Sage NFP Benchmarking Agent
Related information
Related topicsThe Sage NFP Benchmarking Agent helps you gain meaningful peer context for strategic decisions. Ask questions in Sage Copilot to compare your organization’s financial and operational performance with similar nonprofits.
About the agent
The agent uses criteria you provide, such as organization type, revenue size, geography, and tax year, to identify a relevant peer group and compare your organization with it. You can benchmark measures such as revenue mix, reserves, operational efficiency, fundraising performance, financial resilience, and available Form 990 financial measures such as executive compensation. The agent pulls relevant metrics, performs the comparison, and provides insights and guidance to help you understand the results.
Peer figures come from the latest available public IRS Form 990 filings. For supported measures that match a pre-delivered Sage QuickStart group, such as Nonprofit Board Book or 990, the agent uses your current-year Sage Intacct figure. For other measures, it uses your organization’s latest IRS Form 990 filing data. You can also ask for a completed filing year when you need a point-in-time comparison.
The agent can use only the Intacct data that you already have permission to view. Like all Marketplace agents, it operates in read-only mode and does not change data in your company.
Permissions and other requirements
| Subscription |
|
|---|---|
| Regional availability | United States |
| User type | Only users whose roles include an active agent can use that agent in Sage Copilot. |
| Permissions | Only users whose roles include an active agent can use that agent in Sage Copilot. |
| Configuration | Available only to eligible nonprofit organizations using Nonprofit QuickStart and role -based companies. |
Set up your benchmarking criteria
Before asking benchmarking questions, provide the organization’s EIN and select a Sage Intacct reporting period. This helps the agent use the appropriate organization and reporting period for its analysis.
Start by entering your organization's EIN. Replace any square bracket text with actual values.
@nfpbenchmarking Use the following EIN [enter your EIN here] and use the default period for Intacct reports.
Then configure the Sage Intacct reporting period with one of the following prompts:\
Default trailing 12 months:
@nfpbenchmarking Use the default period for Intacct reports.
Configured fiscal year:
@nfpbenchmarking Follow my fiscal year for Intacct reports.
Custom period beginning in a specific month:
@nfpbenchmarking Set the period for Intacct from [enter MONTH and YEAR here, for example January 2025]
Custom period ending in a specific month:
@nfpbenchmarking Set the period for Intacct ending [enter MONTH and YEAR here, for example June 2026]
How to use prompts
When you ask a benchmarking question, include the characteristics that matter for the comparison, such as organization type, revenue size, geography, radius, or tax year. These details help the agent identify a relevant peer group. The provided prompts below are ready to copy as written. Add or replace details only where the prompt includes bracketed text or where you want to refine the peer group.
To use prompts:
- Select Copy prompt next to the prompt that you want to use.
- In Sage Intacct, open Copilot.
- Paste the prompt in the text input box beneath Ask Copilot a question.
Edit the prompt to replace any square bracket text with actual values.
- Select Send.
Get started
@nfpbenchmarking Use the following EIN [enter EIN] and use the default period for Intacct reports.
@nfpbenchmarking Use the following EIN [enter EIN] and follow my fiscal year for Intacct reports.
@nfpbenchmarking Use the following EIN [enter EIN] and set the period for Intacct from [MONTH and YEAR; example: January 2025].
@nfpbenchmarking Use the following EIN [enter EIN] and set the period for Intacct ending [MONTH and YEAR; example: June 2026].
Explore the agent
@nfpbenchmarking Show me the tutorial.
@nfpbenchmarking What metrics are available?
Customize your peer group
@nfpbenchmarking Show me my cohort settings.
@nfpbenchmarking Set the search radius to 200 miles.
@nfpbenchmarking Use statewide peers for benchmarking.
@nfpbenchmarking Use national peers for benchmarking.
@nfpbenchmarking Update the peer group to all K organizations.
@nfpbenchmarking Reset the peer group filters to the defaults.
Overall financial health
@nfpbenchmarking How financially healthy are we compared with similar nonprofits?
@nfpbenchmarking What are our strongest and weakest financial metrics relative to our peer group?
Revenue and funding mix
@nfpbenchmarking How diversified is our funding model compared with similar nonprofits?
@nfpbenchmarking How has our total revenue grown since [YEAR] compared with our peers?
@nfpbenchmarking How dependent are we on government grants, foundation grants, individual donations, corporate support, program revenue, or other major funding sources?
Cash, liquidity and financial sustainability
@nfpbenchmarking Compare our actual cash position with our peers.
@nfpbenchmarking How many months of operating expenses could our available reserves cover, compared with similar nonprofits?
@nfpbenchmarking Is our financial position strengthening or weakening over time?
Spending, programs and operating costs
@nfpbenchmarking How do our management and general costs compare with similar nonprofits?
@nfpbenchmarking What does it cost us to operate compared with our peers?
@nfpbenchmarking Are any areas of our expense structure unusually high or low, and what could explain the difference?
Fundraising performance
@nfpbenchmarking How many dollars of contributions do we raise for every dollar spent on fundraising?
@nfpbenchmarking How reliant are we on special events compared with recurring donations and grants?
@nfpbenchmarking Is fundraising expenditure growing faster or slower than contributions?
People and executive compensation
@nfpbenchmarking How do our staff and personnel costs compare with similar nonprofits?
@nfpbenchmarking What share of our expenses is spent on employee compensation and benefits?
@nfpbenchmarking How have staffing and compensation costs changed over time?
Governance
@nfpbenchmarking Give me a complete governance overview.
@nfpbenchmarking How does our governance profile compare with similar nonprofits?
Board reporting
@nfpbenchmarking Create a board-ready report based on the conversation.
Share your benchmarking analysis
You can copy the agent’s analysis to share with your finance committee, board, or other stakeholders.
In the agent response in Sage Copilot, select View Analysis to see additional insights.
In the side panel, select Copy report to copy the analysis to your clipboard.
Paste the report into an email or document to share it. Include any warnings about small peer groups or incomplete data.
When you share a result, include any warnings with it. Warnings about small peer groups or incomplete data are part of the answer.
How to read your results
To review how the agent reached its conclusion, select View analysis > How Copilot worked this out, or select the information icon at the end of the Copilot chat window.
A comparison is only as good as the data behind it. Before you act on a result, check the following.
Check which organizations were compared
The agent builds a peer group using filters such as type of organization, revenue size, location and radius around the location, and tax year. Check the number of peers and the filters shown with the result.
A narrow filter can produce a small group. With only a few organizations, one record can move the result noticeably.
A broader group has more organizations but can be less similar to yours.
If you see a small-group warning, be cautious with the result. You do not need to ignore it.
Check the reporting period
Form 990 data covers a filed period, so it can be older than your current operations. For some measures, the agent can use a current-year figure from your Intacct books instead. That figure is more recent, but it can cover only part of an open fiscal year. Comparing a partial-year figure with peers' full-year figures can make your results look lower than they are.
When a result uses an Intacct figure, check its source and fiscal period. If you need a like-for-like comparison, ask for a completed filing year.
A higher percentile is not always better
A percentile shows where your value falls within the peer group. A higher percentile doesn't always mean a healthier result. Higher cash reserves are often a good sign. A higher debt ratio might need a closer look. Read the measure name, the unit, the explanation, and the comparison period together.
Treat the median as a reference point
The peer median is the middle value for the group. Half of the peers are at or below it, and half are at or above it. It isn't a target or an industry rule. A value above or below the median isn't automatically good or bad. For example, an organization might spend more on a program during a period of growth.
Missing data is not a zero
If a result is missing, the measure might not be in the data, the peer group might have no usable records, or the data might be temporarily unavailable. It doesn't mean your organization's value is zero.
Keep warnings with the result
If you share a result, include any warnings with it. Warnings about small peer groups or incomplete data are part of the answer.
Limitations and data sources
The agent works with US nonprofit data from IRS Form 990 filings.
The agent supports a specific set of measures, and that set can change over time. To see what you can ask about, enter What can I benchmark? If the agent can't calculate a ratio, ask for the underlying amounts instead. For example, ask How do our program service expenses compare with our peers?
The agent can't explain why a result happened. It also can't decide whether a financial choice was right.
No peer group is a perfect match. Similar organizations can differ in location, accounting practices, funding restrictions, services, and fiscal year.
Form 990 data can be incomplete or from an earlier filing year.
