The numbers to ask for in a campaign report

Acquisition

How many new donors the campaign brought in, by location and by week. On its own it is the easiest number to be impressed by and the easiest to inflate, which is why it never travels alone.

Retention

How many of those donors are still giving months later. This is the number that separates a campaign from a spike. Sector-wide, retention runs low: the Fundraising Effectiveness Project put overall donor retention at 43.3% in 2025, with new donor retention essentially flat, and called converting a first gift into a second the sector's most consequential unsolved problem.

Cost per donor

What each acquired donor cost. Read it against retention, not on its own: a cheap donor who lapses in four months is more expensive than a costlier one who stays for years.

The report your state may already require

Nearly all states that regulate professional fundraisers require a campaign financial report covering the total raised, the fee paid to the fundraiser and certain campaign expenses, typically within ninety days of the campaign's end, according to Perlman & Perlman. That is a filing, not a management report. Ask your partner what you get on top of it, and how often.

We report acquisition, retention and cost per donor plainly, so you always know what your campaign is achieving and where it can go next.