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August 20, 2020 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

Due Diligence in Prospect Research

Due diligence is incredibly important for nonprofit organizations, especially these days. This week my colleague Michele Borucki shares all of the reasons why, and how to take on this key task. Warm thanks to our partner, iWave, for kindly allowing us to reprint this from their blog earlier this month. ~Helen


At the very core of what we do as non-profit fundraising professionals is the mission to leave this world a better place than when we inherited it. We cannot do the work we love without the generosity of donors who also believe in this mission, which leaves us with the question: Why would we ever say no to a gift?

Due diligence in brief

The term due diligence can be traced back to the 1930’s, but it most likely existed long before that. The legal term originated in the US Securities Act of 1933, where the process is referred to as “reasonable investigation,” but it’s practiced in almost every industry in some form, including fundraising.

But a reasonable investigation, or due diligence, should not be confused as the same thing as prospect research. There are some important differences.

Prospect research vs. due diligence

The goal of prospect research is to assess a prospect’s potential for giving, but the goal of due diligence is to protect the organization from potential harm. As Helen wrote in a recent blog post: “Prospect research asks if they can give, and due diligence asks what their giving says about them.”

The non-profit sector has seen its share of controversy surrounding gifts over the last several years. Recent news surrounding controversial gifts from well-known names has inspired a new push for non-profit organizations to establish due diligence protocols and strategies for their own donors.

Covering your assets

Non-profit organizations have numerous policies in place to guarantee the practice of ethical standards across the entire organization, especially when raising funds for their cause. When dealing with donations of any size, there is no question that organizations must maintain transparency and be accountable to donors and their intentions for giving. Development professionals have governing bodies that write and enforce codes of ethics that must be adhered to on top of internal ones for the entire organization. There are gift acceptance policies set forth by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and protections for anonymous givers. The missing piece is an across the board industry policy protecting organizations from possible risks associated with being connected to certain donors. Each organization must create their own.

In an Apra Connections post, Lindsey Nadeau, Senior Director of Prospect Development at UNICEF USA stated, “Prospect development’s ability to vet a prospect appropriately and thoroughly depends on an organization’s ethical standards.”

Our organizations protect donors through every step of the gift cycle because they are making an investment in our mission; however, policies protecting the organization and ethical standards for donors are rare.

Risky business

The Epstein and Sackler controversies are only a few recent and well-known ones to highlight the need for risk assessment within development organizations. Some prospect research shops are outsourcing their due diligence research to consultants or to firms whose specialty is this type of research. Other organizations are hiring researchers specifically for the task or including it as a part of their prospect research protocol for all researchers. While an organization can never mitigate all of the risks associated with a donation—and a researcher can’t necessarily predict the behavior of a donor—looking at past giving trends and behaviors can determine if a relationship between your specific organization and a prospect will reflect positively.

Getting started

When creating a due diligence policy within an organization, there are so many variables. The first key decision will be to decide whether to outsource this work or keep it within your research shop. Should your team have a designated researcher to complete the vetting process on all those chosen prospects and donors or would it be more cost effective to hire a consultant? That will depend on your organizations needs and resources.

There are many checklists to reference and use as a template once your organization has made the decision to create a due diligence policy. Our prospect research colleagues in the United Kingdom have been doing this type of research for much longer than we have here in the United States, and we can learn a lot from them. In January we published a post on this blog with tips and questions to ask when creating your due diligence policy, which includes links to several guides that our friends in the UK have created, and the Association of Advancement Services Professionals (AASP) released their Best Practices in Vetting Prospects last year. These are two excellent resources to visit when starting the conversation and process of creating a due diligence policy.

We’re in this together

There is no one size fits all approach when it comes to creating policies and structure for our organizations. What works for your operation may not work for the non-profit on the first floor of the same building. Due diligence research for your donors will be specific to what your mission and ethical standards are, but we are all in this together. Collaboration and workshopping with colleagues from other development shops is extremely helpful, and I think we can all agree on one thing: There are few things sweeter than a transformational gift for the causes we love.

Filed Under: Due Diligence Tagged With: due diligence, iWave, Michele Borucki, prospect research

April 25, 2019 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

Alert and Prepared

Not long ago, a client confided to me that she was worried that her major gifts team was missing information about their top prospects. She fretted about a recent instance where information had come to light – six months too late – about a dear donor/volunteer that had sold their company to another for a significant amount of money.

Which, from a fundraising standpoint, we all know isn’t great. You’d rather know about these things in real time, or at the very least within the month.

What was worse was that the client felt like they’d missed the opportunity to celebrate with the donor. Selling their company was an event that the donor had mentioned with delight and anticipation – a new chapter was opening in their life. My client felt like the fundraising team had unwittingly blown it. Congratulating the donor half a year later felt lame and tainted with opportunism, which wasn’t the message they wanted to give. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Effective searching, Prospect Development 101, Researching Individuals, Social Media Tagged With: alerts, effective searching, iWave, Lexis Nexis, mention, prospect research, search tips

October 12, 2017 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

Broadening your alert horizon

By Lizard Fine Art (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

There’s such a great sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing a prospect research profile. You can dot the i’s, cross the t’s, hit ‘save’ and move onto the next assignment.

But if you think about it, that moment is really the starting line. What happens after that?

Well, an opportunity for us to have a conversation with the front line fundraiser assigned to that prospective donor, to begin with.

  • Did the profile answer all of your questions?
  • Is there any further work to be done?
  • What questions remain unanswered in the work that the fundraiser can discover on their next visit?

And most importantly, this signals the beginning – or deepening – of the relationship between your organization and the donor. The gift. Stewardship. Continuing engagement. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Effective searching, Prospect Development 101, Researching Companies, Researching Individuals Tagged With: alerts, effective searching, Google Trends, iWave, Lexis Nexis, mention, prospect research, Relationship Science, RelSci, Twitter

July 9, 2015 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

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…]

Filed Under: Career development, Research Department Success, Strategic planning Tagged With: APRA, Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement, Dan Pallotta, Gerry Lawless, iWave, prospect research, training

September 4, 2014 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

Prospect Identification: Going beyond the same old same old

The theme for our HBG September blog is prospect identification and, because it’s one of her favorite activities, I asked Senior Researcher Jennifer Turner to give us some creative ideas for finding new donors.  Over to you, Jen!

Ideas - Creativity

Your usual prospecting assignment: Find high net worth individuals (HNWIs) with the capacity to make a gift in a specific target range and with a likely interest in your cause.

Sounds like Prospecting 101, right?

Your usual method might be head to donor lists of organizations similar to yours to see who is giving, and at what level.

But what if you took some slightly unusual approaches – ones that shake up the traditional ways you normally prospect? Might that result in viable new prospects as well? My experience says yes! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Effective searching, Most popular, Prospect identification Tagged With: Forbes, Foundation Center, Google Maps, Guidestar, iWave, LexisNexis, prospect identification, prospect research, ResearchPoint, Zillow

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David’s career in prospect research began in 2009, as a graduate research assistant at the Shippensburg University Foundation. In 2011, He became a development researcher for the University of Virginia. In 2015, David became assistant director of prospect research at the University of Baltimore, serving for 3 years. Recently, he was the director of development for Trees Forever. David Joined the Helen Brown Group as a research assistant in January 2020. He earned a B.A. in Theater at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a M.A. in Applied History at Shippensburg University. David is a member of APRA and APRA Great Plains.

Kenny has worked in development since 1999 and has been involved in prospect research since 2002.

Prior to joining The Helen Brown Group, he was the director of donor and prospect research at the United Way of Massachusetts Bay. Kenny is a member of APRA and NEDRA.

Tara first began her career in development in 2002 supporting the Major Gifts department at Simmons College, and ultimately went on to serve as Assistant Director of Prospect Research. Since that time, she has also worked as a Senior Research Analyst at MIT, as Associate Director of Prospect Management and Research at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and as Director of Development Research at Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP).

Tara originally joined the Helen Brown Group team in 2007 and served as a Research Associate and ShareTraining coordinator until 2008 – she rejoined the company as a Senior Researcher in 2013 and was promoted to her current role in 2018.

She has been an active volunteer with NEDRA for many years and served on the board of directors from 2010-2016. During her time on the NEDRA board, she served in many different roles, including terms as Vice President, Secretary, Chair of the Website and Technology Committee, Chair of the Volunteer Committee, and as Chair and Editor of NEDRA News. She is currently a member of the NEDRA Bootcamp faculty. In addition, Tara has also been involved as a volunteer with Apra, serving stints on the Membership Committee, Chapters Committee, and Bylaws Task Force.

Angie began her career in development in 1999 at Virginia Tech in Corporate and Foundation Relations and later in prospect research at the University of Connecticut Foundation.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin, her experience includes grants management at the University of South Carolina, program evaluation for South Carolina Research Authority and human resources analysis for Nissan North America.

She returned to development in 2007 and worked in various prospect research positions at Vanderbilt University, including Associate Director. She was named Director for Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s research office in 2015, and joined The Helen Brown Group in 2016.

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Josh began his career in development as the Phonathon Coordinator at Keene State College. He then worked at non-profit consulting firm Schultz & Williams in Philadelphia.

He started his research career at the University of Pennsylvania as a Research Assistant in 2005. He then moved over to the Wharton School of Business, where he became the Associate Director, Research and Prospect Management. Josh joined the Helen Brown Group in 2016.

Josh is also a Colorado licensed Realtor and graduate of Lehigh University.

In March 2017, Kristina joined the Helen Brown Group as a Research Associate. Before joining HBG, she was the Research Manager at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and an Associate Manager of Prospect Research at City Harvest, a food rescue organization. Kristina started her non-profit career as a legal assistant at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2004.  She is a member of Apra and Apra Greater New York. She was Apra Greater New York’s Director of Programming from June 2014 to May 2016. Kristina graduated from The University of Chicago and the Bard Graduate Center.

Grace began her career in development in 2001 as Executive Assistant to the Chief Development Officer with Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), a Harvard Medical School-affiliated academic medical center.

In 2003, she became a prospect researcher for the BWH principal and major gifts team and spent the next 11 years in various research positions with BWH, culminating as Assistant Director of Prospect Research. She has been affiliated with The Helen Brown Group since January 2014.

Heather began her career in 2002 as a prospect research coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and then moved to Carroll College in 2004.

In 2005, Heather began working on her own as a freelancer and eventually started her own consulting firm, Willis Research Services, in 2007. She joined The Helen Brown Group in 2012.

Heather is a member of the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement and the Montana Nonprofit Association.

Jennifer began her career in development at her alma mater, Wheaton College, where she was an administrative assistant for the major gifts department.

She joined The Helen Brown Group in March 2008. She earned a master’s degree in library science from the Southern Connecticut State University in May 2009. Jennifer is a member of APRA and NEDRA.

Rick has been a member of the Helen Brown Group team since 2005. Prior to joining HBG, Rick was director of research at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. Rick has worked in development since 1996, both in prospect research and major gifts fund raising. His experience includes the University of Vermont, Phillips Exeter Academy and St. Paul’s School.

Rick is past president of NEDRA and is a member of and frequent volunteer for APRA.

Josh began his career in development as the Phonathon Coordinator at Keene State College. He then worked at non-profit consulting firm Schultz & Williams in Philadelphia.

He started his research career at the University of Pennsylvania as a Research Assistant in 2005. He then moved over to the Wharton School of Business, where he became the Associate Director, Research and Prospect Management. Josh joined the Helen Brown Group in 2016.

Josh is also a Colorado licensed Realtor and graduate of Lehigh University.

Mandi has worked in prospect research and management since 2006. She began her development career as a research analyst in development research at City of Hope, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center in Los Angeles. From there, she became the manager of prospect development at Huntington Memorial Hospital, a community hospital in Pasadena, CA. Most recently, she was the associate director of prospect research and management at Occidental College, a private liberal arts college in LA.

Mandi has a BA degree in print journalism from Southern Methodist University and a master’s degree of library and information science from UCLA.

She joined the Helen Brown Group in May 2019.

Kelly began her career in development in 2008 as an administrative assistant in Major Gifts at Wheaton College.

In 2010, she became a research analyst at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the Division of Development & Jimmy Fund as part of the prospect identification team. Kelly joined The Helen Brown Group in 2013.

She is a member of APRA and NEDRA.

Jayme began her career in development in 2008 at the Rutgers University Foundation, where she spent the next seven years, first in prospect management and then prospect research. She spent several years at Monmouth University as their senior prospect research analyst, working with the fundraising staff, university president, and top leadership. She has worked as both a volunteer and consultant for non-profits in the areas of research and writing.

She earned a bachelor of arts degree from Drew University and a master of communication and information sciences from Rutgers University. She is a member of APRA.

Jayme joined The Helen Brown Group in April 2019.

Julie has managed finances for The Helen Brown Group since its founding.

In her spare time, she is an editor for the PBS series Masterpiece at WGBH. Julie was nominated twice for an Emmy award for her work on the PBS show Zoom.

Heather began her career in development in 2001 as a prospect researcher for National Wildlife Federation (NWF). She was with NWF for more than thirteen years, including nearly five years as director of research and analytics. Heather is a former secretary of the board of directors of APRA-Metro DC.

She joined The Helen Brown Group in October 2014.

David began his career in development at The Gunnery school in northwest Connecticut in 2011, where he worked in database management and prospect research. Subsequently, he joined the College of Saint Rose as a development research analyst before leading Albany Medical Center Foundation’s prospect research efforts as Associate Director of Prospect Research. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from Siena College and is a member of APRA and CASE.

Michele began her career in development in 2012 when she joined the UC Berkeley corporate and foundation relations team as a development analyst. She spent a year and a half at Cal before returning to UC Davis as a prospect analyst. She was with the prospect management and relations team at UC Davis for almost three years prior to joining the research and relationship management team at George Washington University as a Senior Prospect Analyst in 2016.

Michele received her BA in creative writing from Florida State University and her MA in higher education leadership from CSU Sacramento. She currently resides in Northern Virginia, is a member of Apra International, and serves as the social media chair for Apra Metro DC. Michele joined The Helen Brown Group in July 2018.

Angie has worked in development since 2002, partnering with a wide range of nonprofit institutions. She began her professional career at Vanderbilt University in research and prospect development.

She has also worked with a number of community nonprofits in front-line fundraising, grant-writing, and event management. Angie holds an MPA in Nonprofit Management from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and a BS in Journalism from Middle Tennessee State University. She resides in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a member of AFP Nashville and APRA MidSouth, where she has been active on the executive team.

She joined The Helen Brown Group in October 2015.

Maureen has been a part of the non-profit world since 1991. She started out in annual giving at Harvard Law School and continued her career as director of annual/special gifts at UC Santa Cruz.

In 1999 she made the switch from front-line fundraising to serve as director of prospect research/management at Bentley University and in 2001 began her role as administrator for the North American Foundation for the University of Manchester. She became part of the HBG team in September of 2011.

Helen has been a development professional since 1987. Her previous experience includes The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Albert Einstein Institution, Boston College, the Harvard School of Public Health and Northeastern University.

Currently she works with a variety of clients to establish, benchmark and re-align research departments; identify major gift prospects; and train researchers and other fundraisers through on-site and web-based training services.Helen is a former member of the board of the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA) and is past president of the New England Development Research Association (NEDRA). In 2006 she received the NEDRA Ann Castle Award for service to the prospect research community.

Helen is Special Advisor on Fundraising to the North American Foundation for the University of Manchester and is a member of the board of directors of Factary Ltd. (Bristol, UK). She is a member of NEDRA, APRA, the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP), Women In Development, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and Researchers in Fundraising (UK).

Helen is a frequent speaker and has led seminars for a number of professional associations, including Action Planning, AFP, APRA, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), NEDRA, RIF, the Planned Giving Council of Central Massachusetts, the Georgia Center on Nonprofits, the International Fundraising Congress and Resource Alliance.

Helen is also co-author (with Jen Filla) of the book, Prospect Research for Fundraisers (Wiley & Sons, 2013).

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