Donor Acquisition Cost
Donor Acquisition, or DAC, is the price you pay to earn a first gift from a donor to your organization.
Donorbox Peer-to-peer fundraising is one of the best donor acquisition strategies since it encourages supporters to reach out to their peers, friends, coworkers, and family members for donations on your behalf
How to use this calculator
To calculate your DAC you will want to divide the amount of all fundraising expenses by the total number of acquired or new donors to your organization. This can include expenses to third party vendors, postage, staff salaries and other fundraising related costs.
Pro Tip
The cost to acquire a new donor and donor lifetime value go hand in hand. These two metrics combined can be used in analysis to determine if your fundraising program is sustainable. It is more expensive to acquire a new donor than to retain a current donor, so it’s good to keep that ratio in check!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I include staff salaries in my overall fundraising expenses when calculating DAC?
If you are a small nonprofit (less than 5 staff or small revenues), you are better off calculating your DAC without including salaries or overhead costs. If you are a large nonprofit (larger staff, larger revenues) you should calculate DAC both ways, with and without salaries and overhead costs.
How should I consider donor acquisition cost as I implement various fundraising strategies.
When you acquire a donor you want to know not only which channel they came through, but also what the expense was to acquire them. Use separate Donorbox campaigns for each solicitation to determine which fundraising activities are worth investing more in and which are worth moving away from.