Fundraising & Nonprofit Blog

The Three Keys Introduction: What is Propensity, Affinity, and Capacity?

Good things come in threes. When it comes to ideal donor ratings, the big three are propensity, affinity, and capacity (The Three Keys). Throughout the nonprofit industry, there are many different perspectives and names for this ratings trio.

Research Insider Filings to Determine “When” to Solicit HNW Prospects

If you’re a prospect researcher or fundraiser, you probably have a good idea of whom to pitch major gift asks…

Prospect Ratings: The Pillars of Fundraising Intelligence

At any one time, your nonprofit’s development office might be creating profiles for hundreds or thousands of past, present, and…

Predicting the Future With Past Giving

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the best major gift prospect of them all?” Unfortunately, there are no magic tricks…

Balancing Proactive and Reactive Research Requests

We like to know what a “day in the life” looks like for our clients — and in this case,…

Best Practices for Leveraging Real Estate Data

Fundraising intelligence is all about gathering relevant information to make an informed and educated gift ask. Whether you have a…

Conversation Starters: Strategies That Open Doors to Major Gift Success

Guest Post by Paul D’Alessandro, D’Alessandro Inc.  Donors, Then and Now In the late 80’s I worked on my very…

The Three Keys to a Better Major Gift Ask

The following is an excerpt from iWave’s new eBook: The Three Keys to a Better Major Gift Ask.  Read the…

Prospect Ratings: Propensity-Affinity-Capacity Conclusion

  Here we are at the end of the Prospect Ratings: Propensity-Affinity-Capacity Series.  If you’ve been following this blog series,…

The Three Keys Series – CAPACITY: Does Your Prospect “Have” What It Takes to Be a Major Gift Prospect?

The third aspect of The Three Keys series is for some the most important, but for all, probably the most…

The Three Keys – AFFINITY: Finding the Major Gift Donor of Your Dreams

In the second of The Three Keys Series, we explore Affinity. Let’s discuss how and why a strong affinity rating…

The Three Keys Series – PROPENSITY: Finding Clues in Charitable Giving, Board Affiliations, Volunteering, and More

In the first of our Three Keys Series, we tackle Propensity. Let’s discuss how and why a strong propensity rating…