🌡️ Fundraising Goal Thermometer Calculator

Track fundraising progress and project when you'll hit your goal at your current daily pace.

Amount raised so far ($)

Fundraising goal ($)

Days into the campaign

How the projection is built

The thermometer reading is a straight ratio; the finish date comes from your average daily takings so far, projected forward unchanged.

percent   = raised / goal × 100
remaining = max(goal - raised, 0)
pace      = raised / days elapsed
days left = remaining / pace   (rounded up)

With the defaults - $2,500 raised towards $10,000 on day 10 - that is 25% of goal, $7,500 still to find, a pace of $250 a day and 30 more days at that rate. Raise the same $2,500 in 5 days instead and the pace doubles to $500, cutting the projection to 15 days.

Filling it in, and where the projection lies

Days into the campaign means calendar days since you opened, counting today - not working days, and not the days you actively promoted.
One large gift wrecks the pace. If $2,000 of that $2,500 came from a single founding donor on day one, your real rate is $50 a day. Re-run it with the lead gift excluded to see the honest figure.
Past 100% the amount remaining sits at $0 while the percentage keeps climbing, so an over-subscribed appeal still reads correctly.
With nothing raised yet there is no pace to extrapolate, so the projection shows N/A.

Giving is rarely linear. Most campaigns spike at launch and again in the last 48 hours, so a mid-campaign average understates the finish. Treat the projected days as a prompt to act, not a forecast.

Frequently asked questions

How do I work out what percentage of my fundraising goal I have hit?

Divide the amount raised by the goal and multiply by 100. $2,500 of a $10,000 target is 25%, which is where the thermometer would be a quarter filled.

Why does my projected finish keep moving further away?

The pace is a running average over the whole campaign, so every quiet day drags it down and pushes the projection out. A strong opening week can carry an optimistic projection for a fortnight before the average catches up.

What daily pace do I need for a 30-day campaign?

Divide the goal by the days you have: $10,000 over 30 days is $334 a day. Check your live pace against that flat line rather than against yesterday, since single gifts make day-to-day totals jump around.