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Building a Board-Ready Monthly Giving Report: What to Track and How to Present It

You’ve built your monthly giving program. Donors are signing up. Revenue is coming in. And then your board chair asks: ‘How’s the sustainer program doing?’

You know it’s going well – but when you sit down to pull the numbers, you’re not sure exactly what to show them or how to make it meaningful to volunteers who don’t live in your CRM.

I’ve been in this conversation many times. Here’s exactly what I recommend.

Why Board Reporting on Monthly Giving Matters

First: boards fund what they understand. A board that can read your sustainer metrics is more likely to champion the program, refer donors to it, and show up as monthly donors themselves.

The Tim Tebow Foundation’s sustainer programs now represent approximately 33% of their annual revenue. That kind of organizational priority requires leadership buy-in at every level – and clear reporting is what builds that buy-in.

Second, strong monthly giving metrics signal organizational health to outside audiences too. Lenders, foundations, and major donors increasingly look at recurring revenue as an indicator of sustainability.

The Five Metrics Every Board Report Should Include

1. Total Active Sustainers – Your headline growth number. Report it every quarter and show the trend.
2. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) – The total dollar amount processing successfully each month. This is your predictability metric. It’s the number that answers: ‘How much baseline revenue can we count on?’
3. Sustainer Retention Rate – What percentage of monthly donors from 12 months ago are still giving today? Above 80% means your stewardship is working. Below 70%, something needs attention.
4. Average Monthly Gift – Total MRR divided by total active sustainers. The Water Promise Circle’s 900+ members average $45/month – a figure they actively manage through annual upgrade campaigns.
5. Failed Payment Rate – What percentage of charges failed this month? A healthy program keeps this below 5%.

How to Present It

Boards respond to visuals, trends, and benchmarks – not raw tables of numbers. Instead of a spreadsheet, show:

• A simple line graph of MRR over the past 12 months
• A comparison of this quarter’s retention rate vs. last year
• One concrete impact statement: ‘Our sustainers funded 847 meals in October’
• A benchmark: ‘The sector average retention rate for monthly donors is 80-90%. We’re at ___.’

One page. One slide. Your goal is comprehension, not comprehensiveness.

What to Say When the Numbers Aren’t Perfect

Every program has bad months. When this happens, don’t hide it. Contextualize it.

Come to the board with three things: what happened, why you believe it happened, and what you’re doing about it. Boards can handle problems. What erodes trust is feeling like they only see the good news.

Feeding Westchester’s growth to 2,200 monthly donors was driven in part by a VP of Development who championed the program at the leadership level. That advocacy started with honest, clear reporting.

Setting Goals Your Board Can Champion

Board members who co-create goals are far more likely to actively support hitting them – through introductions, their own monthly giving, and public advocacy. Involve them in setting targets:

• ‘We want to reach 150 active sustainers by December.’
• ‘Our goal is MRR of $5,000 by Q3.’
• ‘We’re targeting 80% retention this fiscal year.’

Give your board something to champion, not just review.

“Monthly giving is the foundation of our sustainability. Our recurring donors are a crucial part of ensuring that we can continue to serve our community consistently, regardless of the unpredictability of grants or one-time donations.”  – Gloria Umanah, Founder & CEO, The Hope Booth

The Monthly Giving Builder includes a reporting framework to help you track the right metrics and communicate your program’s performance with clarity and confidence. Visit monthlygivingbuilder.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dana Snyder

Dana Snyder is the founder of Positive Equation, creator of the Monthly Giving Builder, a sought-after keynote speaker and workshop facilitator, and the author of The Monthly Giving Mastermind: A Framework to Build, Grow & Sustain Subscriptions for Good. She is also the host of the global nonprofit podcast Missions to Movements, and host of the Monthly Giving Summit, a worldwide event for nonprofit professionals focused on building stronger recurring revenue programs.