What KPIs Should the Board See Monthly from HubSpot?

Building an effective board report means finding the balance between transparency and noise. These KPIs give a clear view of health without getting lost in operational detail:

Donor Retention (by Cohort)

Shows how well your organization is maintaining relationships over time, not just year-over-year totals. Cohort-based retention helps boards understand whether newer donors are continuing to give or dropping off early.

Recurring Revenue Trend

Highlights stability and how much of your revenue is predictable. This gives boards a clearer sense of how much funding can be relied on month to month.

Average Gift Size

Provides insight into donor behavior and overall giving patterns. Changes here can signal shifts in donor mix, campaign performance, or major gift activity.

First-to-Second Gift Conversion

Measures how effectively you’re turning new donors into repeat supporters. This is one of the clearest indicators of long-term donor growth.

Major Gift Pipeline (by Expected Close)

Gives visibility into future revenue and how your development efforts are progressing. It helps boards understand what’s likely to close and where gaps may exist.

Supporting Metrics to Include

Below your primary KPIs, you can include additional context without overwhelming the dashboard:

• Dollars influenced by campaigns
• New recurring donors
• Cost per acquired donor (if tracked)

These help connect fundraising performance to specific activities and investments.

How Board Dashboards Are Built and Structured

Building a board dashboard isn’t just about pulling data, it’s about structuring it in a way that’s both accurate and easy to understand.

In HubSpot, these dashboards are built on a combination of contact and deal data, often alongside a recurring gift pipeline or custom object. Calculated properties are used to define metrics like retention cohorts, lifetime value, and conversion rates, and everything is filtered by fiscal period so reporting aligns with how your organization measures performance.

Common elements of a high-performing board dashboard include:

• Clean, simplified charts tied to core KPIs
• A limited number of supporting metrics
• A short “Notes to Board” section explaining trends, anomalies, or confidence in the data

This approach keeps dashboards usable for board members who aren’t in the system day to day, and helps shift conversations from “what does this mean?” to “what should we do next?”

Why HubSpot Works Well for Board Reporting

Board reporting becomes difficult when data is spread across multiple systems or requires manual reconciliation before it can be shared. HubSpot simplifies this by keeping donor data, campaign activity, and pipeline information in one place.

Because the data model is shared across teams, updates to fundraising, marketing, or engagement activity automatically flow into dashboards. This consistency makes reporting more reliable and easier to maintain. Instead of rebuilding reports each month, teams can focus on identifying trends and preparing their board with clear insights.

Learn More About Nonprofit KPIs and Reporting in HubSpot