Don’t Be Mean—Be Median: The Smarter Way To Analyze Donor Data

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Nonprofit fundraisers, meet your new best friend in donor data analysis: the Median average.
When it comes to understanding your donor base, using the right type of average is crucial.
Outlier donations can skew your results, making your donor base appear more or less stable than it actually is. Enter the Median average, which provides a more transparent, more realistic picture of your donor data.
Quick math review:
Here’s an example.
Unlike the Mean, the Median cuts through the noise of outliers—those extra-large or extra-small donations—and gives you a true middle ground. Look at what happens to the two averages if our example set loses its biggest donor:
That’s a pretty big difference, right? Using the Median is a much more reliable tool for:
Using the mean can create an overly optimistic picture, leading to unrealistic fundraising targets. That’s why we love the Median—it ensures you’re basing decisions on data that truly reflects your donor community.
Want to see proof? Check out this video from Sari McConnell, CFRE & Founder of a strategic fundraising firm for nonprofits called Donor Boom.
If you want to learn more about making the most of your data, join Sari for a FREE Forecasting 101 Webinar today, hosted by Bloomerang, and learn how to forecast your nonprofit’s revenue with confidence. Register now!
And remember… don’t be Mean. Be Median.
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