I am interested in getting the best possible information regarding the giving habits of my donors.  I would like to run some reports that show who is a repeat donor and who gives one time.  I was wondering if anyone has experience generating these kinds of reports and what you used or would stay away from.

Thanks for your help.

Katie

There are a ton of ways to analyze your data - too many to list.  Some can be done with reports but some take some querying and exporting or pivot reports.

Two queries on total number of gifts = 1 and >1 can be used for the question you asked.  There you can see who they are.  I'd suggest you look at their first gift appeal to see if some appeal methods are bringing in more loyal donors.  I'd also look at first gift amount to see if donors giving at a certain level tend to be more loyal.  Unfortunately no report in RE shows first gift appeal (first greatest latest only shows date and amount) so you'll have to stay in query (and bring that to a pivot report?) or go to export. 

Once you know whhat makes up the "profile" of your loyal donors you can change your program to a) attempt to bring in more of them and b) develop a stewardship plan for new donors who look like your profile to increase your retention rates.