Helen Brown Group

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The Luck of the Irish

Often in recent years, when I have spoken about the growth of my company, I have pretty much always used one particular word to describe our success. In response to friends remarking on the growth of HBG, I’d always say, “Yes, we’ve been very lucky.” And then I’d knock wood.

(I’m not superstitious, but, hey, it can’t hurt, right?)

Then last October, I was having lunch with my friend Maggie in a you-have-to-go-there kind of bistro in London. She remarked happily on HBG’s growth and success, I replied with my usual reply, knocked on the table, and looked down at my plate to fork the next amazing mouthful. After a couple of seconds, I realized that Maggie had gone quiet. I looked up and saw that she was giving me an interesting look that I hadn’t seen on her face before. [Read more…]

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You are my Valentine

stop in the name of loveI’m going to let you in on a sweet little secret that only insiders at HBG know. (wait for it)

You probably already know that everyone who works at HBG is a full-time employee, but except for a core group of us who come into HQ every day, most of us work virtually. We have satellite offices in Montana, Louisiana, Iowa, New York, Maryland, Tennessee, South Carolina and Massachusetts.

Unless we’re flat-out-crazy-busy or traveling, every other week we have a staff meeting, even though we’re far apart. It used to be a boring conference call, but now we use a service that allows us to see each others’ faces as we chat, à la Brady Bunch. [Read more…]

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I have no idea what you’re talking about

pinball

When I write articles on this blog about topics like last week’s post on the Internet of Things (IoT), I find that, within a couple of days, I start getting Twitter followers by the handful who have the key word or hashtag in their Twitter bio of whatever the topic was.

Some of them I follow back because, well, obviously I’m interested in the topic and they seem to be interested in a lot of things including (in this case) IoT. They might find my mainly fundraising, prospect development, and HNW topics interesting and relevant to their life/work, too. (Or possibly they just like the eye candy photos of my weekend baking adventures). [Read more…]

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An Ideal Researcher

Googling monkeyTo kick off the New Year, Senior Researcher Rick Snyder shares his knowledge on the one key trait that makes for a great researcher.

Having recently celebrated my 10-year anniversary of working for The Helen Brown Group and 20 years spent in this profession, I’ve had occasion to think a bit more than usual about my career.

I’ve thought about how much has changed in the past two decades, about the sheer number of individuals I’ve researched, some of the quirks and oddities I’ve uncovered in the course of my daily work, etc. I’ve also thought about how I got here, which in my case was a fluke, a chance reading of a job description (in the newspaper classifieds, as odd as that now sounds) that left me wide-eyed and astounded that they’d apparently created a job that uniquely fit my talents and interests. [Read more…]

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The one thing every research profile must do

River rocks questionIt doesn’t matter how in-depth a research profile is. It may have the 4 key elements of every strategic profile should have. But if it doesn’t do one critical thing, you might as well not have spent the time creating it.

The one thing every research profile must do is

Answer the Question

When a fundraiser has a research request, what they are really bringing you is a question. And the question depends on who’s asking. [Read more…]

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Not Dead Yet

Mark Twain

This month I’m delighted to highlight an article by HBG team member Grace Chandonnet, who shares some inside information about the prospect profile. Grace works with our clients from her home office in New Orleans, a town that Mark Twain would have been very familiar with from his Life on the Mississippi.

To shamelessly paraphrase Mark Twain, the report of the death of the prospect profile has been greatly exaggerated.

It seems as though that during my entire 12 years as a development researcher, I’ve been hearing that the narrative prospect profile is “going away.” It’s been argued that it isn’t useful, it takes too much time to prepare and to read, that a gift officer doesn’t need all that information to cultivate and solicit their prospect. [Read more…]

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Shaping Change

Stephen Hawking quoteAt the APRA Prospect Development Conference in New Orleans last month, the three TEDx-style APRA Talks concentrated on change. Two things struck me as common themes:

No matter how much you plan for it, change happens as a slow drip and a sideswipe – sometimes simultaneously.
No matter how much you plan, the future reality is always going to be different from your plan.

As a consultant, I work with clients every day who are dealing with change. Some of the change is welcome, like when we’re hired to do a training. Or when we provide an extra pair of hands to help with a big screening project, or to just be there for the duration of a campaign.

Sometimes, though, it becomes evident that the change I’m bringing was imposed on the people I’ve been called in to work with. Maybe that’s happened to you? You were stuck working with a consultant or vendor you hadn’t asked for. [Read more…]

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Gravity Assist

New HorizonsOne of the most significant things I love about the prospect research profession is the way we help each other.

This was particularly evident last week at the APRA international conference in steamy New Orleans. About a thousand of us were there to learn and share information with each other. Tactics. Strategies. Resources. Reams of new tips and tricks. [Read more…]

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Prospect Research Training Event of the Year!

Lucky Dogs New Orleans

If you’re a fundraiser with a brand-new prospect research position to fill, where do you go to find the best candidates? Perhaps you are someone who was recently hired as a researcher, prospect manager, or who will be doing fundraising analytics or overseeing research – where are your peeps? [Read more…]

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Five critical actions to make your fundraising database work better for you

HBG Researcher Heather Hoke shares some great words of advice on making the most of our organizations’ most valuable assets in this week’s feature article.
Success Starts Here Freeway Style Desert Landscape
“Don’t gather data first and think about how to use it later!”

I was talking on the phone in April with Tommy Tavenner, Data Strategy Lead at the National Wildlife Federation, to get his perspective on data integrity when he said that. After I hung up the phone and for a few days later, his words kept resonating in my mind. [Read more…]

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Helen Brown Group