If you’re a prospect researcher or fundraiser, you probably have a good idea of whom to pitch major gift asks to and how much to ask for. But do you know when to ask? It’s a tricky question without an easy answer. But there is a set of data that provides clues to help you determine the […]
At any one time, your nonprofit’s development office might be creating profiles for hundreds or thousands of past, present, and potential major gift donors. And with each profile involving scores of data points, notes, and summaries, it’s easy to suffer from information overload. But what if there was a way to boil all that fundraising […]
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the best major gift prospect of them all?” Unfortunately, there are no magic tricks or easy shortcuts when it comes to prospect research and fundraising. Sometimes it’s hard enough to find your prospect’s middle name! But what we do have are proven indicators of major gift potential. One of the best […]
We like to know what a “day in the life” looks like for our clients — and in this case, we’re specifically talking about prospect researchers. By understanding the challenges (and opportunities) you work with every day, we can create a better platform to fulfill those needs and help you explore those opportunities. But no […]
Fundraising intelligence is all about gathering relevant information to make an informed ask. Whether you have a paid subscription to an online research platform, or are using free resources like Zillow, real estate information is critical knowledge to have. Real estate provides key insight regarding a major gift prospect’s personality, net worth, debt, and other […]
Guest Post by Paul D’Alessandro, D’Alessandro Inc. Donors, Then and Now In the late 80’s I worked on my very first capital campaign for a major university. I remember walking into the room where there were a few prospect researchers. They had a stack of books to look up information on donors, and they would […]
If you’re an iWave client, chances are you’ve heard us say, “Don’t forget to use your iWave credits!” quite a lot over the last year or so. But what’s the real benefit of scoring your prospects? What do all those 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s really mean? Let’s talk it out. If you aren’t an […]
The following is an excerpt from iWave’s new eBook: The Three Keys to a Better Major Gift Ask. Read the full story. There are three important ratings that researchers and fundraisers use to segment and prioritize major gift prospects and donors. They are: PROPENSITY: Has this person given to nonprofit causes before? AFFINITY: Is this person passionate […]
Here we are at the end of the Prospect Ratings: Propensity-Affinity-Capacity Series. If you’ve been following this blog series, hopefully, you’ve learned something new about prospect ratings. If you’re just joining us, get started here. What did we learn? PROPENSITY Simply knowing a donor prefers a specific cause and has lots of money to […]
The third aspect of The Three Keys series is for some the most important, but for all, probably the most infamous. Trying to determine exactly your prospect’s capacity to give is very difficult. There is usually no definitive answer, but every major gift ask usually depends on it. Defining Capacity You probably already know what […]