By: Susan Barclay, Consultant
Susan Barclay
Here at the Helen Brown Group, we love to participate in monthly team trainings on topics that are important to our industry. October’s topic? Prospect Management.
As a prospect researcher at HBG, I see prospect management as the bridge that turns my daily deep dives into donor wealth, affinity, and networks into strategies that actually close major gifts for my clients. It’s the framework that keeps fundraising focused, collaborative, and measurable—especially when teams juggle hundreds of prospects across units and campaigns.
Research is the fuel. What happens to a sailboat on the water when the wind fails? It stops forward motion. Without research, the prospect management system stalls. When prospect research is fully integrated into the process and system, it transforms from a support function into a strategic driver.
Here’s how we, as researchers, contribute at every level—drawing from our real-world practice and industry standards:
- System Design & Policy Development
Researchers must sit at the table when building or refining the system. We define what data matters: capacity models, inclination signals, engagement triggers, and readiness indicators. We ensure coding is research-informed, such as distinguishing estimated vs. confirmed giving capacity, and push for fields that capture propensity, affinity, and linkage.
APRA and CASE provide excellent resources for benchmarking standards (login may be required).
- Prospect Identification & Qualification
This is where research starts the pipeline. Using wealth screenings, predictive modeling, and network analysis, we pull high-potential prospects from event lists, lapsed donors, or peer networks. We assign initial ratings (capacity, affinity, inclination) that determine who enters a portfolio. (Kindsight’s Wealth Screening Guide and Donor Search’s article on wealth screening tools show how data points feed into qualification.)
- Portfolio Construction & Optimization
Researchers analyze portfolio composition: Are gift officers overloaded with low-capacity prospects? Are major gift prospects clustered in one region? We use analytics to balance workload, match officer expertise to donor type, and flag under-engaged high-value prospects for reallocation. This APRA Connections article presents an interesting case-study on building a portfolio.
- Stage Advancement & Strategy Input
Every stage move from cultivation to solicitation should be validated by research. Did the prospect just join a foundation board? Inherit wealth? Launch a business? Buy or sell real estate? We monitor real-time triggers (via alerts, SEC filings, news monitoring) and update readiness codes. This prevents premature asks and surfaces perfect timing. Automate this process via news alerts; Google Alerts is an easy to use and free option, or there are many paid vendors to choose from as well.
- Proposal Development & Ask Amounts
Remove the guesswork. Researchers model ask amounts using peer giving, wealth markers, and past engagement. We deliver the “why” behind the ask through concise profiles that justify giving capacity with wealth markers, explain inclination via philanthropic history and values alignment, and map linkages through shared networks making every proposal both bold and defensible. Gift officers should feel empowered to ask the right donor at the right time for the right gift amount by the information we provide.
- Contact Reports & Moves Management
Gift officers log actions; researchers interpret them. We review those important contact reports to update ratings and reveal those nuggets of useful information: Did that gala conversation reveal new passion for scholarships or a new program? We code it. We also suggest next moves, for example, “Introduce Robert Jones to Dean Smith” based on shared alma mater or other shared interests. This turns tracking into strategy. Blackbaud’s Moves Management Playbook integrates research feedback loops.
- Reporting, Metrics & Forecasting
Researchers can build and interpret dashboards: pipeline velocity, conversion rates by stage, ROI by prospect source. We can forecast campaign potential using capacity pyramids and RFM scoring. Leadership trusts the numbers because research backs them. Fundraising Report Card offers a template to get you started.
- Prospect Management Meetings
These aren’t just gift officer check-ins. Regular prospect management meetings sustain momentum and create excitement about the process. Researchers present: “Prospect A’s inclination jumped, and here’s why.” “Portfolio B is 70% low-readiness. Let’s revisit and reassign.” We challenge assumptions with data, keeping discussions evidence based. We ask (as my colleague Cat Cefalu offers in her recent HBG blog post): “What is your donor’s story?”
- Training & System Adoption
Train gift officers on why ratings matter and how to read research signals. When they see our work preventing bad asks or unlocking hidden capacity, buy-in follows and they become a researcher’s biggest fan. Researchers also audit data quality—flagging inconsistent coding or errors in donor information—and refine systems over time.
- Stewardship & Retention
After the gift, track impact preferences, family involvement, and peer recognition to inform stewardship. Did the donor attend the named building dedication? Log it. This preserves institutional memory (in our field, people do move around!) and primes planned giving conversations.
In the end, research isn’t a sidekick—it’s the backbone of the system. From policy to pipeline to performance, we provide the insights that make prospect management intelligent. Prospect management may not necessarily be glamorous, but when done with purpose? It’s the difference between hoping for gifts and engineering them.
