Using Prospect Research to Improve Your Ask: 5 Tips

Sandra Davis • Aug 27, 2021

Nonprofits professionals turn to prospect research time after time to enhance and strengthen their fundraising strategies. This research method has the innate ability to uncover valuable information on prospective donors, helping your organization better understand its audience and determine key cultivation steps.

 

When you understand your prospective donors better, you can craft well-thought-out fundraising asks that are customized and most relevant to each potential supporter. And by taking the time to get to know prospects and form relationships with them, you’ll ensure that they’ll be much more responsive when it comes to the actual fundraising ask.

 

The key to conducting a successful research process is focusing your efforts on finding prospective donors who care about your cause and have the capacity to contribute a large donation.

 

In this guide, we’ll cover five tips for improving your fundraising strategy with prospect research. As you carry out the research process, make sure you:

 

  1. Don’t underestimate the power of affinity indicators.
  2. Create a balanced solicitation plan.
  3. Use prospect segments to determine the right ask amounts.
  4. Keep your database clean.
  5. Leverage prospects’ corporate connections.

 

Prospect research is typically associated with the major gift solicitation process. However, keep in mind that these tips can be translated to apply to any type of fundraising. You can use the prospect research process to inform each step of your fundraising plan so that you’re left with a streamlined, effective strategy. Let’s get started.



1. Don’t underestimate the power of affinity indicators.


The prospect research process combines two aspects of donor research: wealth screening and affinity to give.

 

Wealth screening is the process of evaluating your potential donor pool to identify wealthy individuals. Prospect researchers use indicators like stock ownership, real estate holdings, and employment information to determine a prospect’s ability to give in larger amounts.

 

Wealth screening is a valuable process because it allows you to narrow your major donor search to those who are wealthy enough to make such a gift. However, wealth factors aren’t the only measure you should consider while conducting prospect research.

 

A prospect’s affinity for your organization is just as important as their wealth. Affinity to give is defined as the strength of an individual’s personal connection to your cause.

 

You can determine a prospect’s affinity for your cause by looking at the following indicators:

 

  • History of giving to similar organizations. If a prospect has given to similar nonprofits in the past, that indicates warmth toward your mission and willingness to support your cause.
  • Past involvement with your nonprofit. Individuals who’ve donated or volunteered with your organization in the past are more likely than the average person to support your mission.
  • Political contributions: Political donations reveal information about prospects’ beliefs and priorities, which may align with your organization’s mission or political stance. Political contributions also show that a prospect is willing to support causes they believe in with monetary contributions.

 

The prospect research process combines wealth screening with affinity indicators. This helps your organization identify not only those with a greater amount of wealth who have the ability to contribute a major gift, but also those who are motivated by your specific cause and mission.

 

In this process, don’t underestimate the power of those affinity indicators. The key to connecting with prospects who will stick with your organization over the long term is finding those who have the funds to support your organization for years to come and a deep connection to your cause.



2. Create a balanced solicitation plan.


After you’ve identified individuals with both an affinity for your cause and the ability to contribute a sizable donation, you’ll need to craft a targeted outreach strategy to start warming them up to your organization.

 

Jumping right into a major fundraising request is a mistake. Doing so may spoil your relationship with potential donors before it’s even begun. Instead, it’s worth it to take the time to follow a deliberate plan that slowly introduces prospects to your organization and prepares them to receive a fundraising request.

 

Remember, the aim of your solicitation plan shouldn’t just be fundraising. While it’s true that your goal is to raise more for your organization, it’s equally important to form relationships with supporters so that they continue engaging with your nonprofit over the long term.

 

To achieve a balanced approach, incorporate prospect research insights into your solicitation plan. Your research process may have revealed that certain donors are more receptive to different aspects of your organization. For instance, they may be interested in:

 

  • The history of your organization/cause: Prospective donors will be interested in knowing more about your organization before committing their funds. Provide background on your nonprofit, the progress you’ve made over the years, and how your organization fits into the context of the larger cause.
  • Your organization’s current projects and goals: Give prospects an inside look at what their donations will fund by explaining your current goals and projects. For instance, are you seeking funding to construct a new building or purchase more equipment for your community center? Prospective donors will want to know exactly what their gifts will be used for.
  • Non-giving opportunities: No one wants to feel like an ATM that your organization draws funds from. You can avoid this outcome and strengthen ties with prospects by sharing non-donation opportunities such as volunteering, events, and advocacy campaigns.

 

Create a solicitation plan that spans several months and includes a variety of touchpoints between your organization and prospective donors. For instance, you should vary your outreach approach by contacting prospects via email, phone, and direct mail. This ensures that you aren’t overwhelming them by sending all communications on just one platform.



3. Use prospect segments to determine the right ask amounts.


As a fundraising professional, you know that one of the most effective ways to earn more through direct fundraising appeals is to include a specific monetary request.

 

To review this concept, analyze the following fundraising appeals:

 

  • Will you please donate now to support our community food pantry? Every bit helps!
  • Will you please donate $50 today to support our community food pantry? One gift of $50 can feed a family of four for a week!

 

The first request is positive and mentions that donations support the food pantry, but it doesn’t provide prospective donors with a sense of the type of donations you’re looking for. When supporters don’t see any suggested giving amounts, they tend to give in lower amounts because they don’t know if larger donations will make a difference.

 

On the other hand, the second ask specifically requests a $50 gift and mentions the exact impact the donation will have. This request is much more likely to encourage prospective donors to give because they know what you’re looking for and how you’ll use the funding.

 

You might understand the importance of including specific monetary amounts in your fundraising asks, but feel hesitant about what amount to ask for from each donor. This is where prospect segmentation can provide the structure and guidance needed to determine the best ask for each prospective donor.

 

Use your prospect research insights to segment your prospects into varying giving levels, such as prospective major or mid-tier donors. You can create these groups based on your wealth screening insights, such as prospects’ employment information, stock ownership, or real estate holdings.

 

This can give you a better idea of what amount you should ask for from each prospect segment. For instance, you can ask those in your mid-tier range for a $500 gift, and those in your major donor tier for a $1,500 gift.

 

You can also base your gift request on a prospect’s past relationship with your nonprofit. For example, let’s say one of your prospects contributed a major gift of $8,000 last year. You can ask for a similar amount in your fundraising appeal since you know they were willing to give that much in the past. You might even bump the request up a few thousand dollars based on your wealth screening insights, which can determine if a prospect might have the capacity to contribute a larger gift than they did in the past.



4. Keep your database clean.


As you conduct prospect research, you don’t want your newly gathered insights to go to waste. According to Donorly’s prospect research guide, it’s important to keep your prospect research data points organized so they don’t get lost in the shuffle.

 

When you keep your supporter database clean, you can maintain accurate records of prospects’ history of involvement with your organization. This is critical because you want to be able to reference a supporters’ history in your fundraising requests.

 

For instance, compare the value of the following fundraising appeals from an animal shelter:

 

  • If you’ve donated to our rescue in the past, we thank you! Please consider contributing another gift to fund our worthy cause.
  • Barbara, thank you for your generous gift of $1,000! By supporting our shelter’s bedding and toys fund, you help keep rescue animals safe and happy.

 

The first appeal is incredibly generic. It demonstrates to supporters that you don’t really know or care who you’re speaking to, and you’re simply looking for more money.

 

The second request is much more specific, referencing the supporter’s name and past donation amount. It also mentions the exact fund that the supporter donated to, which is an important piece of information the organization can track to determine the success of individual campaigns.

 

Without a clean, orderly supporter database, it becomes challenging to keep accurate records on past donations as well as supporters’ preferred names and contact information. Therefore, you’ll want to create a procedure for proper data entry that your prospect researchers can reference.

 

To ensure a clean database, establish data entry procedures such as:

 

  • Standardizing address abbreviations (such as Road vs. rd.)
  • Eliminating duplicate entries
  • Filling in missing information (such as phone numbers or email addresses)
  • Creating a process to resolve errors, such as designating at least one team member to oversee data entry and keep an eye out for errors

 

Once you’ve established data entry best practices for your team, be sure to incorporate them into training opportunities so everyone’s on the same page. Host an initial training session as well as ongoing refresher training to ensure your team is following proper data entry procedures and maintaining a comprehensive, organized database. This will allow your fundraising team to access accurate, useful information on prospective donors to incorporate into fundraising requests.



5. Leverage prospects’ corporate connections.


One of the most important insights you can determine through prospect research is prospects’ employment information. This not only reveals how much money a prospect likely makes, but also whether prospects work for companies with robust corporate social responsibility programs.

 

Many companies offer corporate giving programs to their employees that can benefit your organization. These opportunities include:

 

  • Matching gift programs: In these corporate giving opportunities, businesses pledge to match gifts that their employees make to eligible nonprofits. Most organizations match at a 1:1 ratio, but some companies offer 2:1, 3:1, or even 4:1 matching ratios. Matching gifts can be an effective way to boost your nonprofit’s fundraising efforts without having to ask for more from prospects themselves.
  • Volunteer grant programs: In a volunteer grant program, corporations contribute funding to eligible nonprofits based on the number of hours their employees volunteer with those nonprofits. Even if prospects don’t work for gift-matching companies, they might still be able to contribute additional funding through volunteer grant programs offered by their employers.

 

Use the prospect research resources at your disposal to investigate prospects’ employment information and corporate connections. Then, be sure to highlight these opportunities in your communications with these prospects. Prompt prospects to research their eligibility and submit the necessary forms to cash in on these corporate giving opportunities.

 

Corporate giving programs are often highly inspiring to prospects because they see how their initial support can be easily maximized to make a greater impact on your mission. You can improve your fundraising ask by offering an opportunity for prospects to enhance their contribution without having to open their own wallet again.


While prospect research can be used to reveal a wide range of insights about your potential donor pool, one of its most effective uses is to help improve your fundraising asks. If you feel you need a helping hand, a fundraising consultant can provide the expertise needed to guide your organization through the prospect research process and establish long-term strategies for success.

 

If you’ve decided to tackle the prospect research process on your own, keep these tips in mind and remember to seek out a variety of prospect research tools to help you through the process, including your nonprofit’s supporter database and publicly available online databases. Good luck and happy fundraising!


About the Author

Sandra Davis


Founder and President Sandra Davis leads Donorly with 30 years of fundraising experience and leadership. Sandra has consulted on numerous capital campaigns, led strategic planning and feasibility study efforts, and managed board development and recruitment efforts, planned giving, special events, and annual giving programs. Under her leadership, Donorly has grown to support the fundraising efforts of over 75 clients to date.


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