Many small or new organizations hear the word “data” and picture confusing fundraising dashboards or complex reports that feel far beyond their capacity. But data does not have to be intimidating, and with a few simple tools and the right questions, it can become a powerful tool in your day-to-day work. Even better is that you do not need complicated systems to start making sense of your numbers. Descriptive statistics offer the simplest place to start, and the foundation for more advanced fundraising analytics as you grow. This approach helps you use the donor data you already have to uncover insights, spot patterns or trends, and identify opportunities that can strengthen your organization’s work.

And whether you are preparing for a board meeting, building systems as a team of one, or getting ready to scale your fundraising to the next level, these statistics can support your decision-making, both now and as you grow. And if you decide to adopt donor management software in the future, these same lessons will help you get more value from the software. Furthermore, a dedicated donor database can also lighten the load of administrative tasks and reduce the time you spend on manual tracking. To help you get started, this article will walk you through five real-world questions and the simple stats that help answer them.

What Does a “Typical” Donor Look Like? Statistic to Use: Mean (Average)

Definition: The mean represents the most central number for a single variable in your dataset, such as the number of gifts or donation amount. To calculate it, add all the values in that category together, then divide by the total number of entries.

Why it matters: Understanding the average gift size can be incredibly helpful, especially when comparing different donor segments, such as the average gift from one-time donors versus monthly donors. Knowing this number allows you to tailor your asks more effectively and align them with what donors are already giving.

Example: The average donor gives $55 at your organization. This helps you suggest giving levels that feel achievable, and it also helps ensure you are not asking for a $200 gift when the typical donation is less than $100 in this case. This kind of knowledge becomes especially useful as you refine your fundraising strategy or personalize your outreach.

Are Some Donors No Longer Giving? Statistic to Use: Most Recent Gift Date

Definition: The most recent gift date shows when a donor last gave and can help you identify who may be at risk of not giving again.

Why it matters: Knowing who has not given in a while allows you to re-engage donors who may be on the verge of becoming a lapsed donor. These are donors that gave in the past but have not given recently. You can craft a personalized message that welcomes them back, expresses gratitude for their past support, or gently reminds them that their giving still matters. This kind of thoughtful follow-up improves retention and deepens donor relationships over time.

Example: A donor who used to give a consistent annual gift has not given in more than two years. That might be your cue to send a warm, personalized update rather than a generic newsletter. Reaching out with a thoughtful message reminds them of their past impact and invites them to reconnect with your work, or even to start giving again.

Are There Exceptions Hiding the Real Trend? Statistic to Use: Outliers

Definition: An outlier is a value in your data that is much higher or lower than the rest. It stands out from the typical pattern, like a very large donation or an unusually frequent participant, and can skew your overall fundraising numbers as a result.

Why it matters: Identifying outliers allows you to separate unusual results from your everyday patterns. This helps you base your decisions on what is typical, not what is exceptional. If one or two major donors give large amounts, or one participant engages far more than others, it can shift your sense of what is “normal,” and make things look more successful than they may be overall. This makes your insights more reliable and ensures you are designing fundraising strategies that reflect your core donor base, not just a few exceptional cases. Although the people represented by these outliers present an opportunity in your data, and represent a potential you can work toward, they should not be used as the standard for understanding what your data truly represents when making decisions.

Example: One donor gave $1,000, but the next highest gift was $75. Noticing that outlier helps you shape your strategy around the broader donor base, not just the rare high-value gift, which may call for a separate strategy of its own. By sorting your data and counting how many donors fall into each giving range, you can spot meaningful patterns and group donors into useful segments for more personalized outreach.

What Patterns Are Emerging, and What Is Missing? Statistic to Use: Frequency

Definition: Frequency tells you how many times a certain value appears. It is one of the simplest stats you can use, and one of the most powerful for spotting patterns and gaps.

Why it matters: When you count how often something shows up (or does not), you start to notice trends and areas to improve. That might include how often people give, how many participants attend your events, or which initiatives your supporters engage with most. These frequency patterns can strengthen your outreach efforts and improve your reporting.

Example: You noticed a high number of one-time gifts in your donor list. That pattern suggests many supporters give once but do not return which signals a possible opportunity to strengthen your donor retention strategy. This could be a good time to focus on messages that encourage ongoing support. Or, if growing monthly giving is a goal, consider making that option more visible in your communications.

What Are We Tracking, and Should We Keep Tracking It? Statistic to Use: Your Judgment + One Key Question

Definition: In this case, your “statistic” is the ability to think and ask whether a number you are collecting is truly helping your organization. This is about evaluation, and not math and trusting your instincts as an effective nonprofit leader.

Why it matters: Not every data point is worth collecting especially if your team does not have the capacity to be collecting lots of information. If a data point does not guide your decisions or move you closer to your fundraising goals, it may be cluttering your database and making it harder for your team to understand what is really going on with your donor data. Simplicity for small teams always works best and you do not need 40 fields on your spreadsheet to run your organization well, you just need the ones that serve your team best. You might ask yourself, “Does this number help us make a decision or understand something better?” If the answer is no, it might be time to shift your attention to numbers that offer more value.

Example: You have been trying to compare giving trends across different donor segments,, but as a small team without automated reports or dedicated data support, calculating it accurately takes more time than you can realistically spare. Furthermore, it may not offer the best return on investment right now. If it is not actively informing your strategy or it takes too much time, you might choose to pause on that metric and focus on more immediate signals, like average gift or most recent gift date. Rather than using the metric just because it seemed important, you trusted your instincts and focused on the numbers that were actually helpful and realistic for your team to track.

Simple Stats, Better Understanding

You do not need a full analytics team to get meaningful insights from your numbers. With just a few simple statistics, like averages, frequencies, and outliers, and your ability to evaluate, you can start answering important questions about your donors.

By understanding who typically gives, spotting patterns in participation, noticing when something changes, and questioning what you track, you begin to shift data from feeling like “extra work” to making the most of what you already have. This approach keeps things manageable and mission-focused.

Ready to make your data work for you? Discover how Chronicle helps small teams track what matters, without the guesswork.

Stats Made Simple: A Beginner’s Guide for Small Nonprofits