Karen Eber Davis is a consultant on a mission to ensure fully resourced, creative and effective nonprofit organizations. On her website she features some free resources including her Mission Brilliant Podcasts. These podcasts are interviews with experts on topics such as events, tax, auctions, using video …and even prospect research.
Check out her podcasts and I bet you’ll find something relevant to your organization!
As a new prospect researcher with Aspire Research Group I am constantly reading and learning new techniques. I recently came across a very helpful document on the internet: Google and Beyond: Making the Most of Search Engines for Prospect Research by Steven Hupp. He explains many useful search options within Google Search and expands upon the topic to speak about other search engine and meta search engine options. I thought I would share the search techniques that I found most useful while reading his presentation.
When using Google Search, you can use the ordinary Google search box or click the Advanced Search link near the box. I am describing how to use the everyday Google search box.
Using Quotes
The first advanced operator (otherwise known as useful thing to help make your searching more productive) is one that most people who have used Google already know about. When searching for a prospect (Jane Doe) put her name in quotes: “Jane Doe”. This weeds out all the search results that have Jane and Doe but not together. I use quotes for all the known combinations of the donor prospect’s name (e.g., Jane Doe, Jane E. Doe, Jane Evermand Doe)
The Asterisk
You can also use the asterisk with quotes. If you put “Jane Doe * Pennsylvania”, the * acts as a wild card and will produce search results that include all Jane Doe “any word at all” Pennsylvania. This can be helpful if you are not sure where in Pennsylvania a prospect lives or want to find all the places she might be involved within the state.
The Minus Sign
Another advanced operator that can be very time-saving is the minus sign (-). When you are searching a prospect’s name and it is relatively common or there is another specific person who is not your prospect who keeps showing up and taking over all the search results, simply put “Jane Doe” –ski ball and all the ski ball results will go away.
Domain Search
One can also use Google search to look specifically at a single website. Site searching looks like this: “Jane Doe” site: aspireresearchgroup.com. This will produce search results that only include Jane Doe’s name when it shows up on the website in question.
Type of File
The final search function that Mr. Hupp mentions that I think could be really helpful to people doing prospect research is the filetype search. In order to do this search type: “Jane Doe” filetype: pdf (or whatever file type you want) and the Google search results will only include documents of that particular file type where Jane Doe is mentioned. This would be particularly useful when used with PDF documents, as so often they include foundation reports and donor lists.
Happy Searching!
By using these tips on more productive Google searching, I hope that your searches will become less like searching for a needle in a haystack and more like searching for a colorful drinking straw in a haystack. 😀
Go Ask Aspire
And of course you can always ask Aspire Research Group to find your donor prospect in the haystack for you! We provide some of the most thorough donor prospect profiles in the business! Click here for more information.
Kate is detailed and thorough and I know you won’t be disappointed with her first article on Estimating Hedge Fund Manager Compensation. We have added it to Aspire Research Group’s library of free articles here.
Kate Rapoport officially signed on in March as our new research associate. From time to time she will write about solutions to various research questions she encounters.
She wrote her debut blog post about Millenial Donors. Check it out here.
Want to know where to look for information online? Do you wonder if you are asking for the largest gift amount appropriate? Maybe you want to understand how prospect research fits into fundraising and how to leverage it to maximize your fundraising?
APRA Florida has teamed up with the Nonprofit Leadership Center of Tampa Bay to answer your questions with a Prospect Research 101 course the morning on the first day of the APRA Florida annual conference on May 19, 2011. Click here for more info about Research 101 and click here for more info about the conference.
I am so excited to be presenting the Research 101 Workshop with my friend and colleague, Debbie Menoher, Director of Research for the University of Florida Foundation. During her tenure, UF completed an $850 million dollar capital campaign, and UF is currently in a $1.5 billion dollar campaign. She is also one of the founding members of the APRA Florida chapter!
The conference and workshop will be held at The Children’s Board in downtown Tampa. Workshop cost is $59 and conference is $125 for two days. The theme this year is The New Philanthropists: Prospecting in the 21st Century.
I will be presenting at the workshop and attending the conference. If you are in Florida, I hope you will too!
This year the APRA Florida conference will be in my hometown – Tampa! Click here for more info on the conference. Registration is now open! And none too soon as the conference is May 19 and 20, 2011. Our theme is: The New Philanthropists – Prospecting in the 21st Century.
The Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA) does an incredible job of keeping us prospect researchers well educated and it thrills me to have an active chapter here in Florida. This year I am serving as the chapter president and it has been a privilege to get chest deep in association waters.
So I know it’s true when I say that our conference committee is going to bring you excellent speakers and fantastic networking and problem-solving opportunities. If you are in Florida, I sure hope to see you in Tampa in May!
It takes a community to support a nonprofit organization or academic institution and Aspire Research Group is pleased to announce that Spire2 has been added to our Resource Partners. As a fundraiser, you have many needs and want an expert that gets results. Spire2 is just such an expert:
Prospect research is most effective when you have a donor acquisition strategy as well as a strong annual campaign for unrestricted dollars. Data mining for major gift prospects works best when your database is full of well-cared donors and prospects. Spire2 can help you get you get there.
Call or email Jeff James at Spire2 today and ask him about my favorite story – how he helped Wheaton College reach out to its young alumni, who are now giving at the same percentage as the general alumni population. Call 630-462-2567 or email jjames at spire2.com. You won’t be disappointed!
The American College has made a series of five videos that walk you through the cultivation and asking of a donor prospect. They are called “Donor Dialogues: The Art of the Ask” and they are AWESOME! Really, really!
Don’t even let me hear you think it: FIVE videos, Jen? I’m not sitting through FIVE YouTube videos. But I bet that once you see the first one you’ll be hooked. We’re talking some great discussion *and* role-play. Yes, you read that correctly: ROLE PLAY. And you don’t even have to get up in front of an audience. Told you it was good.
And of course video #3 talks about the importance of prospect research as you get closer to asking for a major gift. Granted he calls it “legal stalking” which has an awful connotation, but I’m going to let that slide because overall the series is very professionally produced, pleasant to watch, and grossly informative (touché!).
As Florida waits and wonders if BP’s oil disaster is going to visit its beaches, most people are thinking about the environmental damage and the whammy it will bring to the just-thinking-about-recovering tourism industry. Those impacted the most so far, Louisiana, found people making a rush on the fresh fish markets, fearing stalls would be empty soon.
But as a prospect researcher, every time I hear of a downturn I know that someone is making money. Every crisis, every market crash, and yes, every environmental disaster means someone is going to be rolling in dough. Wouldn’t you have wanted the company manufacturing and distributing face masks during the SARS crisis to be your best donor? Well at this moment BP is paying folks to try to stop the oil leak, to clean up the spilled oil and for all of the services that wrap around those activities. Are any of those companies on your donor prospect list? I hope so!
I attended the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement-Florida chapter conference last week and was favored with a presentation by Lori and David Lawson of DonorTrends. This couple is always full of usable advice on prospect research and last week was no exception!
The Lawsons pointed out that the economy is always going up or down and that someone is always making money along the way. I’ve talked about “recession proof” businesses before such as waste disposal and funeral homes, but the Lawsons talked about those businesses that do even better when the economy is going down. Companies like repossessors, second-hand stores, junkyards and auctions are on the list. I could almost hear everyone in the room slapping their foreheads and saying “duh!” Yes, it sounds obvious once you hear it, but most of us are not viewing the economy from this perspective.
But the Lawsons didn’t just talk at us, they pointed us to some fabulous resources like Industry Trends information from a financial analysis company called Sageworks. Find out which private companies were doing the best and worst. Or maybe you have a donor prospect in one of the businesses that people are willing to indulge in when money is tight.
As a nonprofit it is in your best interest to diversify your portfolio of donors as much as possible. Prospect research can help you do this. Take a peek into your donor database and start searching for donors whose business or industry might be doing even better right now and give them some special attention while you are waiting for other donors to recover.