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September 13, 2018 By Helen Brown

Short post – two resources for you

This is just a quick post today to alert you to two new-to-me resources that I thought you’d like, too.

RealTwitter.com

For those of you who have communicated via Twitter for a while, it will come as no surprise that, like with Facebook and Google, algorithms are at play to tailor your feed. People a lot more savvy than me have noticed that the filter bubble has gotten more intense over the past year, and – bothered by it – created an antidote. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Effective searching Tagged With: Osint, Twitter

October 12, 2017 By Helen Brown

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

August 11, 2016 By Helen Brown

How Twitter Helps Me Be a Better Writer

I love Twitter. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been alerted to a key article or wealth list or study that, because of Twitter, I heard about the moment it was published. Not only does Twitter give me an edge on the news but it allows me to communicate and share information instantly with a group of people I’ve grown to admire and rely on for information about the philanthropic sector and the world in general. In today’s guest post, my colleague, Angie Herrington, shares what she loves best about Twitter, and how it helped her to be her best in her career. You can follow Angie on Twitter at @HerringtonEnotA ~Helen

twitter stamp

You can’t miss the negative red number taunting you over the allotted characters. So I combine words into contractions and remove a hashtag. Ok, that took care of 5 characters, but I still need to get from -43 to 0. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Career development, Non-profit trends, Research Department Success, Social Media Tagged With: Angie Herrington, prospect research, Twitter, writing

February 25, 2016 By Helen Brown

The hidden river

Magic DoorYou know what it’s like when you stumble upon something that makes you realize there is a whole other world out there that you had no idea about, right?

The most memorable time this happened for me was when I discovered an online forum where people gathered to discuss my – and their! – favorite author’s book series. Even better, reading back through the archives I discovered that the author posts to the forum as well, answering questions and debating plot possibilities with as much intensity as her readers.

It was like I’d found the magic door with a hidden world behind it! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Podcast, Social Media Tagged With: getting the most out of Twitter, prospect research, Rachel Dakarian, Twitter, Twitter 101

January 21, 2016 By Helen Brown

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…]

Filed Under: Career development, Non-profit trends, Research Department Success, Social Media Tagged With: Big Data, fundraising, MDM, multi-domain master data management, prospect research, Twitter

December 18, 2014 By Helen Brown

Social media and high net worth individuals

Dark Eyed JuncoAlthough more people are piling into an ever-growing array of social media outlets every day, it’s still fairly rare to see a Klout score or Twitter summary on a prospect research profile. Maybe it’s because we major gifts specialists assume that it’s only Xers and Millennials using these platforms, and they’re not yet ready to make large gifts.

But according to Ledbury Research, which studies the habits and demographics of high net wealth individuals (HNWI) in the United Kingdom, at least 75% of HNWI use social media regularly.

The largest group actively uses LinkedIn (47%), which makes sense since so many are businesspeople, but Facebook (42%), Google+ (17%) and Twitter (13%) are also used regularly. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Effective searching, Most popular, Social Media Tagged With: Facebook, Forrester Research, Google Plus, Google+, high net wealth individuals, high net worth individuals, HNWI, Klout, Ledbury Research, LinkedIn, prospect research, sm, Social Media, Twitter

August 30, 2013 By Helen Brown

From Twit to Twitterer: the brief story of a reluctant user

A couple of years ago I was talking with an intelligent, interesting, down-to-earth marketing guy. (And no, that’s not an oxymoron). Although Mark’s got a career that you might expect would entail being smarmy or jumping on couches screaming words like “SEO!” and “market penetration!” he’s not like that at all. Even remotely.

So I got nervous when he started trying to convince me to join Twitter. I diverted and moved the conversation on. When Mark pressed, I finally told him I thought it was only for twits who talk about what they had for lunch. He said that, while there certainly was an element of that, not everyone on Twitter was like that. That there are a lot of influential people using Twitter in order to share important information – at immediate, lightning speed and that I would always have control over who I followed.

I’m a sucker for lightning speed information, and I trusted him not to lead me down a path that was a time-waster. So I gave it a try.

 

Fast-forward to today. I’m not a super power Twitter user by any means, but I do follow nearly a thousand interesting and informative people, nonprofits and companies. That may sound like a lot, but trust me, a thousand is actually manageable with good filtering. And people aren’t out there constantly tweeting all the time. (Well, most people aren’t, anyway).

And honestly, some of the best information that crosses my screen, whether it’s white papers, studies, or news about big gifts or innovative things that businesses or nonprofits are doing, comes from Twitter. Often I find that I get some news before other people have heard about it – because they aren’t where the breaking news is. Twitter gives me an edge because I find out about things that are being released by thought leaders as they happen. And I re-tweet the most valuable information that comes my way and use the information to inform my work.

Perhaps nicest of all is that I have met some of the smartest, most generous people on Twitter that I have gone on to meet in real life. And we can just pick up the conversation there as we do on Twitter.

So if you’ve ever considered signing up for Twitter, but decided not to bother, do give it a try. And no– it’s really never too late. Give it two weeks. If you’ve given it a real college try and you still think it’s not for you, just cancel the account. No harm, no foul.

To get you started

Mark Schaefer has written a short, very engaging guide to getting started on Twitter called The Tao of Twitter. The book has lots of case studies and examples for how you can get the most out of your Twitter experience. 

If you’re looking for people to follow, try picking and choosing from these lists (or just follow the lists wholesale!)

Prospect researchers: my list

Fundraising experts/consultants: from Beth Ann Locke

You can also look at the people on Twitter that you respect to see who they are following, and add those people.

Filtering tips

As with most research resources, filtering is important because Twitter is a constant barrage of information. One easy way to keep track of things is to use a dashboard like Hootsuite.

Set up is pretty easy and Hootsuite has even compiled a handy Quick Start Guide. You can get a free Twitter or Hootsuite app for your smart phone so you can read your feed while you’re waiting in line at Costco. And if you want to post from your smartphone, you can even do it via text message if you’re a texter.

Making a hash(tag) of it

Another way to filter to find the best information is by using hashtags, which are just key words with the prefix ‘#’ attached to them, as in

#prospectresearch

#nonprofits

#fundraising

So for example, when I post a tweet with information I think a prospect researcher will find useful, I will use the hashtag #prospectresearch to categorize that tweet. Someone later searching on that hashtag will find my tweet (whether they follow me on Twitter or not).

You can even use hashtags to join in on a live chat or follow what’s happening at a conference (such as #APRAprospect2013).

There are lots of hashtags out there. Two blog posts by the venerable Kivi Leroux Miller and Kerri Karvetski provide useful lists for nonprofiteers.

Are you a fundraiser or prospect researcher on Twitter? Which hashtags do you frequently use? Comment here, or send me a tweet! Let’s connect on Twitter!

Full disclosure: none of the companies or individuals mentioned above paid me to praise them. They’re just that awesome.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: Beth Ann Locke, hashtags, Hootsuite, Kerri Karvetski, Kivi Leroux Miller, Mark Schaefer, Mary Cahalane, prospect research tools, Return on Influence, Tao of Twitter, Twitter

January 24, 2013 By Helen Brown

Five key features of great prospect research departments

 

As the new year builds up a good head of steam moving toward February, now is a good time to take stock of your prospect research department, whether it is you, or someone else, or (lucky you!) a department you supervise.

Today I was thinking about what makes for greatness in a prospect research department. Here are the components I’ve noticed from the organizations I’ve worked with, learned from and mentored over the years.

They know what their research is for

Great research departments understand the nuances between what is needed for identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship research. They work closely with fundraisers to target how much time to spend on a request, and they stay focused on exactly what is needed.

They know the priorities for today, 6 months from now, a year away, and 5 years out.

Great research departments work closely with peers and managers to develop an operating plan that helps them stay on task – geared to what the divisional priorities are. They use metrics to communicate their impact on the bottom line, and to make sure their work remains relevant and aligned.

They embrace innovation

Whether it’s creating new report formats or ways of delivering information, learning new research methods or investigating a new trend, great research managers embrace change and innovation. They go beyond reading trade journals to read books like Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit by Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon, the Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann, or Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh of Zappos to see how innovation and ideas from allied fields can elevate their department’s quality, productivity and visibility.

They stay current on resources, trends and skills

The best research teams regularly attend continuing education conferences and web seminars, benchmark with peers and take advantage of free learning by following people on Twitter, blogs and other social media. Some of these smart and generous folks include bloggers like the collective at APRA Mid-South, Chris Cannon, Chris Carnie, Mark Egge, Jen Filla, Kevin MacDonell and Liz Rejman, just to name a few. You can find these folks on Twitter, as well as others well worth following – visit this list to see the prospect research tweeting superstars. (If you’re a blogging or tweeting prospect researcher and you’re not on this list, please let me know!)

They believe in the mission

Great teams consist of people who get paid for the privilege of working somewhere they would care about even if they weren’t on staff. There are over 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States, and life is too short to be unhappy at work. Great researchers find a mission to believe in and give it their heart and soul. They also believe in the mission of prospect research as a profession, and are proud to be “out” in the community representing what we do best: helping nourish, protect, educate and grow our communities and our world.

What other key features of great prospect research departments do you think are important?

Filed Under: Campaign Success, Career development, Research Department Success Tagged With: APRA, Bob Burg, Chris Cannon, Delivering Happiness, Exceptional Profit, Exceptional Service, Go-Giver, innovation, Jennifer Filla, John David Mann, Kevin MacDonell, Leonardo Inghilleri, Liz Rejman, Mark Egge, Micah Solomon, prospect research, Tony Hsieh, Twitter, Zappos

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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).