Prospect research is a technique used by fundraising professionals and nonprofit organizations to make sure that they are confident in asking the right person for the right amount at the right time, and for the right reason. This involves the process of learning more about potential or existing donors’ personal backgrounds, giving histories, wealth indicators, and philanthropic motivations to evaluate a prospect’s capacity to give and potential affinity toward an organization and its cause.
With prospect research, nonprofits gain valuable insights that allow them to more accurately choose which donors they should focus on. The benefits of effective prospect research are extensive, including:
- refining major gift outreach
- identifying planned or deferred gift prospects
- generating new prospects, and
- assessing new fundraising opportunities.
The exponential growth of information technology and the open availability of public information has transformed the process of prospect research for professional fundraisers. Building a robust contact management system and database of historical donations is a given for all nonprofit organizations, no matter their size nor annual operating budget. The process of searching for and analyzing publicly available information has also been revolutionized, and there is a growing body of specialized knowledge, expertise and resources that are now available.
When our clients require access to specialized knowledge and industry leading resources for better prospect research, we have successfully partnered with iWave the most recommended donor research solution among industry professionals.
Our partnership with iWave not only brings our clients the best resources and expertise, but also allows for special discounted pricing. Give us a call to discuss, or follow this link to get in touch with our partners at iWave directly.
Raising more money requires that we work smarter, not just harder than the competition.