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Broadly speaking, there are two ways we look at fundraising totals; New Gifts and Commitments (abbreviated NGC) and Cash in the Door (referred to as just Cash).
New Gifts and Commitments
NGC refers to all outright gifts and all pledges for future donations (commitments), including deferred pledges. This is the most commonly used metric when reporting fundraising performance as the inclusion of pledges means it provides a balanced look at current and future intentions/performance.
Cash in the Door
Cash refers to all outright gifts and pledge payments. This is essentially "how much money has actually been received/is spendable". This metric provides the best look at current financial performance.
Considerations
- You should NEVER combine both metrics into a single number. Both include Outright Gifts, leading to an instant double counting problem. Similarly, you can't combine a pledge (in NGC) and the payments on that pledge (in Cash) into a single number because that would also be double counting.
- There is no "universal best" metric, both have their use cases.
Exceptions
- Gifts-in-Kind, even when made as outright gifts, are not included in Cash.