A.I., Fundraising, and Trust

A.I., Fundraising, and Trust

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Is there anything that artificial intelligence (AI) can’t help us do better, faster, and cheaper? Businesses and the fundraising profession have clearly embraced AI as evidenced by the articles, webinars, and courses springing up to teach us all how to use various AI tools. For example, Coursera has a course on using ChatGPT with Excel to clean up your data and Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy has a course entitled, “AI & Fundraising: Revolutionizing Your Fundraising Efforts.”

Many good things are coming out of AI models, but there is a dark side, too. Inevitably, bias creeps into our algorithms and decision-making processes. Bias can lead to unfair outcomes, damage an organization’s reputation, and even have legal consequences.

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My Aspire Research Group team member, Elisa Shoenberger, is fascinated by the topic of cryptocurrency and philanthropy. I like to say that she has “gone all Alice in Wonderland” on the subject – falling down rabbit holes and getting curiouser and curiouser. She has written more than 70 pages of a book – Volatile Opportunity: A Guide to Cryptocurrency and Fundraising to publish in August -- and will be presenting on topic at the Apra Prospect Development conference that starts on August 28, 2023, in Indianapolis. Now, it’s wonderful that she shares her passion through writing and speaking, but how relevant is cryptocurrency to prospect research consulting? Is she so bored at work that she fills it with writing and presenting? As it happens, at Aspire we are not consumed with researching donor prospects steeped in cryptocurrency, and we don’t offer nonprofits advice on cryptocurrency donations. What we are doing is always cultivating excellence in our work. At Aspire, three out of our seven core values apply directly to Elisa’s pursuit of cryptocurrency in philanthropy: • Embrace and drive change • Be adventurous, creative, and openminded • Be passionate and determined Allowing team members the time and head space to hone their superpowers levels up everyone on the team. No one ever fully masters research. There are far too many ways to accumulate and give away wealth, and the speed of change driven by information technology is breathtaking. It’s easy to pile on the work assignments and to be proud of leaping over mounds of profiles in a single bound, or persuading staff to adopt a new database process by making them believe it was their idea. But there is a right-sized workload for a healthy mind. And a healthy mind is required for excellence. As the subject matter expert on crypto on our team, Elisa brings all of us up to her level of excellence on the topic – from which we can all move on to greater heights. This happens in a number of ways: • When a team member is struggling on a project, the struggle can be brought to the team chat for input from others and the bridge is made to complete the work. • During our weekly assignments meeting, discussion happens over the previous week’s work and information, experiences, and ideas take center stage. • Our “rabbithole” meetings spotlight individual team members – teaching a new skill, sharing a new tool, practicing a client presentation – or working as a team through a skill building exercise from the Prospect Research Institute. But if we aren’t researching a lot of donors with cryptocurrency, how is that topic helpful? I’m so glad you’re paying such close attention to ask! One of the greatest superpowers a researcher can have is unlimited curiosity. And that curiosity leads to creativity, which leads to innovation. The “kryptonite” to that superpower is overwork, stress, not enough autonomy, or the requirement that everything be “relevant!” I can’t predict whether or not cryptocurrency will become a hot sector to know in the same way alternative investments are, but thanks to Elisa, if it does catch fire, I will recognize and understand it! If you want your team to achieve excellence, you can’t afford NOT to take time for falling down rabbit holes. Shameless plug: If you’re attending Apra PD this year, attend Elisa’s presentation and ask her for a business card: Volatile Opportunity: Cryptocurrency in Fundraising

Going all ‘Alice’ on Crypto – and Excellence

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My Aspire Research Group team member, Elisa Shoenberger, is fascinated by the topic of cryptocurrency and philanthropy. I like to say that she has “gone all Alice in Wonderland” on the subject – falling down rabbit holes and getting curiouser and curiouser.

She has written more than 70 pages of a book – Volatile Opportunity: A Guide to Cryptocurrency and Fundraising to publish in August — and will be presenting on topic at the Apra Prospect Development conference that starts on August 28, 2023, in Indianapolis.

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Dog Days of Summer Research

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In Florida, summer starts in May. By June the pool has turned into a bath. By July the pool has become a hot tub! Whether I’m sitting by the pool or in and out of the pool, I like to take advantage of the summer heat to explore and re-think all the research things. And that means reading, watching, and getting training.

Because I really can sit outside under the shade of the umbrella and watch a training video, or read a book while floating in the pool, or focus on thinking through a problem while swimming laps. New thoughts are sparked when I physically re-locate away from my office.

So, instead of the traditional summer reading list, I’m suggesting a summer research adventure list!

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Can you really turn words into bigger gifts? Yes!

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Finance Industry Series Part 5 of 5

How you, the prospect research professional, write up your prospect profile affects the eventual solicitation – especially when it comes to complex prospects in the financial field. Do you find that difficult to believe? Or are you nodding your head right now and feeling validated? And if you are a development officer, isn’t it incredibly helpful when you don’t need a dictionary and Wikipedia to understand what’s in the profile? Of course it is!

I get it. As a fundraising research professional you want to be accurate. You prefer having a source to cite and a formula to generate a value. But researching people and professions has never been as simple as working through a checklist – and never will be.

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Affinity first or ‘Why is my prospect not on the Forbes list?’

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Finance Industry Series Part 4 of 5

Why is my prospect not on the Forbes list?

It can be tough to keep billions quiet. So why is it that although we in prospect research identify people that seem to be likely billionaires, we find them absent from the prominent Forbes listing?

And while I have been focused on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index feels more aligned with us in prospect research – it’s conservatively calculated and the write-up for each individual is presented carefully and quite thoroughly.

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The Simple Way to Spot Million-Dollar Donors in Your Database

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Finance Industry Series Part 3 of 5

The simple way to spot million-dollar donors in your database

Did you read The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s coverage of the Top 50 Philanthropists this year? If you did, you would find that there are a lot of new names on the list – such as the retired clarinetist who was a closeted investor – to the tune of a $100 million gift!

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Top of the Wealth List: Finance and Investments?

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Finance Industry Series Part 1 of 5

For most of 2023 I plan to focus my blogging on the finance and investment industry. I wonder, is it the mystique of ruthless brainiacs in suits poring over financial charts and reaping millions, even billions that is so captivating? Once committed, I plucked the businesses that the Aspire team gets tripped up on the most in valuing for capacity, and felt as satisfied as taking a big bite of a street corner Philly pretzel.

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Image Conscious Philanthropists

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As the zeroes on mega gifts grow as fast as ants on fallen candy, the methods, and vehicles for giving continue to diversify. First, it was the trusty (pun intended) family foundation. Now there is the handy and potentially anonymous donor-advised fund. Along the way, the Zuckerberg Chan Initiative LLC in 2015 brought worldwide attention to the LLC structure, which was also the choice du jour for Jeff Bezos and his Bezos Earth Fund LLC in 2021.

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