Comments on: Calculating Your Online $$ Potential

By: Rick Malchow

Rick Malchow — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:16:50 +0000

Danger, danger, Will Robinson!
Yes, this calculator is too simplistic. Oversimplifying this process gives people the false sense that projections like this are simple and can be based on broad industry variables. There are several key variable missing – Tom is correct in pointing out that no acquisition data is requested. Acquisition has an enormous impact on forecasting. Nor is there any input for retention and donor value. These variables vary greatly among organizations.
In addition, I have looked at online activity from many organizations with mature online strategy. They all have different trends based on a variety of factors – percentage of donor email addresses immediately comes to mind.

By: Heather C

Heather C — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:18:38 +0000

Sounds like a great way for Convio to collect more data for their own purposes.

By: Sarah Anderson

Sarah Anderson — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:36:03 +0000

The calculator is some fine snake oil. Convio’s amazing algorithm simply multiplies the inputs by 6, 5, or 4 depending on your maturity level. This is a marketing and sales tool for them, but sadly not useful for realistic fundraising planning. My charity does not build budgets or projections off of four pieces of data. I doubt others do either.

By: Carolyn Copp

Carolyn Copp — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:28:20 +0000

I’d like to also encourage some smart math whiz to come up with a life-time value calculator…if you run across one, do let us know.