This article is for RevEngine users who participated in NewsMatch and need to prepare their campaign documentation for the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN). It will help you create a spreadsheet with your RevEngine data and analyze your dataset to answer questions in your NewsMatch questionnaire.
Creating your spreadsheet
When you export contribution data from RevEngine, your records will be sent as a CSV file to the email you used to create your RevEngine account. You can import the data into Google Sheets or Excel to sort, filter, and analyze it.
Your contributions will appear in order based on the date and time they were received, beginning with the most recent transactions. Remember the INN Index report will only ask about the donations received during the NewsMatch period (Nov. 1 - Dec. 31). If you started using RevEngine before NewsMatch began, you’ll have to delete the contributions that came in prior to Nov. 1.
If you used a platform other than RevEngine to collect contributions during the NewsMatch period, you’ll need to combine that data with your RevEngine records to get a complete account of your campaign.
Additional tools and support
Analyzing data for your INN Index report will require some intermediate spreadsheet skills - you’ll need to use some basic formulas and create a pivot table to identify donors who made monthly contributions.
You can also email us at support@indiegraf.com to get help if you run into trouble.
Instructions for answering NewsMatch/INN Index Questions
The following questions are part of the INN Index, which is required for all organizations participating in NewsMatch. We have instructions for answering each one with RevEngine data in a spreadsheet.
NewsMatch question: In total, how much money did you raise from individuals from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023? (Total amount raised during NewsMatch period.)
RevEngine instructions: In the AMOUNT column, use the =sum() function to calculate the value of all the gifts you received between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31.
Note: This function won’t work if your contributions are labeled USD - Sheets and Excel won’t read the figure as a number. To delete the USD that’s appended to the donation amount, highlight the row and then click Edit > Find and Replace. Enter “USD” in the “Find” field and leave “Replace” blank. Click “Replace all” to remove every instance of “USD” in the row. Google Sheets will now read these cells as numbers.
NewsMatch question: In total, how many donations did you receive from individuals from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023?
RevEngine instructions: You can answer this question by counting how many rows of data you have since each corresponds to a single donation. Note that this question is seeking the total number of donations, not the total number of donors - if a single person gives three times, you will have three donations.
NewsMatch question: In total, how many unique individual donors contributed from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023? (Total number of donors during NewsMatch period.)
RevEngine instructions: You can count individual donors using the =countunique function to tally the number of unique values in a spreadsheet column. This number might be different from your total contributions because some donors might have made more than one gift. If a single person made three separate donations to your organization during the NewsMatch period, that person will count as one unique individual donor.
NewsMatch question: Of those unique individual donors who made a gift from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, how many began a new monthly recurring gift during this time period? (First-time recurring donors during NewsMatch period.)
RevEngine instructions: The best way to answer this question is to make a pivot table. A pivot table is a powerful tool in Excel and Google Sheets that lets you tabulate data, see trends, and aggregate values.
The pivot table we’re going to make will display unique donors who made monthly contributions during NewsMatch. Start by selecting any cell in your dataset and click Insert > Pivot Table. Click “Create” and your pivot table tool will open on a new sheet.
In the pivot table editor, we’re going to select the values for the table to display.
Under “ROWS,” select “Contributors” and “Frequency.” This will create a row in your table for each unique contributor, and a row that tells you the type of gift they’ve given. Your settings should look like this:
To make it easier to sift out the monthly donors, apply a filter. Scroll down to the bottom of the table editing column and, under “FILTERS,” add “Frequency.” Then select “Month” so the filter only shows monthly donations.
Your final table will look like the one in our sample dataset. It will only display the contributors who made a monthly donation to your organization during NewsMatch. (If you collected donations on another platform before NewsMatch, you’ll have to cross-reference these donors to see if they initiated their gifts before Nov. 1.)
NewsMatch question: Of those unique individual donors who made a gift from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, how many were individual donors who made a gift for the first time to your organization?
RevEngine instructions:
If you started collecting donations for the first time during the NewsMatch period, this will be easy: all of your donors count as first-time donors.
If you’ve collected donations before, you’ll have to cross-reference your list of NewsMatch donors with the list of people who have given to your organization since it started collecting gifts. There are methods for comparing two lists in Google Sheets and in Excel, but depending on how your data is structured, it might be helpful to message RevEngine support at support@indiegraf.com for additional assistance.
Preparing your NewsMatch cover sheet
Along with your Match Documentation, organizations eligible for the national match or partner funds will need to complete a Match Cover Sheet. If this applies to you, you can easily pull the relevant information from your spreadsheet when you export your contribution data. Here are the fields you’ll have to fill out on the cover sheet, along with the corresponding data from RevEngine that will complete them:
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Name of Individual Donor – this will be the Contributor name from RevEngine
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Donation Source – Enter “RevEngine for all of the donations you collected on RevEngine. Other responses might include “check” or “PayPal” if you collected gifts by those means.
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Date of Donation – For RevEngine donations, you’ll find this in the Payment Received Date column in your data export
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Total amount of donation – “Amount” in RevEngine (if the donor opted to include Stripe fees, those will be included in this figure.)
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Is this a first-time recurring monthly donation? – You can pull this information from the pivot table
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Amount Eligible for NewsMatch 1:1 Match – This will likely require manual entry. You can create a formula to autofill, but be sure to follow INN’s guidance within their spreadsheet so you don’t overcount multiple donations!
Submitting your documentation to INN
You’ll upload your completed match cover sheet to your INN reporting portal. Even if you prepare your match cover sheet in Google Sheets, you must save it as an Excel document using your organization’s name as the file name. To download, click “File,” select "Download as," and select Microsoft Excel file (.xlsx).
You must also submit your RevEngine data as an Excel or PDF file to verify your donations. Remember - if you collected checks or PayPal, you must manually account for those, too. You’ll upload both files before you complete the INN Index questions.