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Upgrades and Downgrades

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Analysis

Upgrades and downgrades track how many donors have moved up or down in their giving levels and how long donors have stayed at the same giving levels. By tracking these donor moves, you’ll be able to assess trends in movement between gift amounts and giving levels among donors. In doing so, it will be easier to assess the efficacy of your efforts and to determine prospects for major gifts.


Analysis

An upward trend, meaning that donors are giving more, can confirm that your solicitation and stewardship efforts have been successful. Downward movement, meaning that supporters gave less, could cause you to assess why this occurred (perhaps a donor has shifted priorities in their personal finances, has health expenses, or has even started giving to other organizations). Your organization can dig into the donor histories of your supporters to assess whether individuals are consistently increasing their gift sizes and if they could be good gift prospects. Additionally, you might see whether individuals have been giving at the same level for many years and determine if a larger solicitation ask is appropriate. Donors that give a large, one-time gift are far different from donors who give increasingly larger gifts from year to year. Analyzing this movement will help you decipher some of these patterns.


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