effect of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Giving
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Individual giving as a percentage of disposable personal income, 19772017 (in current dollars)
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Disposable Personal Income
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One Last Thing to Consider
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1983
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Maximum US-Born Population Aged 50 (1983-2063)(Number of Live Births Fifty Years before Date Shown)
BABYBUST
BABYBOOM
Maximum Number of People Turning 50 in 2025
Maximum Number of People Turning 50 in 2015
BABYBUST
BABYBOOM
Source: 12-Month Ending Number of Live Births in the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - National Center for Health Statistics, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/Vitalstatsonline.htm. Retrieved March 2, 2015. Each original annual birth cohort is shown under the date that is fifty years after theoriginal birth year. Does not take deaths into account.
8
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U.S. donorCentrics Index of Direct Marketing
Fundraising: Q3 2018 Performance Results
59 national non-profit organizations
Organizations have 100,000+ active (0-12 month) donors
Direct marketing giving (mail, telemarketing, web, canvassing – not events)
Individual payments greater than $10,000, soft credits, and matching gift
payments are excluded.
Robust data set 30 million donors and more than 77 million gifts totaling
over $2.8 billion in revenue
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donorCentrics Index of Direct Marketing Fundraising:
Q4 2018 Results
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donorCentrics Index of Direct Marketing Fundraising:
Q4 2018 Results
12
IndexRevenue
24.2%
IndexDonors
-1.2%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Q4 2
013
Q1 2
014
Q2 2
014
Q3 2
014
Q4 2
014
Q1 2
015
Q2 2
015
Q3 2
015
Q4 2
015
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016
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016
Q3 2
016
Q4 2
016
Q1 2
017
Q2 2
017
Q3 2
017
Q4 2
017
Q1 2
018
Q2 2
018
Q3 2
018
Q4 2
018
Fig. 3: Five-Year Overall Index Revenue and Donor TrendsCumulative Rolling 12-Month Median Change from Q4 2013
Typhoon Haiyan
NepalEarthquake
2016 Presidential
Election
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma,
& Maria
donorCentrics Index of Direct Marketing Fundraising:
Q4 2018 Results
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donorCentrics Index of Direct Marketing Fundraising:
Q4 2018 Results
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donorCentrics Index of Direct Marketing Fundraising:
Q4 2018 Results – Arts and Cultural
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Altru Patron Benchmarking Dashboards
384 cultural organizations
60 Children’s Museums
Based on data from Altru Dashboards - Interactive, web-based dashboard
for Altru organizations to compare their supporting giving trends to other
Altru participating organizations
Organizations range in Patron counts from 1300 – 19,000
Revenue Ranges from $400,000 - $2,200,000
An assessment of patron support – through the
giving lifecycle
Acquire Retain Upgrade
Ticket Buyer
Member Donor
Active Patron Supporters
50th
percentile
75th
percentile
25th
percentile
The median revenue per patron was $222 in 2017.
Each patron made 1.6 transactions – tickets,
membership, and donations.
Active Patron Supporters – Children’s Museums
The median revenue per Children’s Museum patron was $164 in 2017.
Each Children’s Museum patron made 1.8 transactions – tickets, membership, and donations.
Revenue Per Patron - Comparison
All Organizations
Children’s Museums
Revenue Per Patrons with Donations – Comparison
Median Rev/ Donor Patron for Children’s
is $138 less than All Orgs Median
All Organizations
Children’s Museums
Median Rev/Members with Donations Patron
for Children’s is $111 less than All Orgs Median
Revenue per Patron
Median Overall Revenue per Patron ranged from $113 - $433
Median Revenue per Membership-Only Patron Ranged from $85-130
Revenue per Patron
At the median 6% of all Children’s Museums patrons
make charitable contributions outside of membership.
Patron Supporter Composition – Children’s Museums
Patron Supporter Composition – All Organizations
At the median 10% of all patrons make charitable
contributions outside of membership.
63% of all patrons are new to file.
Patron Supporter Composition by Loyalty– Children’s Museums
55% of all patrons are new to file.
Patron Supporter Composition by Loyalty– All Organizations
Transactions by Giving Level – Children’s Museums
Ticket Purchasers by Supporter Type – Children’s Museums
Patron Acquisition – Children’s Museums
Patron Acquisition – Children’s Museums
Patron Acquisition- All Organizations
80% of Organizations Increased the Number of New Patrons in 2017
Patron Acquisition – Comparisons
2019M+R Benchmarks Study
The top 25% of organizations retained 48+% of their
patrons, and 72% of their revenue.
Keeping Patrons and Revenue – All Organizations
The top 25% of organizations retained 34+% of their
patrons, and 45% of their revenue.
Keeping Patrons and Revenue – All Children’s Museums
Overall Patron Retention Rate Ranges from a Median 29% to 48%
Keeping Patrons - Comparison
Keeping Patrons and Revenue – All Children’s Museums
Patron retention is highest among
members who are also donors.
Patron retention increases
with loyalty.
Keeping Patrons and Revenue – All Children’s Museums
Multi-Year Ticket Only
Patrons retain as well as
Members.
The Overall Retention Rate of Patrons Who Only Purchased Tickets Ranges
from a Median 10% to 27%
Keeping Patrons - Comparison
Overall Retention Rate of Patrons Who Purchased a Membership Ranges
from a Median 33% to 68%
Keeping Patrons - Comparison
Conversion to Membership
Conversion to Membership increases
patron retention and long-term value
Children’s Museums
All Organizations
2019M+R Benchmarks Study
2019M+R Benchmarks Study
Sharing and learning from 35 organizations of
different sizes and missions
Data analysis covering a combined
17.7 million donors
who gave 61.4 million gifts
for a total of $2.41 billion in 2018.
donorCentrics Sustainer Summit
Recurring Populations and Revenue Increased at the Median.
Change in median
recurring donors over
3 years
+52%Change in median
recurring revenue over
3 years
+94%
First Year Retention Rate of All New Donors was Flat in 2018.
Composite First Year
Retention Rate 2017
35.8%Composite First Year
Retention Rate 2018
35.4%
First Year Retention Rate of New Single Gift Donors Declined
in 2018.
Composite First Year
Retention Rate for
Single Gift Donors
2017
30.8%Composite First Year
Retention Rate for
Single Gift Donors
2018
26.3%
Median Month 13 Donor Retention Rate for Recurring Acquired
Donors Increased in 2018, driving stable First-Year Retention
Rates Overall.
49% 48%52% 53%
64%
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
3,184 4,948 6,630 6,709 9,518
Median Number of New Recurring-Acquired Donors to Retain Each Year
donorCentrics Cultural Benchmarking Group
Range in the Share of Patrons Making a Recurring Gift
0.2% 2% 6%
Range in the Share of Patrons Making an Online Gift
2% 15% 16%
Donor Lifecycle and Impact on Analysis
Understanding how donors behave and
move through the file over time
Affects how you interpret your data
• Do you have a high percentage of new donors?
• Is your mid-level program robust?
• Do you have a large number of low dollar donors?
• Do you have a monthly donor program?
The composition of your file will affect retention rates,
reactivation rates, revenue per donor, and other key metrics.
Measure What is Meaningful
• Active Patrons
• Retention/Conversion
• Frequency
• Average Gift Amount
• Annual Value
• Revenue
• # of Gifts
• Members/Donor Non-Members
• Channel (Online, Onsite, Mail)
• Length of time on file
• Monthly Donors
What is important to your organization?
What are the Actionable Insights Gained from Data?
• Are our metrics on par with peer organizations?
• How should we prioritize our efforts?
• Should we invest more or cut back in direct marketing?
• Do we have the human resources we need to implement the strategy?
Technology resources?
• How do we communicate results to management?
Keep in mind that no other
organization is a perfect match.
Making good even betterThank you