Hope is the thing with feathers —
That perches in the soul
— “Hope is the thing with feathers (254),” Emily Dickinson
PREFACE
Is it gauche to quote a lovely and very famous poem, and then immediately pivot to quoting yourself? Maybe.
“You should know that the whole time, when we’re talking about numbers, we’re going to be having feelings.”
We said that back in our 2021 edition, and if there were an official M+R Benchmarks motto, that would be it.
Back then, we were reflecting on the astounding upwelling of support for nonprofits through the first year of the Covid pandemic. The data showed higher revenue numbers; it also revealed compassion, generosity, community in a time of isolation.
Once again this year, we have so, so much data to share with you: literally millions of interactions, billions of dollars, so many numbers. Our objective is to help you use this data to shed light on your own program and find opportunities to advance your cause.
We also, the whole time, will be having feelings. About what the numbers say about supporters. About how each gift and petition signature is an expression of someone’s values, identity, hopes, fears, defiance, outrage, grief, empathy, courage, curiosity, solidarity, remembrance, frustration, heartbreak, every human thing but resignation.
No matter how many new metrics we report or how much detail we cram into our charts, they can’t hope to capture that context. So, we’re sharing some poetry in this year’s Benchmarks alongside the usual data and analysis.
This is a hard, hard time to be a nonprofit professional human. We are grateful to the 216 nonprofit participants in this year’s M+R Benchmarks Study — for contributing data and answering all our questions, yes, and also for being excellent people who do enormously valuable work to alleviate suffering, enlighten minds, and advance equality.
If you are one of those participants, we want you to know how much we appreciate your contributions. (If you are Elizabeth Barrett Browning, we want you to know we are terribly sorry.)
A Sonnet for M+R Benchmarks Participants
How do we love you? Let us count the ways.
We love you to the depth and breadth and height
Our charts can reach, as every point we cite
Depends upon your data and your grace.
We love you for the trends you help us trace,
The insights that surprise, inspire, excite.
We love your data, the truths you bring to light.
We love your patience, for questions that we raise.
We love the serious nerds who love to use
This Benchmarks Study, which more or less
Could not exist without all you who choose
To join the fun. We love you all to death —
For sharing all the clicks and gifts and views,
And making this Study (hopefully) our best.
Thank you to all our participants, our partners at Rally UK, and everyone who contributed to this study.
Now, ready to go look at some numbers and have some feelings?