This week I was reminded how important it is not to just do a good job but to be able to SHOW that you have and can do a good job. Calculating ROI (Return On Investment) on fundraising activities such as events or appeals is one way to do this.
Judy Nerl has done this with some of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit's outreach activities. She gathered figures to show which activities were generating more income. In this she needed to know the balance between incoming donations and outgoing expenses. The organization runs a large and historically rich facility on a tight budget. The facility serves as a spiritual center for the Catholic Church. Among the Center’s many activities this year, are events and retreats for high schools students.
Julie Nerl is currently a one person development staff for the Center. “It’s a large place with few employees,” she says, “as most nonprofits we all multi-task”. Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center is a FundRaiser Professional user. Julie is the main user of FundRaiser. “I use the FundRaiser Software system daily,” she says.
She uses FundRaiser to help her gather the information she needs to calculate ROI. For Julie, the Campaign Module has been particularly helpful in this regard. For more, read the complete case study of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit here .