Category: Prospect Research

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Toward Donor Diversity: A Prospect Researcher’s Call for Stronger Organizational Readiness

Prospect researchers are often asked about how to cultivate a diverse donor pool. This is a worthy question, but first examining your nonprofit’s organizational structures, especially by those of us with white access, and privilege, is needed. You see, before we can address where to find diverse donors, we need to assess if our institution is creating an environment in which diverse donors would not only feel welcomed, valued, and heard, but in which they feel safe and engaged to invest their capital. To have a stronger organizational readiness, consider these questions: • What do we offer to diverse donors?

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Advancing Your Prospect Research

Advancing Your Prospect Research

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA A lot of donor information is hidden. Most donors aren’t advertising their net worth or telling us about the other nonprofits they donate to. So it’s up to us to do the research in advance of our conversations with them. Three Options Nonprofits have three options for conducting this research: Conducting In-House Research — Larger nonprofits with the financial means often build dedicated research teams into their organizational structure. Hiring a Consultant — Instead of hiring a full-time prospect researcher or having an existing staff member screen donors, you can bring in consultants like LAPA

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Recurring Giving

Generate Ongoing Revenue Through Recurring Giving

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA A well-executed recurring giving program can generate consistent, ongoing revenue for your mission. Brooklyn Defender Services, a LAPA Fundraising client, recently closed its 2021 annual fund campaign with nearly 6,000 new donors — and recently established a monthly giving program as part of the effort to boost its annual fund. By identifying annual fund donors who are willing to support the organization through automated monthly contributions, Brooklyn Defender Services now has a steady stream of recurring revenue in 2022 from these newly acquired supporters. Your organization can follow a similar path by creating data-driven, personalized

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Our 2022 Crystal Ball

Our 2022 Crystal Ball

By Brooke Bryant, Ph.D; Robin Merle, CFRE; and Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA As we approach a new year, fundraisers continue to navigate an unsettled landscape. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, calls for racial justice, changing donor expectations, and a tight labor market have been central themes in 2021 — and they will continue to influence how we approach our work in 2022. Against that backdrop, we offer these 12 fundraising trends to watch over the next 12 months: The 12 Biggest Nonprofit Trends for 2022 Donors Will Give More Generously Equity Must Be Front and Center Hybrid Is Here to Stay Megadonors Will Be

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Securing Donor-Advised Funds

How To Secure More Gifts From Donor-Advised Funds

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA We must ensure that all charitable donations are made available for charitable use, rather than languishing indefinitely in donor-advised funds (DAFs). After all, donors who contribute to DAFs receive an immediate tax benefit. But nonprofits have no idea when they’ll ever see a dime. DAFs have come under fire for the fact that they are not legally required to spend the money that they receive and can hold it for as long as they want. Plus, the fiduciary managers have an incentive to keep the money in the DAF. Granted, many donor-advised fundholders are both

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The Dangers of Wealth Screening

The Dangers of Wealth Screening

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA Buyer beware. It is all the rage. The ads pop up, the messages come through promising the path to gold. “Wealth screen your donors through OUR service. We’re better, faster, cheaper.” But does wealth screening really end up raising more revenue? What is Wealth Screening? Wealth Screening is a data process that nonprofits use to determine each donor’s capacity to give. It’s also a way to identify new donors. As a subset of prospect research, a wealth screen looks at the top indicators of wealth like real-estate ownership, business affiliations, and stock holdings in public

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Needle In The Haystack

Needle In The Haystack

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA A critical step in securing major gifts is knowing your donors. Approaching donors as individuals, not bank accounts, humanizes the major gifts process and takes the sting out of ‘the ask.’ What is the linchpin to getting to know your donors? Research! Comprehensive donor research can help you get over the hump of making that call or sending that note. Donor research, or prospect research, not only reduces the fear of the ask, it is also the first step in building relationships with donors. It tells you about your donor’s interests and desires, and it

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Screening Your Donors

Screening Your Donors

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA How do you find greater wealth among your current donors, or even find new donors? You screen for them of course! Screening helps you determine which donors to focus on. You see, most people only keep enough in cash and checking accounts to pay for their current expenses, including charitable contributions. But large donors make major gifts from assets. So you have to uncover the true giving potential of donors; therefore, you must screen your current donors to learn more about them. You can conduct the screening yourself by assembling a Screening Taskforce that meets

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