Waterfall Analysis of LFY Giving
A dashboard-format revenue opportunity waterfall that decomposes last full year's giving movement, by Top, Middle, and Bottom segment, into lapses, decreases, upgrades, downgrades, recaptures, and new gifts, with a drill tab for every movement bucket. Built on QX142, QX171, and QX173.
How to use the Waterfall Analysis of LFY Giving
This is a dashboard-format analytic that shows you exactly how your revenue changed over the last full fiscal year and why. It is built on the data from these analyses: QX142 (Segment analysis by year, the revenue-bridge engine), QX171 (Linchpin Individual Donors), and QX173 (Linchpin Individual Donor Current FYTD Enriched). The centerpiece is a waterfall that walks from prior-year giving to ending revenue.
For each segment, Top, Middle, and Bottom, the waterfall decomposes the year's change into its causes: revenue lost to lapsed donors, revenue lost when donors gave less or moved down a segment, revenue gained when donors gave more or upgraded into the segment, revenue from recaptured donors, and revenue from brand-new donors. Every one of these movement buckets has its own supporting worksheet, so you can drill from the summary number straight to the specific donors behind it, for example the Top donors who decreased, the Middle donors who upgraded to Top, or the Bottom donors who lapsed.
The strategic value is that a single change in total revenue hides a great deal. Two organizations can post the same year-over-year number while one is quietly losing major donors and replacing them with new small gifts. This waterfall makes those offsetting flows visible, so you can see whether growth is healthy and where the leaks are.
You should review this at the close of each fiscal year with your development director and leadership. Use the lapsed and decreased buckets to build win-back and retention lists, and use the upgrade and new-donor buckets to understand what is actually driving growth.
Measure success by shrinking the dollars in the lapsed and downgraded buckets year over year, and by growth in the upgrade, recapture, and new-donor buckets.
Analytic ID: QX192
Analytic Name: Waterfall Analysis of LFY Giving
Focus: 0.1: Getting Started; 3.3: Dashboards; 1.1: Year-over-Year Donation Trends; 3.1: Health Checks
Type: Dashboard Style
Segments: Organization | Scope: Organization
Description: The Waterfall Analysis of LFY Giving tracks last fiscal year's donor contributions, identifying trends and patterns in donor behavior to enhance your fundraising strategies. By leveraging these insights, you can optimize engagement efforts and improve donor retention, ultimately leading to stronger relationships and increased donations.
Key Question: What does our Waterfall Analysis tell us about where are risks and opportunities are and who are the donors who made up the flows in our waterfall analysis from last year?
Action: Review the Waterfall Analysis and donors who impacted it the most to determine where to focus this year.