5 Ways to Track Nonprofit Event Registrations and Attendance

Why tracking event engagement matters

Before we dive into “the how,” let’s talk about why tracking event data is so important. Research shows that 85% of donors volunteer with their favorite nonprofits and more than 80% attend fundraising events. Fundraising events allow nonprofits to collect a wide range of donor data, which can be leveraged to maximize development initiatives.

Accurate registration and attendance data allow you to:

• Measure event success and return on investment (ROI)
• Identify trends in supporter engagement
• Personalize future outreach
• Allocate resources more efficiently
• Make data-driven decisions for future events

5 ways to Track Nonprofit Event Engagement

From managing walks to virtual events, there are several ways nonprofit reporting tools can make the event process easier for your team and attendees. Collecting the right data and pulling the right reports will allow you to learn more about your supporters, how they prefer to engage with your nonprofit, and how to keep them coming back to support your mission.

1. Set up custom event fields.

In fundraising, “fields” are the spaces on your donation form where donors can fill out their information, such as their name, phone number, or donation amount. Nonprofit software (often called a constituent relationship management system or CRM) allows fundraisers to create and customize these fields to collect additional donor information that will improve their development efforts.

If your fundraising system has an event management module, you can create custom fields to capture the specific data points you need, including:

• Registration date and time
• Ticket type or package selected
• Dietary preferences
• Workshop choices
• Volunteer sign-ups

By tailoring these fields to your event’s unique characteristics, you’ll gather more relevant and actionable data about your attendees, allowing you to streamline operational tasks while enhancing the attendee experience.

2. Create registration reports

Like custom fields, nonprofit CRMs like DonorPerfect include standard and custom fundraising reports that allow you to categorize, filter, and track your organization’s data, including event registrations and attendance. 

These tools take the data you’ve collected from your registration, donation, and volunteer signup forms and file them neatly in your records until you’re ready to report on them. Detailed attendee data allows you to send personalized thank-you’s, stay in touch using the right communication method, and more. Plus, knowing who intended to come, but couldn’t make it, is a great opportunity for further engagement.

By generating registration reports, you can track:

• Total registrations over time
• Registration sources (e.g., email, social media, word-of-mouth)
• Popular ticket types or packages
• Revenue generated from registrations

Pro tip: With DonorPerfect, you can schedule your reports so they are automatically sent to your team (or board members) regularly, keeping everyone informed.

3. Monitor attendance in real-time.

It is often beneficial to track attendees as they arrive to ensure your event goes off without a hitch – and your attendees have everything they need, including directions and disclosures. Using nonprofit software like DonorPerfect, you can leverage event features like mobile check-ins and text message reminders to keep everyone aligned on the day of. Text-to-give solutions also allow those who couldn’t attend a quick way to participate virtually.

You can take advantage of these tools to:

• Track actual attendance vs. registrations
• Create a list of donors and volunteers to thank
• Identify no-shows for follow-up
• Manage capacity for specific sessions or workshops

4. Analyze post-event data

Carefully tracking and analyzing your event data (including registrations, attendees, gifts, sales, new donors, event costs, ad spend, and more) provides insight into the success of your efforts and helps you refine your strategies for future endeavors.

Using your CRM, you can create custom reports to see which event had the best attendance, which communication method garnered the most registrations, or if your donors and volunteers prefer in-person or virtual events, to name a few examples!

Use your data to gain valuable insights:

• Compare attendance to previous events
• Analyze attendee demographics
• Evaluate the success of different ticket types or packages
• Assess the effectiveness of your marketing channels

5. Integrate with other event solutions

Nonprofit CRMs allow you to create the perfect combination of fundraising solutions for your needs. If you’re ready to expand your reach with new tools or your mission requires specialized tools, you can integrate them into your system!
Event integrations can help you address challenges and strengthen your data. For example, DonorPerfect integrates with event solutions like digital marketing tools, direct mail appeals, prospect and wealth research, stock giving, check scanning, and so much more.

Connect your event reports with other functions to:

• Track post-event donations
• Identify potential major donors based on event participation
• Segment attendees for targeted follow-up campaigns
• Measure long-term engagement of event attendees vs. non-attendees

Effectively tracking event registrations and attendance using CRM reporting functions is more than just number-crunching, it’s about turning data into actionable insights. By mastering these techniques, you’ll be able to create more engaging events, streamline your processes, and drive greater support for your nonprofit’s mission.

Remember, the key to success lies in collecting data and regularly analyzing and acting upon the insights you gain. Make data review a core part of your event planning process, and watch as your events – and your fundraising results – reach new heights.