40,931 transactions. 1,371 donors. 22 initiatives. This analysis examines seasonal giving patterns, donor segmentation, and initiative performance across Ehsan — the Kingdom's official charitable platform.
Ehsan is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's official national charitable giving platform, operated under the National Center for the Development of the Nonprofit Sector. It aggregates donations across 22 humanitarian and social initiatives — from Zakat and orphan sponsorship to emergency relief and mosque maintenance.
With over 40,000 transactions recorded across a 32-month window, the platform generates rich behavioral data that remains largely unexplored from a strategic standpoint. Campaign managers and fundraising officers lack a clear picture of when donors give, who gives repeatedly, and which initiatives punch above their weight in revenue per transaction.
This analysis addresses three core business questions: (1) How does Ramadan and seasonal timing affect donation volume and average transaction size? (2) What donor segments exist and what share of total revenue do they control? (3) Which payment channels and initiatives should receive priority in campaign strategy?
| Action | Detail | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Saudi Open Data Portal (SDAIA / Ehsan Platform). Single Excel sheet, 6 columns. | ✓ Verified |
| Raw Shape | 40,931 rows × 6 columns: UserID, CreationTime, Title, Amount, InitiativeName, PaymentMethod | ✓ Loaded |
| Date Range | December 14, 2020 → July 13, 2023 (32 months) | ✓ Valid |
| Null Records | 1 null in Title column. Row retained — Title not used in primary analysis. Replaced with "Unknown". | ⚠ Flagged |
| Zero-Amount Records | 1 transaction with Amount = 0. Flagged with IsValidAmount column. Retained, excluded from averages. | ⚠ Flagged |
| Outlier Check | Max donation SAR 20,000. Min (excl. zero) SAR 1. Right-skewed distribution (median SAR 10 vs mean SAR 37.6). No capping applied. | ✓ Accepted |
| Derived Columns | 5 new fields created in Power Query: Year, Month, Month Name, Hour, Day of Week. | + Created |
| Date Table | Continuous Date Table created via DAX CALENDAR() function (973 rows). Is Ramadan column added, marked as official date table, one-to-many relationship established. | + Created |
Temporal Analysis: Aggregated 40,931 transactions by month using a continuous Date Table to identify volume and revenue trends. Ramadan periods were identified and isolated (Apr–May 2021, Apr–May 2022, Mar–Apr 2023) using a DAX calculated column on the Date Table, enabling one-click Ramadan vs Regular filtering across all dashboard pages simultaneously.
Donor Segmentation (RFM-Inspired): Grouped all 1,371 unique donors by frequency (transaction count) and total donated amount using CALCULATE + ALLEXCEPT DAX — the critical function that calculates per-donor metrics without losing filter context. Applied a 4-tier rule-based classification: Champions (≥20 transactions AND ≥SAR 500), Loyal (≥10 transactions OR ≥SAR 200), Regular (3–9 transactions), and One-time (1–2 transactions).
Initiative & Channel Performance: Compared all 22 initiatives across transaction volume, total revenue, and average donation size using a dual-axis combo chart — revealing which initiatives attract mass participation versus high-value giving. Payment channel analysis identified a volume-vs-value divergence between Apple Pay and Debit Card.
Ramadan months averaged 2,372 donations versus a non-Ramadan baseline of 1,068. April 2022 alone recorded 3,691 transactions — the single highest month in the dataset. Critically, the average donation in that month reached SAR 99 — 2.6× the overall mean of SAR 37.6 — meaning Ramadan attracts both more donors and higher-value giving simultaneously.
The 7 AM spike (2,605 transactions) and 2–5 AM cluster reflect post-Tahajjud and pre-Fajr giving — deeply tied to Islamic prayer timing. Friday dominates the week with 7,740 transactions, 40% above the nearest weekday.
212 Champion donors each completed 20+ transactions totaling SAR 500+ over the period, collectively contributing SAR 1.17 million. The average Champion gave SAR 71 per transaction, compared to SAR 14 for Regular donors. Losing 20 Champions represents over SAR 100,000 in projected annual donations.
The "مشروع" (Project) initiative dominates by volume with 15,091 transactions but averages only SAR 40. "فرجت - تبرع سريع" (Farjat Quick Donate) records 991 transactions but achieves SAR 74.35 average — nearly double. The Recurring Donation initiative (11,274 transactions) averages only SAR 8.67, confirming micro-subscriptions rather than meaningful gifts.
Apple Pay processed 22,658 transactions at an average of SAR 29.8. Debit Card processed fewer (18,159) but at SAR 47.4 average — 59% higher per transaction. Apple Pay attracts impulsive, lower-value giving; Debit Card users are deliberate and higher-value.
The interactive 3-page Power BI dashboard was built with 10 DAX measures, a continuous Date Table, Ramadan period flagging, and RFM-inspired donor segmentation using CALCULATE + ALLEXCEPT. Download the .PBIX file to explore the full interactive version.
Data covers Dec 2020 – Jul 2023 and overlaps with COVID-19 recovery, which may have suppressed or inflated baseline giving behavior.
UserIDs are fully anonymized. No demographic data (age, city, gender) is available — analysis is behavior-based only.
No campaign metadata. Correlation between marketing activity and donation spikes cannot be established without spend data.
Hijri calendar alignment was estimated. Exact Hijri-date mapping for all transactions was not performed.
With campaign spend data: build a cost-per-donation model by initiative — true ROI by channel.
Apply cohort retention curves: what % of first-time donors return within 30, 60, 90 days?
Build a predictive model (XGBoost) classifying which one-time donors are likely to become Loyal — enabling proactive targeting.
Integrate with Ehsan's API for a live dashboard tracking daily donation velocity and new vs returning donor ratio.