Guides · Nonprofit marketing
Donor Impact Report: How to Show Donors What Their Gift Did
By Josh Croom · October 27, 2026 · 9 min read
A donor impact report tells donors what their gifts made possible, in one story and a few clear numbers. Lead with one person, add up the quarter instead of a single month, say what each number counts and end with one ask.
The update with twelve numbers
Tuesday, 9:40 PM. The year-end letter goes to the printer on Friday. The development director has the monthly ads report open, and it holds a dozen numbers: credit used, times shown, clicks, click rate, actions, cost per action and more.
She pastes in all twelve, then deletes them and types "our online outreach is going well." Neither version works. A donor can't hold twelve numbers in their head, and "going well" gives them nothing to picture. She needs one person the gift reached and four numbers she can explain in a sentence each.
What a donor impact report is
A donor impact report is a short update that shows donors what their gifts did. It can be a letter, an email, a page in your newsletter, a slide at your banquet or a one-page handout for a board meeting. Whatever the format, put the story first, then the numbers, then one ask.
It isn't the same thing as an annual report, which usually covers the whole organization for the whole year, often with finances and donor lists. An impact report is smaller and comes more often, and it answers the question every donor has: did my gift matter?
That question has a lot to do with whether donors give again. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project put overall donor retention at 43.3% in 2025, which means most people who gave the year before didn't give again. A 2025 study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that showing donors what their gift actually did made them more willing to give again. Those donors also tended to keep their gifts the same size, while donors who weren't shown it gave less.
How to write it in six steps
These steps work for a newsletter, a year-end letter, a grant report or a banquet talk. Do them in order, because each step feeds the next one.
Step 1
Start with one person
Tell one story about one person your work reached this quarter. Get a yes from that person before you share it, and leave out their full name, because a first name and a few true details are enough for a donor to picture them.
Step 2
Use your board's numbers, in the same order
Use the same few numbers your board already sees, and keep them in the same order every time. For a Google Ad Grant, the four to use are credit used, times shown, clicks and actions, which a monthly Grant report already lists.
Step 3
Add up three months
Take each number from your last three monthly reports and add the three months together. That total is your quarter, and it gives donors a steadier picture than any single month can give them.
Step 4
Say what each number counts
Write one plain sentence for each number, so a donor never has to guess what it means. A line like "Our ads showed (number) times when people searched for help" tells a donor what the number counts without any ad words.
Step 5
Add your own count
Ask the people you served how they found you, and count the ones who say online or Google. That number comes from your front desk instead of the ad report, and it ties the ad numbers to people a donor can picture.
Step 6
End with one ask
Choose one thing you want the donor to do next, whether that's to give, pray, serve or share the letter with a friend. Cut the other asks, because a single ask is easier to act on than four of them crowded into one paragraph.
Why a quarter beats a month
We checked six months of the Google Ad Grant accounts we manage to see how often clicks swing from one month, or one quarter, to the next.
- 48%of the time, a Grant account's clicks moved 20% or more from one month to the nextup or down
- 29%of Grant accounts saw clicks move that much from one quarter to the nextup or down
So a report built on one month can show a big drop or a big jump, and the next month it can swing right back. Quarters moved that much less often in our check, so you won't have to spend half a donor letter explaining a one-month dip.
What each Grant number means
Each number in a Grant report counts one specific thing. Put each one in plain words, so nobody reads more into it than it holds.
Google counts an impression each time your ad is shown, so times shown counts showings, not people. It counts a click when someone taps your ad, like its headline or its phone number. An action, which Google Ads calls a conversion, is a step you've told Google Ads to count, like a call or a form.
| Number | What it counts | Say it like this |
|---|---|---|
| Grant credit used | The part of Google's Ad Grant your ads spent | Google gave us (amount) in search ads this quarter. |
| Times shown | Each time an ad appeared on a search, not each person | Our ads showed (number) times when people searched for help. |
| Clicks | Each time someone tapped an ad and reached your site | That brought (number) visits to our website. |
| Actions | Steps you chose to count, like a call or a form | Those visits led to (number) steps, like a call or a form. |
What one showing looks like
Here's a sample Grant ad as it would look on a phone. Each time it appears on someone's search, it counts once toward times shown, whether or not anyone taps it.
food pantry near me
Two ways to write the same update
What donors skim past
- "Our digital outreach continues to perform well."
- Twelve numbers from one month, with no words around them.
- Times shown, called people reached.
- Four different asks in the last paragraph.
What donors remember
- One person's story, shared with their yes.
- Four numbers, added up for the quarter.
- A plain sentence for each number.
- One clear ask at the end.
A paragraph you can copy
Fill in the parts in parentheses with your own story and numbers. It works in a newsletter, a letter or a talk, and it keeps the four numbers in the same order every time.
"This (season), (first name) found us on Google, and (what happened next). Google gave us (credit) in search ads through its Ad Grant. They showed (number) times, brought (number) visits and led to (number) steps, like a call or a form. And (number) of the people we served told us they found us online. Your gift means someone is here for the next one."
Is your report ready to send?
Answer five quick questions. Your answers stay on your screen.
Does it open with one person's story, shared with their yes?
Are your numbers added up for the quarter instead of one month?
Does every number have a plain sentence that says what it counts?
Does it include your own count of people who found you online?
Does it end with one ask?
It's ready to send, so get it out this week. Keep the same numbers in the same order next quarter, so donors can compare one update with the last.
You're close. Fix the first question you answered No before the report goes out, and start with the story if that's the one you missed.
Start with Step 1. Find one person's story this week and ask for their permission to share it, and then build the numbers around that story.
Before you send it
Tick each one off as you go. Your ticks stay on this device.
0 of 7 done
How often to send one
Once a quarter is a good pace. Donors hear from you between asks, and three months gives the numbers time to settle. Add a year-end version that adds up all four quarters with the same numbers, so donors can watch the whole year build.
Keep the format the same each time you send one. When the same four numbers sit in the same order, a donor or a board member can compare this quarter with the last one at a glance, and you'll spend less time building each new report.
Where the Grant numbers come from
Google’s Ad Grant gives a qualifying nonprofit up to $10,000 a month in search ads, and we manage the whole account. Our monthly reports show credit used, times shown, clicks and actions, so a quarterly update starts with adding up three of them. Our Google Ad Grants guide explains how the Grant works, and our pricing page lists every fee.
If you'd like help turning your Grant reports into donor updates, book a call with Miguel. He'll ask how your donors hear from you today and what your board looks at each month.
Questions people ask
What is a donor impact report?
It's a short update that shows donors what their gifts did. Most impact reports open with one person's story, give a few numbers for the period and close with a single ask.
What should a donor impact report include?
Include one story shared with permission, a few numbers with a plain sentence for each, your own count of people you served and one clear ask. Keep the same numbers in the same order each time, so donors can compare.
How often should a nonprofit send an impact report?
Once a quarter is a good pace, with a year-end version that adds up all four quarters. A single month swings too much on its own to tell donors a steady story.
How do I report Google Ad Grant results to donors?
Use four numbers from your monthly reports: credit used, times shown, clicks and actions. Add up three months, and say what each one counts, since times shown counts ads, not people.
Is an impact report the same as an annual report?
No. An annual report covers the whole organization for the year, including its finances. An impact report is shorter and comes more often, and it answers the one question a donor has about their own gift: did it matter?
See how we manage Google Ad Grants for nonprofits
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