As a fundraiser, you may not need to know how every tool works, but you need to know enough to choose the tool with the right fit. How high is your prospect research IQ? Do you demonstrate the following three actions?
1) Knowing that an electronic wealth screening is not the same thing as having a prospect researcher profile your donor prospect.
When discussing best practices around prospect screenings and wealth screenings, the conversation always seems to start with “it depends”, and rightly so. But I state with conviction that an electronic screening is not and should never be confused with the work of a live, well-trained human being.
I don’t care how awesome their match method is or how many sources and formulas are used, an electronic screening is meant to prioritize a large group of records. A human being, a prospect researcher, is meant to qualify individual names and add a dose of reality to the data. A prospect researcher knows that Bugs Bunny, a seasoned executive with grown children, is not the same Bugs Bunny who graduated from Stanford in 2009.
Are you prioritizing a large list? Electronic screening. Are you working on a solicitation strategy? Donor prospect profile.
2) Recognizing that an investment in prospect research is well worth it – when you act upon the information.
I don’t want to tell you how many times I have provided profiles, rated a database, or otherwise identified and researched donor prospects only to learn that the information then sat dormant for months, even years. Why does this happen? I work mostly with small and medium organizations. Among them, the two most common reasons are (1) no performance goal tied to implementing the results, and (2) development staff underestimated the time they would need to spend acting – actually cultivating and soliciting donors.
We are as human as our donors.
If our donors give best under a sense of urgency, we also do our best cultivating and soliciting under a sense of urgency. Whether it is a campaign goal deadline or a target ask date, creating some kind of urgency will help you achieve more. Major gifts can provide a high rate of return on the prospect research investment, but it requires a serious dedication of time and resources.
Urgency will cause stress without success if there are not enough hours in the day to complete your tasks. If you are a busy fundraising professional already working a full day, you may need to consider either eliminating or deferring some of your current tasks, assigning them to another staff member, or hiring additional staff. Be practical about planning the time in your day before spending money on prospect research.
3) Raising major gifts by following through on prospect/moves management.
A prospect management system is like an exercise plan. If you keep neglecting your workouts, every time you exercise it will be difficult and you will feel tired. But if you follow the program, you will feel good and have more energy.
If you prioritize your prospects, take the actions necessary to deeply engage your prospect, and track and report your progress, you will be working the plan and will raise more and higher gifts. The level of excitement and interest you can generate in your donors (and yourself) through a disciplined prospect management system is amazing!
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