International prospect research Archives

April 18, 2019 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

Don’t miss this new report

Nobody has ever scientifically measured the role of prospect research in major donor fundraising before. Sure, we researchers have always been confident in our knowledge that research is important for fundraising success, but how do end-users really feel? How exactly is it important? What parts are most useful? How do fundraisers actually use the information they receive?

And – scary question to ask – could fundraisers do as well raising funds without prospect research?

Now we have credible answers, not just anecdotes.

My friend and colleague Nicola Williams from fundraising intelligence firm The Factary in Bristol, England published a white paper this week based on her master’s degree thesis called “The role of prospect research in major donor fundraising.” It’s a fascinating read and honestly, you don’t want to miss it, because it answers several burning questions about how research can (and does) have the most impact; what we can do now to remain compliant in the age of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as similar privacy laws being enacted now in the US; and what we in prospect research can do better to measure our impact, further solidifying our value.

Nicola’s research entailed surveying both frontline fundraisers and prospect development professionals. Questions focused on the information that is most important and (more specifically) – why it’s important – in helping fundraisers achieve their goals. How does a particular type of information move a relationship forward with a donor? What is critical for researchers to provide and what really isn’t that important to fundraisers? Can too much research actually be detrimental for forming strong relationships with donors?

Nicola also asked how necessary frontline fundraisers found prospect research in specific situations, including (but not limited to): for due diligence; to understand a donor’s capacity to give; to identify relevant prospects; to prepare for a meeting; to prioritize prospects; and to reject unsuitable prospects. The graphs and tables she presents in this area are fascinating, enlightening, and heartening.

A few of my favorite statistics and quotes

There are several quotes I could pull out, but here are just a few that I thought you might like to see up front:

97% of frontline fundraisers reported that prospect research is extremely necessary or necessary for the purpose of identifying relevant prospects.
Although 81% of fundraisers stated that prospect research is extremely necessary or necessary for rejecting unsuitable prospects, less than 30% actually use research for this purpose. (Nicola provides a very sensible reason in her report about what may be going on behind the scenes here).
One fundraiser commented: “The rating system is the most valuable prospect research tool for us.”

But that’s not all

The first 20 pages of the report would have been useful enough, but the next four pages document GDPR’s implications for prospect research and how nonprofits can legitimately document and support its use for fundraising. As your organization continues to systematize GDPR compliance, you’ll find the concerns Nicola raises in this section and the following one, on research metrics, to be instructive.

We’re big proponents of metrics in prospect research, but are we using the right ones to measure our impact on our nonprofits’ fundraising bottom line? Nicola’s research shows that the research teams surveyed have lots of room for improvement in what is currently being tracked and what could be tracked. How do your shop’s metrics compare to the findings? How could they be improved?

Read it and then comment below

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this very first scholarly report on the impact of prospect research on fundraising. Let’s hope it’s the first of many master’s theses on the impact of prospect research on philanthropy to come!

September 6, 2018 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

A rising delta: China, women, and philanthropy

This week, my colleague Tara McMullen shares her interest in philanthropy in China, and her delight in the impact that a small but growing cohort of women change-makers are having on the philanthropic landscape in Asia. These women are diverse in their backgrounds, corporate specialties, and philanthropic priorities; their outlook is currently mainly within China but their philanthropic scope is increasingly global. How is your organization planning to involve this new generation of influential donors? ~Helen

Over the past decade, there has been a surge in charitable giving in China – a surge which appears to be a consequence of the rapid wealth creation observed in the country. Several decades of rapid economic expansion have led to explosive wealth accumulation, resulting in a record number of billionaires. As of 2018, mainland China was home to 338 billionaires (with an additional 93 in Hong Kong). The only country in the world that has more billionaires is the United States – with 680 – but the Chinese mainland had the highest number of new additions to Forbes’ 2018 billionaire list with 89 – almost twice as many as the U.S. (at 45). [Read more…]

March 22, 2018 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

GDPR and you

This week’s article comes in the form of a podcast that I just recorded with two of the most knowledgeable and generous GDPR-whisperers that I know in the fundraising community, Adrian Beney of More Partnership and Nicola Williams of The Factary.

Click image to access the podcast

Both Adrian and Nicola have been researching and consulting with other experts to understand the law for months, and they’ve written many articles, have been speaking at loads of professional conferences, and have provided useful resource lists for all of us to find guidance on the General Data Protection Regulation that comes into effect on May 25^th. If the rest of us are not up on the new regulation, it’s not through any lack on their part to get the word out.

But because of that, they’re very busy people, so I was especially excited when they both said yes to a podcast interview. I know that you’re going to find the conversation we had to be well worth your time. I’m sincerely grateful to them for their generosity to our community, and for their willingness to be a resource to help nonprofits in the US figure all of this out.

GDPR Generally

As I’ve mentioned before, this is a European-based piece of legislation, but every company and nonprofit in the world will have to comply with it if they have EU-based constituents in their database. The GDPR regulates (amongst many other things) WHAT data you’re allowed to hold, HOW LONG you may hold it, and the WAYS you must communicate to your constituency their rights regarding that data. There are certain pieces of information you CANNOT hold in your database (without explicit consent), and many of them are demographic data we here in the US take for granted as being relatively harmless.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse, and fines for noncompliance will be steep: up to €20 million ($25 million) or 4% of an organization’s total revenue, whichever is greater.

If you’re unsure what GDPR is and how you should be ready, log in* to our learning media area to listen to this informative podcast with Adrian and Nicola. We’ve also included a number of useful resources with the podcast for further information.

*Registration to the Resource Library is free. It gives you access to a number of useful resources including podcasts, presentations, wealth lists, research resources, and our weekly newsletter. You will be asked for your name and email address. You may unsubscribe at any time and your information will not be retained.

February 15, 2018 By Helen Brown 2 Comments

Freeports: The Purgatory for Art

As the HBG Book Club group read about tax-free zones called freeports last week in Jake Bernstein’s page-turner, Secrecy World, it was a perfectly-timed coincidence that this fascinating Planet Money podcast came out on that very topic. [Read more…]

November 16, 2017 By Helen Brown 3 Comments

Are the rich less philanthropic than we thought?

When we try to estimate a potential donor’s gift capacity, the fundraising tradition has been to use statistics from the IRS that show that, on average, Americans give around 2-5 percent of their income annually to charitable organizations.

That average is derived from people who itemized charitable deductions. Even though that’s an average, for those of us in prospect research that’s been a reliable percentage to use because, by and large, only people who benefit from itemizing actually bother to do it – and that’s wealthy people. [Read more…]

November 9, 2017 By Helen Brown 2 Comments

Trouble in Paradise

Over a year ago, an anonymous “John Doe” sent an encrypted message to a newspaper in Germany called Süddeutsche Zeitung. The conversation unfolded like this:

That 2014 cache of data, the equivalent to about 38,000 average-sized books, make up what became known as the Panama Papers.

It’s a trove of documents obtained from the files of a Panamanian law firm called Mossack Fonseca, which helped create shell companies and other complex financial instruments in order to assist companies and individuals to evade paying tax in their home countries.

Journalists from nearly 100 news outlets around the world in a collaboration called the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) worked together nonstop for months under tight security and complete secrecy. [Read more…]

September 14, 2017 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

International prospect research resources – United Kingdom

From a North American perspective, international prospect research just doesn’t get any better than the United Kingdom.

First of all, there’s no language barrier.

Second, the way information is gathered and distributed by commercial and governmental entities is relatively similar to ours, so navigating around information sources feels …familiar. Logical.

And third, many of the resources that provide information here in the US (like LexisNexis, Factiva, D&B, and Moody’s) also offer products and services in the UK, so there’s crossover. Some of the information we can already get through what we’ve already, well, got. [Read more…]

August 17, 2017 By Helen Brown 4 Comments

Who do you stand with?

Due diligence research is a key part of prospect research in the UK and Europe. All of the prospect researchers at nonprofits that I know there – and not just the ones who work at human-rights or cause-related orgs, but researchers at universities, membership, animal rights, arts organizations, consultants – every kind of organization – they all include due diligence as part of their work. It’s just as important as finding wealth indicators or career history or interest in their organization’s cause.

They’re considering these questions: Do we want our organization to be associated with this person? Or this company? Or this trust/foundation? [Read more…]

March 23, 2017 By Helen Brown 1 Comment

Well chuffed

You’ve heard me and several others talking about what’s happening on the UK fundraising/prospect research scene right now. Two charities have already been assessed hefty fines, and 11 other UK charities are currently under investigation for their fundraising activities including their prospect research/wealth screening activities.

It’s the wealth screenings that are the big deal part of it for us. [Read more…]

February 23, 2017 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

New Order

Town Hall Albert Square Manchester. Photo by Stacey MacNaught: http://blogsession.co.uk/

Twenty years ago this coming June, a nightclub called The Haçienda closed in Manchester, England. For nearly 15 years, but mostly in the mid-to-late ‘80s, the Haçienda was the place to see, be seen, and dance to great music. Madonna took the crowd on holiday and The Smiths showed what a difference it did make in music history. Income from record sales from co-owners New Order helped keep the club afloat during the recessionary years. [Read more…]