Who Are Your Donors?

Your donor types will come in many shapes and sizes. Just as you have more than one kind of churchgoer, so too are there multiple types of donors within your ministry. The information garnered from the following worksheet will not be universal, but it will allow you to create universally targeted messaging.

Take a look at the example worksheet provided below and then complete the subsequent blank form. This demographic information can be used in conjunction with other data to learn which groups of people fall into which donor categories. This allows for improved donor segmentation which results in higher giving amounts.

You can complete these worksheets on individual donors, segments of donors or your entire congregation on average. If you’re trying to get an idea of your entire ministry, just enter the averages in the spaces provided. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll need plenty of individual data to accomplish this overview.

Some of these metrics and demographic data may hard to come by. In many cases, though, you may already have the information. Think about your membership applications, volunteer sign-up sheets and any other documents you may have. If you don’t have this information, it can be garnered through surveys, questionnaires and interviews.

Who Are Your Donors? (Example)

Age of Record’s Main Donor: 35 years

Length of Time w/ Church: 17 (months)

Percentage of Outreach Volunteers:35% (who’s participated in outreach events?)

Preferred Communication Method: Email (phone call, email, text, social media, etc.)

Motivation (your opinion of why they gravitate to your congregation and mission):

Our focus on helping our local community through homeless and low-income outreach.

Yearly Income: $35,000

Activities participated in: Clothing drives, fundraising events. (volunteering, theater, etc.)

Employment type: Marketing (i.e. industry)

# of Children: 2

# of Yearly Vacations: 3

RFM Model

Donors can be further segmented by calculating their Recency, Frequency, and Monetary (RFM) values. If you’re unfamiliar with utilizing these values, the calculations can be found in Discovery Phase 1 of the DonorWerx Framework.

Recency: 15 (Days since last donation)

+

Frequency: 32 (How many times have they donated)

+

Monetary: $450 (Full value of all contributions)

=     (RFM Value Using Calculation from DonorWerx Framework)

Who Are Your Donors?

Age of Record’s Main Donor:     

Length of Time w/ Church:      (months)

Percentage of Outreach Volunteers:      (who’s participated in outreach events?)

Preferred Communication Method:      (phone call, email, text, social media, etc.)

Motivation (your opinion of why they gravitate to your congregation and mission):

    

Yearly Income:     

Activities participated in:      (volunteering, theater, etc.)

Employment type:      (i.e. industry)

# of Children:     

# of Yearly Vacations:     

RFM Model

Donors can be further segmented by calculating their Recency, Frequency, and Monetary (RFM) values. If you’re unfamiliar with utilizing these values, the calculations can be found in Discovery Phase 1 of the DonorWerx Framework.

Recency:     (Days since last donation)

+

Frequency:     (How many times have they donated)

+

Monetary:     (Full value of all contributions)

=     (RFM Value Using Calculation from DonorWerx Framework)