# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2013_S120
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

120

SYNOD REPORTS
Expense (Cost) Ratios

If used appropriately, fund-raising expense ratios can be useful management and diagnostic tools to access fundraising effectiveness and efficiency, to evaluate the impact of external and internal influences beyond the direct control
of the fund-raising staff, and to establish baselines against which future efforts can be measured. It is important to
understand that the nonprofit sector has not yet reached a definitive consensus on how to best calculate expense ratios
in a way that accurately reports fund-raising performance. The following are presented to show the wide range of
possible ratio variables that can be used to assess performance. The ratio in bold (direct campaign expense ratio) is
closest to the approach which directly correlates fund-raising effort against relevant returns. It should also be noted
that popular perception of what is considered to be “acceptable” ratios is currently under close scrutiny, as common
benchmarks have been built on misleading information. The Better Business Bureau’s acceptable maximum of 33%
is a standard based upon the most current research covering nonprofit cost ratios.
Gross Campaign Expense Ratio—through January 2013
Incurred Expenses							$19,882,793
Total Cash & Pledges						
$69,311,721
Gross Expense Ratio						
0.287 (28.7%)
$
3.49
Gross Campaign ROI (return on investment)				
Direct Campaign Expense Ratio, excl. Related Cong./District Campaigns—through January 2013
Incurred Expenses							$19,882,793
Synod Cash & Pledges, incl. Ablaze! NSM Direct Support			
$63,914,424
Related Expense Ratio						
0.311 (31.1%)
Related ROI							
$
3.21
Current Campaign Expenses Ratio—through January 2013				
Incurred Expenses 							$19,882,793
Synod Cash (Only), incl. Ablaze! NSM Direct Support			
$49,383,001
Current Expense Ratio						
0.402 (40.2%)
Current ROI							
$
2.48
Deployed/Deployable Cash Campaign Expense Ratio—through January 2013
Incurred Expenses							$19,882,793
Synod Cash Disbursed for Outreach, Ablaze! NSM, Cash on Deposit		
$31,285,014
Deployable Expense Ratio						
0.636 (63.6%)
Deployable ROI (Net ROI)						
$
1.57

2013 Convention Workbook