Pulling it All Together: Calculating the Impact of GivingFirst.org and Colorado Gives Day

By Bryce Wilkinson, Senior Online Giving Specialist

Another Colorado Gives Day is behind us! Thank you for all your hard work that made the day so successful. Now that Colorado Gives Day has passed and 2012 has come to a close, it’s time to start assessing the results. In addition to the data we collect and analyze, we also require feedback from you, the nonprofits, to help us answer questions that we cannot determine from our data and to provide us with a better understanding of the impact of GivingFirst and Colorado Gives Day.

Online Survey
This information is gathered from GivingFirst participants through an online survey emailed to each GivingFirst contact on Tuesday, January 8. We consider this survey to be your grant report to Community First Foundation about your use of GivingFirst, so please keep an eye out for it and make sure it is completed by the January 15 deadline.

Video: How to Answer Survey Questions
Since some of the questions on this survey require you to do a few calculations before you complete it, I wanted to remind you that in the Countdown to Colorado Gives Day webinar we reviewed all of the survey questions as well as provided you with formulas and strategies you will need to employ in order to answer the questions. To make this information easier to find, we pulled out that segment of the webinar and have posted it as its own video. We understand that you may not work with data in this manner on a routine basis and that not everyone is a math person, so that is why we’ve offered some assistance. Please watch the video, so that you can be prepared to complete the survey once you receive it.

It is our hope that by requesting this information you are not only helping us to better understand the impact of GivingFirst and Colorado Gives Day, but that it also enhances your understanding of how GivingFirst and Colorado Gives Day factor into your fundraising plans. Also, if you were not previously tracking some or any of this information, we hope these questions encourage you to start looking at your data and using the data to help identify items to celebrate, point out areas for improvement, and make more informed decisions.

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