Tag: Prospect Research

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Direction

What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There

A $5 million award letter arrived from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, an historic moment in the 15-year-old nonprofit’s existence. They had arrived. Their mission is to build bathrooms in rural schools in the poorest areas to meet children’s basic hygiene needs. It’s a transformative service.

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data

5 Common (Easily Preventable!) Mistakes Nonprofits Make with Data

Years ago I was introduced to an adage that has been largely attributed as being an old Chinese Proverb, indifferent to its origin the meaning is still sound. It says, “The best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago, the next best time is today.”

During Q&A sessions in speeches or panels I often get asked by #nonprofits when should we start collecting #data? I share that adage with them. We just went through Giving Tuesday and aside from end-of-year fundraising, this is where we see a lot of nonprofits make mistakes with their data.

This article highlights five of the biggest issues we see nonprofits encounter with their data.

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Toward Donor Diversity: A Prospect Researcher’s Call for Stronger Organizational Readiness

By Michael Taylor, CFRE, CEO Prospect researchers are often asked about how to cultivate a diverse donor pool. This is a worthy question, but first examining your nonprofit’s organizational structures, especially by those of us with white access, and privilege, is needed. You see, before we can address where to find diverse donors, we need to assess if our institution is creating an environment in which diverse donors would not only feel welcomed, valued, and heard, but in which they feel safe and engaged to invest their capital. To have a stronger organizational readiness, consider these questions: • What do

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Advancing Your Prospect Research

Advancing Your Prospect Research

By Michael Taylor, CFRE, CEO A lot of donor information is hidden. Most donors aren’t advertising their net worth or telling us about the other nonprofits they donate to. So it’s up to us to do the research in advance of our conversations with them. Three Options Nonprofits have three options for conducting this research: Conducting In-House Research — Larger nonprofits with the financial means often build dedicated research teams into their organizational structure. Hiring a Consultant — Instead of hiring a full-time prospect researcher or having an existing staff member screen donors, you can bring in consultants like NPI

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Unleashing the Power of Women’s Philanthropy

By Brooke Bryant, PhD Women’s philanthropy has long been undervalued. Yet, women are statistically more likely to give than men, and 70% of giving circles are populated by women. At a time when women have increased financial power, and are more actively involved in giving decisions than their male counterparts, your nonprofit cannot afford to overlook this important demographic. I once spoke with a women’s rights organization that wanted to grow its major gifts program, and they had a major concern: I just don’t think we can grow our major donor pool. Most of our donors are women — and

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The Dangers of Wealth Screening

The Dangers of Wealth Screening

By: Michael Taylor, CFRE, CEO Buyer beware. It is all the rage. The ads pop up, the messages come through promising the path to gold. “Wealth screen your donors through OUR service. We’re better, faster, cheaper.” But does wealth screening really end up raising more revenue? What is Wealth Screening? Wealth Screening is a data process that nonprofits use to determine each donor’s capacity to give. It’s also a way to identify new donors. As a subset of prospect research, a wealth screen looks at the top indicators of wealth like real-estate ownership, business affiliations, and stock holdings in public

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Needle In The Haystack

Needle In The Haystack

By: Michael Taylor, CFRE, CEO A critical step in securing major gifts is knowing your donors. Approaching donors as individuals, not bank accounts, humanizes the major gifts process and takes the sting out of ‘the ask.’ What is the linchpin to getting to know your donors? Research! Comprehensive donor research can help you get over the hump of making that call or sending that note. Donor research, or prospect research, not only reduces the fear of the ask, it is also the first step in building relationships with donors. It tells you about your donor’s interests and desires, and it

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Screening Your Donors

Screening Your Donors

By: Michael Taylor, CFRE, CEO How do you find greater wealth among your current donors, or even find new donors? You screen for them of course! Screening helps you determine which donors to focus on. You see, most people only keep enough in cash and checking accounts to pay for their current expenses, including charitable contributions. But large donors make major gifts from assets. So you have to uncover the true giving potential of donors; therefore, you must screen your current donors to learn more about them. You can conduct the screening yourself by assembling a Screening Taskforce that meets

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