Are You Measuring Engagement or Just Activity?
By Brittany Thomas
There’s a difference between being busy and being effective.
I see it all the time in fundraising reports: pageviews, impressions, open rates, list size. On paper, it all looks great. But zoom in a little, and the truth gets fuzzy.
Big numbers make us feel safe. But they don’t always mean real results. And in the nonprofit world, where time and resources are tight, we can’t afford to confuse movement with momentum.
Vanity Metrics vs. Quality Metrics: What’s the Difference (and Why It Matters)
Vanity metrics look great in a slide deck. They’re big, often fast-moving, and easy to celebrate. But without context, they don’t tell you much about impact.
Take this one:
“We added 1 million new names to our file this year.”
That sounds amazing. But… how many opened an email? How many gave? How many stuck around longer than a month?
A list of a million people is only as powerful as their willingness to engage and respond.
And here’s the harder truth — most of those names didn’t come for free.
They were acquired through paid social campaigns, prospecting efforts, co-branded content, maybe even a lead rental program. One way or another, you spent budget, staff time, or both to get them.
Which begs the question: why spend so much acquiring people if they never open, click, or give?
I once worked with a nonprofit that hit a huge acquisition milestone. Big jump in list size. Everyone was celebrating. But three months later, deliverability was tanking. Engagement was flat. Morale was low. When we pulled the data, it turned out that most of those new names had never engaged — not even once.
That’s not growth. That’s noise.
The Difference in Plain Terms
Vanity Metric | Quality Metric |
Email open rate | Email click-to-conversion rate |
Social likes | Donation page visits from social (tracked via UTMs) |
Ad impressions | Assisted conversions or donor acquisition cost |
List size | Active, engaged, or reactivated subscribers |
Pageviews | Scroll depth, time on page, exit intent |
CTR on donation page | Completed donations and average gift |
Number of campaigns run | Lift in donor retention or average lifetime value |
Busy Doesn’t Mean Effective
Especially in fundraising, more is not always better. If you’re chasing growth for the sake of growth, you might end up with:
- Cold lists that don’t respond
- Higher unsubscribe rates
- Lower deliverability
- Wasted ad spend
- Confused creative teams (“Who are we even writing for?”)
It’s the depth of the relationship, not just the width of your list, that fuels generosity over time.
A Better Question to Ask
Instead of asking:
“How many did we reach?”
Try asking:
“How many responded?”
“What did they do after that click?”
“Did this help deepen trust or just make noise?”
Engagement is measured in movement, not just visibility.
When we shift our thinking away from surface-level stats and toward meaningful interaction, everything gets clearer. And clearer helps you grow what matters most: trust, connection, and results.
Practical Next Steps for Fundraising Teams
1. Define Success Before You Launch
Are you looking to grow first-time donors? Boost retention? Move someone from advocate to recurring giver? Define the outcome before you create the campaign.
2. Track First-Party Data and Use UTMs
UTMs are foundational to attribution. They let you see exactly where donors came from and what content moved them to act. Without UTMs, you’re left guessing.
Use tools like utmmaker.com to standardize your structure — and don’t forget to test your links in advance. When your UTM strategy is consistent, attribution becomes easier and more reliable across every channel.
3. Blend Data for a Full Picture
Tools like Avid make it easier to connect the dots between platforms. You can track performance across donor cohorts, giving levels, and even specific campaigns all in one place. Funnel.io is another powerful tool that helps you pull data from different systems (ad platforms, email tools, CRMs) into a unified dashboard.
When your data talks to each other, you get a clearer picture of what’s working… and what’s not.
4. Build Dashboards That Show Movement
Clicks are fine. Conversions are better. Repeat conversions? Even better. Set up reporting that shows user journeys, not just touchpoints. Create dashboards that answer real questions like:
“What inspired this donor to give?”
“What campaign brought in the most high-value givers?”
“What’s driving retention?”
Final Thought
Fundraising is not about lighting up a dashboard. It’s about creating a pathway for people to say yes.
Yes to giving.
Yes to impact.
Yes to something bigger than themselves.
By focusing on meaningful engagement and leveraging tools that help you track it with clarity, you give your team the confidence to act on what’s real, not just what looks good.
If you’re wondering how to tell the difference between vanity and value, or need help setting up a better way to measure what matters, let’s talk. I’d love to help you build a smarter, more human-first fundraising engine.
Brittany Thomas
Head of Operations
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