What Do Good Fundraising Reports Actually Look Like?

In fundraising, good reports aren’t about fancy dashboards or auto-generated PDFs that no one reads. Good reports are the ones that get used. They drive decisions, guide strategy, and help teams work smarter (and maybe even breathe easier).

So what do good fundraising reports look like?

They are:

🔍 Clear – No jargon or acronyms. No convoluted inclusion or exclusion criteria. Just the essentials, in language your team understands.
🎯 Purposeful – Every report answers a specific question. Who’s lapsing? Who needs a thank-you call? What’s stuck in the pipeline?
🚦 Actionable – Good reports make the next steps obvious. They shine a light on what needs attention now, not just what happened last month.
⏱ Timely – Delivered when decisions need to be made. That might be weekly, monthly, or tied to campaign phases—but always on time.
📈 Consistent – No format switch-ups every time. The team should recognize the report at a glance and know what they’re looking at.
💡 Designed for busy people – Don’t make people work harder than they have to, to figure out what the data is saying. Put the most important information at the top, include definitions and keep the design simple.

Metrics That Tell a Story

A good report blends lagging indicators (outcomes) with leading indicators (early signals of future performance).

Lagging indicators show what happened:

• Total dollars raised

• Number of gifts

• Donor retention rate

Leading indicators hint at what’s coming:

• Planned solicitations

• Frequency of donor interactions

• New potential donors qualified

• Time from ask to answer (or qualification to ask)

The best reports combine both, so you get the full picture: where you’ve been and where you’re headed.

Some Examples

Let’s break down three common report types, their purpose, key metrics, and what they should (and shouldn’t) include.

🔬 1. Fundraising Dashboard

Audience: Senior Leadership, Board of Directors
Purpose: Give a high-level view of overall fundraising health and progress toward goals.

Lagging Indicators

• Total revenue received (cash in the door) by quarter with YOY comparison
  A YOY comparison by quarter will help contextualize the fundraising efforts.

• Donations by constituent type (Individuals, Corporations, Foundations, Government, Other)
  This will help to understand where funding comes from, where there are opportunities and where there are risks.

Leading Indicators

• Number of planned solicitations by quarter
  This will provide reassurance that there is a plan to reach goal.

• Number of new donors acquired
  This will indicate the health of the pipeline and future opportunities.

What to include:  Clear progress to goal, strong visuals with simple definitions.
What to avoid: Excessive detail, fundraising lingo, complex criteria.

The story this report should tell:
"We’re on track (or not) and why, here’s where things are working, and here’s what needs attention."

📊 2. Forecast Report

Audience: Finance and Fundraising Leadership
Purpose: Provide a realistic projection of fundraising revenue based on what’s secured and what’s confidently expected.

Lagging Indicators

• Revenue received YTD by fund/program

• Revenue received by month, YTD against goal

• Unrestricted vs. restricted funding secured

Leading Indicators

• Amount expected based on solicitations asked or in progress

• Percentage of pipeline likely to close this fiscal year (weighted forecast)

What to include: Notes on shifts (e.g. delayed grant decisions), and confidence levels.
What to avoid: Inflated numbers based on unqualified leads or hopeful assumptions.

The story this report should tell:
"Here’s what we can count on, here’s what’s still in motion, and here are the risks to watch."

🎯 3. Fundraiser Performance Report

Audience: Major Gift Fundraisers and Managers
Purpose: Provide actionable insight into individual and team activity and outcomes.

Lagging Indicators

• Success Ratio: total number of solicitations divided by total number of successful solicitations

• Total revenue secured by portfolio

• Average gift size (closed gifts only)

Leading Indicators

• Percentage of portfolio with a planned solicitation

• Time between ask to answer with solicitations

• Percentage of portfolio with recent activity in past three months

What to include: Simple charts, comparisons over time, progress-to-goal.
What to avoid: Overly punitive framing—this is for learning and coaching, not finger-pointing.

The story this report should tell:
"Here’s how we’re progressing, where momentum is building, and where to shift focus next."

Reports should be more than documentation. They should be a decision-making tool, a coaching tool, a strategic alignment tool.

📊 Your reports are only as strong as the data behind them

Even the most beautifully designed report is useless if the underlying data is incomplete, poorly formatted and lacks integrity.

If you want reports that spark decisions and build confidence, you need accurate data. And that starts with knowing which data points matter most.

Here are the essential data points you need to trust for any report:

Fund designation: Identifies unrestricted versus restricted funding. Essential for financial planning.

Donation source: Was the gift the result of a planned solicitation, direct mail appeal? Was it unsolicited? Was it made in memory or in honour of someone? Essential to understanding how donors choose to give to you and why.

Constituent type: Helps segment by donor category (individual, corporation, foundation, etc.). Essential to understand funding opportunities, risks and who are your donors.

Solicitation timing: Ask date and ask amount.  Essential for forecasting purposes, managing workload and understand fundraiser performance.

Proposal stage/status: Has the ask been made? Is the solicitation in progress? Or is it sitting there waiting for you to act? Essential for forecasting and performance management – will the gift be realised and is the fundraiser doing the work.

Close date (expected or actual): Essential for predicting timing and cash flow.

Expected gift amount: Essential for cash flow

Donor contact details: this includes contact type (meeting, phone call, email), date of the interaction, and type of interaction (e.g. solicitation, stewardship, information sharing). Essential for institutional knowledge. For reporting purposes, indicates fundraiser performance.

Fundraiser assignment: Essential to help fundraisers indicate who they are engaging and inspiring.

Without these data points being current and accurate, your reports can’t tell the right story—no matter how pretty the charts are.

Final Thoughts

Reports should tell a story that informs strategy—not just describe the past.

Thoughtful metrics that are chosen intentionally, create a narrative. They say:
“This happened. Here’s what it means. And here’s where we go from here.”

When you design reports with purpose, they stop being “admin overhead” and start becoming some of the most powerful tools in your fundraising toolkit.

What does a good fundraising report look like? Data-inspired strategy in action.