Why Your Fundraising Report Misses the Target (And How to Hit It Every Time)

Stop reporting activities. Start telling a "data-story" that inspires action.

You Should Know This

You know the feeling. You spend five hours exporting data, wrangling spreadsheets, and formatting a report for your board meeting. You present it... and their eyes just glaze over. You get a polite, "Thanks for the update," and they move on.

It's one of the most frustrating experiences for a social impact leader. Your data isn't connecting with their strategic function.

Here's the problem: You're reporting activities, not insights. Your board doesn't need a list of every grant you submitted. They are a strategic body, and they need a strategic story.

What's Going On

When a board member's eyes glaze over, it's not because they don't care. It's because you've given them a "what" with no "so what."

• Activity Report (Informative but disconnected): "We submitted 10 funding applications, 3 were awarded, 2 were declined, and 5 are pending."

• Data-Story (Insightful and inspiring clear action): "We had a 60% success rate on 'warm' applications where we had a prior relationship, and a 0% success rate on 'cold' applications. This data confirms our 2026 strategy must be to prioritize relationship-building first."

A board member hearing that second story can say, "Wait, I know someone at the X Foundation. Let me make an introduction." This is the power of a strategic story.

Why This Matters

You are sitting on a goldmine of data. Your funding tracker shouldn't just be an admin tool; it should be your storytelling toolkit.

When you start tracking your data consistently, you can tell powerful stories that lead your board and team:

• The Story of Risk: "As you can see from our Funder Dependency chart, 70% of our funding comes from two sources. This is a major risk, and our top priority must be to diversify."

• he Story of Capacity: "Our Cash Flow chart shows that 50% of our new funding is 'reimbursable.' We need to discuss a line of credit to manage this."

• The Story of Efficiency: "We are wasting 40 hours a month on applications we never submit. We have a workflow problem, not a time problem."

This is the kind of "data-driven" leadership that boards are craving.

What's Next

Telling a good data-story starts with gathering good data. It begins with the very first step: prospect research. You need a process to identify which funders and funding are a good fit, so you can track your success with them later.

To help you build this muscle, I'm sharing my Funder Prospecting & Alignment Checklist.

What Else You Should Know

My mission is to help values-oriented leaders move past organizational noise and focus on strategic clarity.

If you need ideas or support to streamline or improve your processes, please reach out. From Fundraising Audits to Strategic Planning and Systems Design for Organizational Capacity, I’ve helped leaders see the path forward.

Let’s talk about how I can help you achieve your values-oriented goals.