By: Melissa Bank Stepno, President & CEO
A potential client asked me recently (paraphrasing): “why we would need a professional prospect researcher if we are already subscribing to a wealth screening platform?” She probably didn’t expect the length of the reply that I sent back, but this is a topic I feel passionately about. What follows is not the reply that I sent her, but it was the inspiration for this post:
I’ve been working with wealth screening data for close to 25 years and spent nearly 18 of those years working for one of the prominent wealth screening providers in our industry. I’m not here to judge the value of one tool over another and you won’t even see any product names mentioned in this post.
Here’s what I can say: all the wealth screening platforms are powerful tools and provide valuable data, but they all have limitations as well.
Each tool has its own bells and whistles. Each tool has its own frustrations and clunkiness. The salespeople of each company will tell you that their product is the best and give you specific reasons why. However, even when I worked at a company that sold a wealth screening tool I would still recommend to potential buyers try-before-you-buy.
It’s sort of like test-driving cars. Every car has four wheels, and seat belts, and these days most have GPS built right in. But, when you are in the market to buy a car, that test drive can sometimes make all the difference!
Because here’s the interesting part: while the technology that drives all these platforms has certainly changed and gotten more sophisticated over the years, and while many of the company and product names have changed, the limitations have stayed the same.
{As a brief aside, here’s a trip down memory lane for some and a history lesson for others: Today, wealth screening data, like most research tools, is delivered instantly via the web. The earliest screenings, however, arrived in hard‑copy binders (imagine the data privacy and confidentiality implications of that today!). Later came CD‑ROMs, installed locally on a researcher’s computer. Oh, how far has technology come!}
Wealth screenings excel at quickly aggregating structured, publicly available data and applying standardized scores, ratings, and indicators. That information is an important input to the prospect research process, but it is only one part of effective prospect research. What prospect researchers provide goes well beyond what any screening tool can deliver.
Here are 5 specific reasons why:
- Interpretation and context—not just data
Wealth screening tools surface large volumes of data, but they cannot:
- Interpret ambiguity or conflicting information, frequently mismatching data or missing things entirely
- Weigh relevance based on your organization’s mission, geography, or strategy
- Assess nuance, intent, or likelihood of philanthropic alignment in concrete ways
A prospect researcher can review, validate, and interpret screening results, separating actionable data from mismatched data, reading in between the lines, coloring in the shades of grey, and then translating it into meaningful insight.
- Analysis of unstructured and nuanced information
Wealth screening tools are limited to structured datasets. They are unable to assess unstructured data sources such as:
- Narrative biographical information
- Career trajectories and decision‑making authority
- Philanthropic behavior, giving patterns, and motivations
- Affiliations, relationships, family connections,and informal influence
Prospect researchers conduct qualitative research that incorporates unstructured sources and professional judgment.
- Integration of multiple sources
No single wealth screening platform captures the full picture of wealth, assets or philanthropy. Prospect researchers supplement wealth screening data, sometimes using up to a dozen additional data sources, and can incorporate any institutional knowledge from your organization, synthesizing and interpreting at each step.
- Prospect prioritization and strategy
Wealth screenings can provide some of the “what” and “who,” but cannot explain the “why” or “how.” Prospect research work should be tailored to each organization’s specific mission, programs and priorities. Prospect researchers are partners in the fundraising process and can be responsive to how an others at an organization use research in the decision‑making process.
- Maximizing the value of your organization’s investment
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, using a wealth screening tool requires both time and expertise. A screening subscription does not, on its own, guarantee better outcomes. I’ve seen this cycle play out more times than I can count, and it’s discouraging every time.
An organization invests in technology, sends its data off to be screened, enthusiastically reviews the shiny report full of scores and indicators … and then stalls. No one translates the results into priorities. No one validates, interprets, or contextualizes the data. No one integrates the findings into strategy, portfolios, or next steps. Eventually, frustration follows … because there was no measurable return on the investment.
Of course there wasn’t.
They. Didn’t. Use. It.
Prospect research is what turns screening results into action. It ensures that an organization can:
- Use the data appropriately, ethically, and in context
- Distill large volumes of information into insights that are clear, relevant, and usable
- Connect screening results to real decisions, such as who to prioritize, how to engage, and why, so the data leads to better outcomes, not just more information
Summary
Wealth screening tools are invaluable sources of data, but data alone does not equal insight, strategy, or action. Technology can surface possibilities, but it takes human expertise to determine what matters, what’s accurate, and what’s worth pursuing.
Wealth screening is not a replacement for prospect research. Rather, prospect research is what makes the wealth screening investment meaningful.
When screening results are interpreted thoughtfully, integrated with qualitative research, and applied in the context of an organization’s mission and goals, they become a powerful driver of smarter decisions and better outcomes.
That is the role of the prospect researcher: to connect tools to strategy, information to insight, and potential to purpose.
