Avalon’s Sustainer Dashboard

It is no surprise that sustainer programs are the lifeblood of so many nonprofits’ fundraising programs—since they result in steady, reliable income from high-value, loyal donors. More and more nonprofits are focusing on growing their sustainer files—in fact, the 2021 M+R Benchmarks saw a 25% growth in sustainer revenue over 2020. And sustainer revenue now makes up 19% of all online revenue.

Monthly giving programs are hugely beneficial, but it can be difficult to pinpoint the current active universe, as well as actionable metrics for sustainer giving. Avalon Analytics’ sustainer dashboard is designed to give you all the data you need to maximize your sustainer program.

One problem that nonprofits sometimes experience with tracking sustainer data is information overload—too many numbers and tables that are only relevant for someone wanting to spend hours on a deep dive. But that level of detail is not ideal for those wanting to check their program’s pulse more frequently.

Avalon’s sustainer dashboard covers all of the metrics you want to see in an easy to digest and visual format. Of course, you can also take a deeper, more forensic look with this product, when you want to examine every last detail.

Included are essential, top-level stats like current sustainer counts, revenue, and year-over-year change, along with helpful visuals for monthly and cumulative revenue—to pinpoint potential issues or changes in trends. This way, you can get a jump on correcting potential problems before they become serious issues, while also maximizing opportunities.

Beyond the basic stats, we also show you income per sustainer, gifts per sustainer, and average gift, all compared to non-sustainers for relevancy—plus new-join sustainer analysis by type and channel.

We show multiple critical retention views, because we find this to be one of the most important metrics for a healthy sustainer program. And, of course, we report long-term value to help pinpoint the most productive sustainers by channel or join type, and to underline the effectiveness of sustainer programs compared to non-monthly joins.

Most importantly, the dashboard also includes Avalon Analytics’ expert interpretation, helping you to see what the numbers mean in terms of strategy and next steps .

Finally, this critical tool will be a real help when explaining to non-marketers the need for investment in sustainer programs — an extremely important and effective revenue stream. To see it in action and learn how it can help you acquire and engage sustainers for your nonprofit, reach out to your Avalon account executive.