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December 3, 2020 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

Art Imitates Life

This week my HBG colleague Angie Herrington writes about extracurricular prospect research learning that we can’t get enough of, from the unlikeliest sources – movies and television. You expect to be incredulously skeptical about a tv program showing hedge fund managers blowing insane amounts of cash on yachts or other ‘toys,’ but to then learn later from those in the know that the depiction is actually pretty spot-on? Maybe it’s worth spending time watching these shows! In today’s article, Angie details some “homework” that we might not want to miss. ~Helen


Trompe-l’œil, Cullercoats Metro Station
cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Andrew Curtis – geograph.org.uk/p/4746285

Let’s be realistic. Our researcher brains don’t magically shut off at 5:00 on Friday. I’ll go to the grocery store and see the niche cookies of the small company I researched and watch my husband’s eyes glaze over telling him their backstory. At the museum while looking at a painting I’ll guess its value. After all, I researched another work by the artist for a recent donor’s profile.

Thanks to 2020, I’ve watched a lot of television. I want to zone out but realize my researcher brain is still on the clock. Gleaning information from movies and TV about the worlds we research isn’t new. The first one I remember watching as “homework” was 2003’s Born Rich, an Emmy nominated documentary about 10 heirs to some of the wealthiest families, including a Bloomberg, Weill, Newhouse and a Trump. Directed by an heir himself, Jamie Johnson, the documentary explores wealth and dysfunction.

We now know so much about our donors we can watch a movie like The Big Short and critique what Hollywood got right or wrong. There’s been other “homework” I’ve watched all for the sake of my career. Remember the documentary The Queen of Versailles? Candy Spelling’s wrapping paper rooms, beanie babies and porcelain doll collection on Selling Spelling Manor will forever haunt me. I was four seasons into Netflix’s Narcos and Narcos: Mexico when I realized someone I’ve researched was mentioned.

A surprising thing for me is how I learned more about venture capital and the Silicon Valley from a television show than anywhere else. As researchers we have to know a little bit about a lot of things. I had a basic understanding of venture capital but watching the ups and downs of a little startup called Pied Piper simplified it.

HBO’s Silicon Valley was a comedy that ran from 2014 to 2019, created by Office Space’s Mike Judge and nominated five times for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. It’s been praised by insiders for perfectly capturing the tech culture as well as not being dark enough on its realities.

Silicon Valley is a story about a group of software engineers who develop a startup for a data compression algorithm. Over six seasons, we watch the ups and (mostly) downs of Pied Piper, its CEO Richard, and the team including Gilfoyle, Dinesh, and the unexpectedly mysterious Jared. The show starts by focusing on establishing their startup through a business incubator after they’ve left another tech company called Hooli. Most of their conflicts are with Hooli’s CEO Gavin Belson who tries to duplicate the app, takeover the company, and sue them for copyright violations.

Pied Piper is always struggling to find funding and even fighting against an investor who replaces Richard as CEO. His replacement is convinced the future is in hardware and not cloud-based technology. One might say this sounds similar to Steve Ballmer’s tenure at Microsoft. New investors reinstate Richard, and the original idea of the app continues to evolve.

From season to season the show couldn’t keep up with reality – click farms, video chat apps, cryptocurrency, bypassing encryption, Chinese duplication of technology, government violations, a Zuckerberg-esque Senate hearing, and even Hooli’s board selling the company to CEO Gavin’s nemesis, Jeff Bezos.

In a 2014 interview with Vox, Elon Musk said about the show, “I really feel like Mike Judge has never been to Burning Man, which is Silicon Valley.” Guess what? Pied Piper later strikes a deal with an investor, Russ Hanneman, to use their technology at his music festival – RussFest.

Along the way the show throws in what I thought were ludicrous storylines or situations. I thought Gavin’s anti-aging treatment from the “The Blood Boy” episode was a gag. It’s not. There was also the app that texted “Bro.” Turns out there was actually a $7 million app that did the same thing, called “Yo.”

Articles and the people themselves have commented how characters are parodied after real executives like Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Marc Benioff, Peter Thiel, Marissa Mayer, Megan Quinn, Steve Ballmer, Mark Cuban and many more. Consultants for the show included former Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo, who helped to parody his own rise and fall.

It’s reported the show consulted with over 250 tech insiders on one season alone. Bill Gates is a fan. On his blog he said he tells reluctant friends, “You really should watch it, because they don’t make any more fun of us than we deserve.”

If you want to learn more about Pied Piper, they have a comprehensive profile on Crunchbase. For me, Silicon Valley became a case study showing Richard as an idealist facing the realities of a complex and frequently ego-driven culture while he struggles with ethical and moral tests. It’s odd to say I learned more about venture capital and Silicon Valley from a half hour comedy. Turns out Silicon Valley the show is entertaining satire but not necessarily fiction.

My homework list is forever growing with suggestions like Equity (film), Billions (Showtime), Succession (HBO), Too Big to Fail (film), and The Laundromat (film), but I’m always happy to add to the list! What’s something work-related you’ve unexpectedly learned while watching a movie or television? Any suggestions while we stay home during the holidays?

Filed Under: Career development Tagged With: Angie Herrington, prospect research

November 19, 2020 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

Shining light on new prospective donors

In the last month I have spoken with the chief fundraisers of four nonprofit organizations, all of whom told me that they need to add to their donor pools, and fast.

According to research from mid-June by the Charities Aid Foundation America, only one-third of nonprofit leaders expect that their nonprofit will still be operational a year from now if things remain the same. Another third are fairly certain they will be closed, and the final third just aren’t sure.

If you’re in either of the latter two categories, like the four nonprofit leaders I spoke with, you’re greatly concerned about identifying donors that will help you weather this storm and get your organization beyond it.

There are overarching fundraising strategy issues to identify and resolve that may differ from organization to organization, of course, but from a prospect development standpoint, here is some of  the advice I gave them:

You can’t ask people for money if you can’t contact them

If you don’t have up-to-date information on your donors, now is a good time to spend very little money to get it. If you already send out bulk mailings, ask your mailing vendor to give you a quote for a National Change of Address (NCOA) update. Depending on your situation and budget, update the last 5 or 10 years of your SYBUNTs (those who have given in some year but not this one) to discover where they are.

If you don’t have money for a wealth screening, consider analytics

Fundraising analytics, data insight, fundraising data science…whatever you want to call it, analytics can help you identify great future donors that are already warm prospects. It doesn’t have to be expensive because you don’t have to append outside data – you can use what you’ve already got.

Who looks most inclined to give soon? Who has been quietly putting up their hand that they want to be noticed? Which are the donors that have been increasing their gift every time they give? What regions or programs or sectors should you concentrate on? Analytics can provide a lot of great prospects on a tight budget.

If you have money for wealth screening and it’s been a while, you should really do one

If you did a screening before February, all of the stock and business and real estate information is going to be skewed. I don’t need to tell you that people are in a very different financial position now than they were 9 months ago but for some people at the top of the wealth scale, their wealth has actually increased. If your nonprofit is one of their top-priority philanthropic causes, you don’t want to miss knowing this.

And further to that point: those under the 1% (but still affluent) have been strongly supporting causes over the past 8 months that they care about most. If someone has given to your nonprofit since February (and it’s not a memorial gift), you can bet that your cause is in the top three-to-five on their priority list. A wealth screening can help you pull out the person who gave $250 but could give $25k.

Most wealth screening companies provide information on a person’s past philanthropic giving, and that can be incredibly helpful when you’re trying to prioritize your time and effort to see what a donor’s interests are and what their largest gifts elsewhere have been. However, wealth screenings can be a waste of money (here’s how), so you want to avoid those pitfalls at all costs.

Go outside your base as Plan B, not Plan A

I always recommend exhausting every effort to find great prospects in your own database before combing the hills externally. Unless you personally know every single person that you raise money from and you contact them every month, you have to remember that (especially now) situations change. Companies thrive and companies go under. Through it all though, if someone has given to your nonprofit before, they’re already part of your family of donors. You don’t have to convince them of the importance of your mission – they’ve already bought in.

That said, if you don’t have a fundraising database, if you’re working for a startup nonprofit, or creating a brand-new program that has a different focus from your main mission, that’s obviously a different situation. That’s when elbow-grease prospect identification makes sense.

Elbow-grease research is kind of a slog, but it can be worth it in the right circumstances. Our method starts with an organization’s board, well-connected and committed volunteers, and other community champions. We build out their networks and family ties to find others they’re connected to who look likely to have a philanthropic interest in the cause. That way (we hope) we’re identifying “warm” prospects – people to whom they already have a connection via a friendly introduction.

We also look for institutional partners – companies, family and community foundations, larger endowment-based foundations, and even municipal sources to determine who gains directly or indirectly from our client organization’s presence in the community, region, or world.

We explore who benefits financially, spiritually, reputationally, socially, or materially from that nonprofit’s existence? Does the nonprofit raise the status of a community? Educate workforce toward a particular skillset or industry? Contribute to lower crime in an area? Bring in increased foot traffic to a nearby store? Who benefits from those things?

I know, that’s a slightly different angle from the norm, but I think it helps to turn the page to read the print upside down sometimes, don’t you?

Of course, we also look for institutional prospects in the “normal” way – to see which have included specific interest areas in their giving statements, or have given to a similar mission in the past.

These are just a few of the ways we (and you) can identify new donors.

The most important thing, though, is to have a plan in place for what you’re going to do next. Are fundraisers at your organization excited to make contact with new prospects? Or will those great future donors remain uncontacted? If so, your prospect research time and effort is better spent elsewhere.

Filed Under: Campaign Success, Prospect identification Tagged With: prospect identification

November 12, 2020 By Helen Brown Leave a Comment

What on Earth is a SPAC?

A few weeks ago I was doom-scrolling Twitter and saw a link to yet-another article about SPACs and thought, “I really need to know more about these things.” My colleague, Kenny, has been casually dropping the term in our team meetings for a while, while talking about research he’s been doing, and I realized it was about time I stopped faking that I knew what he was talking about.

So I did a search and got lots of articles about Space-X, because “SPAC” and Twitter’s sub-par search engine don’t mesh. Sigh.

My bad…

If you’re looking for a lost shoe, chances are good it’s not in the refrigerator.

So I stopped being lazy and did the smart-researcher thing, which was to go directly to Investopedia. I knew it would have the answer, and who has time to waste? (Well, me apparently, because I fell through the prospect research rabbit hole and spent another two hours learning about SPACs!)

There are lots more resources I’m going to link you to at the end of this article that explain things fairly clearly including a fascinating, detailed, inside-baseball explainer from Bill Gurley, a venture capital deal-maker in Silicon Valley.

But first, I’m going to share the basics.

A SPAC is a Special Purpose Acquisition Company. Anybody can start a SPAC. You can start a SPAC. You don’t need a special license or anything. You just need to be able to raise money. (Hmmmmm)

A SPAC is a publicly-held shell company formed by an investor or group of investors, also known as sponsors. These sponsors usually have knowledge or expertise in a certain industry sector.

The ultimate purpose of a SPAC is to merge that shell with a promising privately-held company in order to take that company public without the hassle or cost of the traditional IPO process.

The sponsors will do a roadshow to institutional investors like family offices and private equity firms to drum up interest in investing in this shell company. You might see a SPAC referred to as a “blank check” company, because investors are essentially putting money toward something that doesn’t exist yet.

The sponsors might (or might not yet) have a few companies in mind that they will approach for a merger, and they’re not supposed to tell the investors even if they know – at this stage anyway (more on that in a minute).

Anyone can invest in a SPAC, too, including you and me. Shares traditionally open at $10 each.

Once there’s enough money in the pot, it goes into a blind trust. The SPAC has 24 months in which to acquire/merge with the target company. If they aren’t able to do that within 24 months, all of the money gets returned to the investors.

Now, once the SPAC sponsors have decided on a company to merge with, they can go back to the institutional investors and tell them (in confidence) about it, and ask if they want to put in more money. This is what is called a PIPE deal – a “private investment in public equities.” It sounds a little sketchy, but institutional investors are not allowed to share this insider information, and they’re not allowed to trade their shares for four months after the merger. Retail investors – you and me – can sell or buy anytime.

Who’s making money, how, and how much?

So let’s say the SPAC merges with a privately-held company. What happens then? Who makes money? How do they make money?

Let’s start with the sponsors. They make money in fees: 2% of the SPAC’s value plus $2 million for administration. Plus any profit off of the sale of shares or increase on money they put in.

The owners of the privately-held company make money when their shares increase in price and/or they sell them. In addition, they save money because the IPO process is expensive, with lawyers and investment banks and lots of other people to pay. By merging with a SPAC, they’ve avoided all of that payout.

The institutional investors make money when their shares of stock increase in price. In addition, when they originally invested they were likely also given a warrant to buy future shares of stock at a discounted price at/after a particular date. Assuming that the share price has gone up, that can make for a tidy profit.

So that’s the overview of SPACs. Don’t miss these articles and resources that fill in more of the gaps:

  • Almost everything you need to know about SPACs, by Connie Loizos. TechCrunch
  • Going Public Circa 2020; Door #3: The SPAC, by Bill Gurley. Above The Crowd
  • The Urge to Reverse Merge, by Andrew Ross Sorkin, Lauren Hirsch, Michael J. de la Merced and Jason Karaian. New York Times
  • Will This Old Financial Tool Transform Tech Investing? by Kara Swisher. New York Times
  • The Risk And Returns For The Increasingly Popular SPAC Trade by Simon Moore. Forbes
  • Resource: SPAC Research. Don’t miss the league tables!

Filed Under: Researching Companies, Researching Individuals Tagged With: SPAC, Special Purpose Acquisition Company

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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).