3 Ways To Analyze Data

Prospecting for donors has some similarities to what the Gold Rush prospectors did in the the 19th century. Back then, it was enough to shake a pan of gravel in the water and look for what nuggets stayed behind.

Fundraisers are doing the same thing now when combing through data, but it's no longer good enough to use that old-fashioned approach.

Prospecting is a much more sophisticated process these days and, according to Helen E. Brown, Jennifer Filla and Debbie Sokolov, it can pay much bigger dividends than before. Speaking during the AFP 50^th International Conference on Fundraising, they said that fundraising can be improved through prospect research, and that consists of three main components: data analytics, relationship management and donor research.

Looking more closely, they are:

• Data analytics. This includes electronic screenings, data mining, donor modeling and graphing. It helps identify new prospects, segments donors and prospects quickly and efficiently, and, illustrates division/department/individual progress toward goals.
• Relationship management. This means prospect tracking. It makes sure no potential major donor gets lost between the cracks, measures activities to show the board and donors how close the organization is to its goals, and, provides continuity with donors even though staff changes.
• Donor research. This gives the organization the confidence to ask for a stretch gift, finds the links between donors, prospects and the organization, allows the organization to set up a personalized strategy around each major gift prospect, and, keeps the organization current on public events in a prospect’s world.

Prospect Information Collection Rules

It goes without saying that a major part of prospect research is information collection. Being in charge of the private information of prospects is a big responsibility, so it's important that fundraisers maintain high integrity when handling this information.

At a recent AFP International Conference on Fundraising, Chair Robbe Healey of Simpson Senior Services and Bill Bartolini of George Washington University discussed issues of ethics and honesty in assembling and keeping donor information. In particular, they discussed fundamental principles adapted from the Association of Professional Research for Advancement (APRA) and its statement of ethics.

These standards pertain to information collection in the following ways:

• All information will be collected in a legal manner;
• A good faith effort will be made to collect and store information that is verifiable;
• We will be honest in identifying our jobs, our employers and ourselves;
• We will collect only information of value in the development process;
• We will respect the wishes of the person being researched;
• Whenever possible, we will use second party sources (such as online databases) for public documents such as SEC forms, property and stock holdings and court documents; and,
• Based on personal research, it is known that certain public documents are sensitive to some constituents and the use of them for fundraising purposes may strain relationships between the individual and the organization.

Any breach of trust that occurs between the nonprofit and the prospect will not only destroy the relationship with that individual, but also has the potential to damage beyond repair the organization's reputation overall. This is why it's imperative that nonprofit managers make sure their fundraisers take these rules to heart.

Prospect Research For Capital Campaigns

Major gifts are the lifeblood of any capital campaign. Without these donations, the campaign is unlikely to achieve the greatest success possible.

Fundraisers everywhere know that they have to work extremely hard to identify, cultivate, and solicit major donors. One of the most effective tools they have at their disposal for capital campaigns is prospect research. This is the process in which the fundraising staff evaluates the organization's contacts to identify individuals, foundations, and corporations who are most capable of giving a major gift.

Kent E. Dove, author of "Conducting a Successful Capital Campaign," offered the four main objectives fundraisers should keep in mind when doing this research:

• To identify people and their relationship with other people;
• To determine people’s interest in, associations with, and gifts to the institution;
• To discover facts about the ownership, control, influence, and wealth of people, corporations, and foundations; and,
• To reduce great quantities of information to readable, understandable, and concise reports pertinent to the current campaign.

Should You Use A Prospect Database?

Looking for fundraising prospects is a lot like looking for gold: It's better to have a systematic process in place to find it rather than just hoping you find it where you look.

Part of that systematic process involves using something called a prospect database.  This technology is a virtual warehouse in which data is linked and aggregated to help enhance your campaign.  It contains an organization's own donor data, compiled data, transactional data, prior mail history and response lists in their entirety  Not all nonprofits use them, but the ones that do have experienced success. 

One of these organizations is Smile Train, a children's charity based in New York City.  Priscilla Ma, executive director of the organization, spoke about their use of the prospect database at the DMA Nonprofit Federation conference.  The NonProfit Times recorded her suggestions on what types of organizations should use a prospect database.  You should consider using one if:

• You’re a high-volume mailer, and your costs are increasing.
• You want to be a high-volume mailer and you need to cut your costs to get there.
• Direct mail drives your revenue. 
• You use a wide variety of lists.

You can read the rest of Ma's suggestions on our website.

All About Prospect Research

It goes without saying that cultivating donors is a major task for any nonprofit organization.  To find these individuals, most nonprofits undergo a process known as prospect research.  What is prospect research, you ask?  It is is a process in which a researcher will identify relevant information about potential donors, which will be used to develop a solicitation profile of an individual. Prospect research is most often utilized to find donors who have the potential to provide major gifts. However, the process is used to find donors at all levels and for all fundraising channels. This is done by evaluating a prospect’s ability to give and the person’s affinity for the nonprofit.  It's a complicated task but hey, somebody has to do it.

The NonProfit Times has a number of articles on this topic, so you can head you our prospect research page to find out more about how it can help your organization.