Learn About TREE Scores: Measuring Supporter Engagement

MonkeyPod's TREE Score (Total Relationship Engagement Estimate) is a calculated value that reflects a supporter's recent, active engagement with your organization. It's based on a variety of configurable values (like recent gifts, monthly giving, board or volunteer involvement, and recent purchases or sales) that you can customize to match the priorities of your organization. That score is translated into an easy-to-scan 1–5 star rating called the TREE Score.

Where will I see TREE Scores in my MonkeyPod?

TREE Scores show up in a few different places in your MonkeyPod.

On the relationship record

Every relationship page can display a TREE Score card. It shows the current score along with the top factors driving it, so you can see at a glance why someone scored the way they did. By default, TREE Scores are shown for Donor, Customer, and Volunteer roles, but like other cards on the relationship page, you can choose whether the TREE Score card is displayed for any role. (See How to Use Relationship Roles for details.)

In Advanced Relationship Search

When selecting search criteria, you'll find two options for TREE Scores under "Basic Information": TREE Score greater than X or TREE Score less than X. Use those to find your most (or least) engaged supporters based on your organization's TREE Score criteria. You can also add the TREE Score as a column in your search results to quickly spot engagement levels for the relationships in your results, at a glance.

In relationship exports

Wherever MonkeyPod lets you export relationship details, whether from Advanced Search or another report, "TREE Score" is available as one of the columns you can choose to include in your export.

At the point-of-sale terminal

If you use MonkeyPod's in-person payment terminal, a setting called Show TREE Scores for existing relationships will display a compact TREE Score card when you attach a known donor to a sale. It shows their star rating and top positive engagement signals right at the counter, with a link to their full engagement details if you want to see more. (MonkeyPod POS functionality is scheduled to be available in Fall 2026.)

How is a TREE Score calculated?

Your MonkeyPod looks for meaningful "engagement factors"  based on recent interactions with your organization. It then adds or subtracts points for each one to build the score. TREE Scores update on their own as new activity comes in, so they stay current automatically.

Here are some examples of factors that can add points to a relationship's score:

• Recent giving or purchases: a donation or sale in the last 30 days counts for more than one from last year, and an active monthly donor gets an extra boost.
• Email engagement: opening or clicking a recent email, or subscribing to one of your mailing lists.
• Event attendance: checking in to an event (through Eventbrite or Ticket Tailor integrations) adds points by default, worth more if it happened in the last 30 days.
• Board and committee service: an active board leadership role like Chair or Treasurer (+10 by default) or committee membership (+5 by default), tracked through Board HQ.
• Campaign solicitation: crediting a campaign solicitor when a prospect they were assigned to makes a gift, for up to a year afterward. (Based on the Campaign Tracker app.)
• Major gifts: a gift that meets your organization's "major gift" threshold adds points by default, with a bigger bump for one made in the last 30 days. (See the "Major Gifts" section below for details about major gift thresholds.)
• Gold star interactions: any interaction you've flagged as a standout moment with that relationship (+10 by default).

A few things can subtract points, too, like a supporter unsubscribing from your emails on their own, marking an email campaign message as spam, or an interaction you've flagged as a red flag.

How the score becomes a star rating

Every relationship with a calculated score is ranked against all your other ranked relationships and divided into five equal-sized groups: the top 20% earn 5 stars, the next 20% earn 4 stars, and so on down to the bottom 20%, which earn 1 star. Star ratings are relative, not based on fixed point cutoffs.

A few notes on how the math works:

• Because star ratings are relative, the same score can translate to a different star count over time, depending on how your other relationships are scoring.
• Most factors only count once, even if the underlying activity happens many times. Donating 20 times in the last 30 days earns the same points as donating once.
• Email-related factors (opens, clicks, subscriptions, unsubscribes, and spam complaints) are the exception. Since these can apply to different lists or campaigns, each distinct one can count separately.
• Unsubscribing only counts against a relationship's score when they choose to unsubscribe on their own. If a staff member unsubscribes someone on their behalf, it won't affect their score.
• When a gift from a household member is credited to the household (rather than tracked separately), both that individual and the household get engagement credit for it, so a giving spouse isn't overlooked just because the gift shows up under the household's name.
• Archived relationships don't get a TREE Score, since the score is meant to reflect current engagement.

If a relationship has no recorded engagement factors, you'll see a score of 0 along with a note that no engagement factors have been recorded yet, so you can tell the difference between "genuinely no activity" and "technically scored a zero."

How do I customize TREE Score factors for my organization?

Every organization's supporters are different, so admins can fine-tune how much (or how little) each engagement factor counts. Under My MonkeyPod > Organization Settings > Relationships, look for the TREE Score section. There you'll find a slider for each TREE Score factor, letting you set its value  in 5-point increments, or turn a factor off entirely. Most factors contribute positively, and can be assigned a value of 0-50 points. Other factors (such as unsubscribing from an email list, a spam complaint, or a "red flagged" interaction) are negative and have a point value range from -50 to 0; these will be shown in red.

Major Gifts

You can also customize what counts as a "major gift" at your organization (the default is $5,000). Go to My MonkeyPod > Organization Settings, select the Relationships tab and look for Major Gifts under the "Fundraising" heading. Enter the value there that your organization would consider a "major gift." The major-gift factors in the TREE Score use that amount as their threshold, so they will get updated when this change is made.

Soft Credits

If your organization counts soft credits toward donors' contribution totals, TREE Scores factors will count soft-credited gifts as well. You can find your organization's soft credit setting under Organization Settings > Relationships > Soft Credits.  Check out Learn About Soft Credits for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why don't I see the TREE Score card on a particular relationship's page?

The TREE Score relationship card, like other relationship cards, is displayed based on the relationship's role. It is shown by default for relationships with the Donor, Customer, or Volunteer roles, since those are the main supporters whose engagement you'd want to track. If you have the necessary permissions, you can modify which roles have the TREE Score card displayed by choosing Relationships > Manage Roles > [role] > Edit role settings.

Are grants included in TREE Scores?

No, they aren't. Only donations and pledges are counted as gifts for this purpose.

Should I use TREE Scores to decide who my most valuable supporters are?

Not on its own. TREE Score measures recent, active engagement, not lifetime value or giving capacity. A community member who made one small donation last week could easily out-score a foundation that reliably gives you a $10,000 grant once a year, simply because the grant isn't a recent event. Use TREE Score alongside reports like Top Donors and Giving Analytics for the fuller picture, and lean on your own relationship knowledge for anything TREE Score can't capture. And, remember, you can modify how the TREE Score is calculated to better match the types of engagement valued by your organization.

I unsubscribed someone from a mailing list myself. Did that hurt their TREE Score?

No. The negative "unsubscribed" factor only applies when a relationship unsubscribes on their own. Unsubscribing someone on their behalf, whether by request or due to a bounce, won't affect their score.

Can I change the point values for TREE Score factors?

Yes, if you're an admin. See How do I customize TREE Score factors for my organization? above.

Why doesn't an archived relationship have a TREE Score?

TREE Scores are meant to reflect current engagement, so archived relationships are excluded from scoring altogether.

I've changed my TREE Score factors and don't remember what the defaults were. Can you remind me?

Sure! If you want to rest your modified scores so that they all return to the defaults, use the Reset to Defaults option at the bottom of the list. If you'd like to compare your modifications to the originals, here is a chart of the default values for reference.

App-provided factors

These only appear for organizations that have the app installed, and they're grouped under the app's name on the settings screen.