Do you remember back when there were live luncheons? Or maybe you’re already starting to attend them again. The kind where there is a speaker and everyone is seated to eat their meal while hearing the talk. Often, when you sit down to eat, the table is already set with the salad AND the dessert.

As an adult I should be in full control of my impulses, and I like to think I am. But I’m not so much in control of my rationalizations. First, my tastebuds are fresh and unsullied when I arrive for lunch. They deserve chocolate. Second, if I’m going to eat the dessert after my meal, why not before my meal? It all gets mixed up in my stomach anyway.

Which brings us right to profiles.

At Aspire Research Group, we are an outsourced resource. That means we don’t usually go into an organization’s database as part of preparing our profiles. Instead, information is provided to us and we deliver completed profiles to the client on demand.

And as a matter of expediency and good service, we put the dessert on the table with the salad.

We put the dessert – the estimated net worth, gift capacity rating, and source of wealth — at the top of the profile. And then underneath we put the salad – the relationship to the organization, the insights, and on into the details — the meal, as it were.

Am I surprised when people focus on the wealth first and not affinity to the organization? No, I am not. It’s not their fault. Who can resist that dessert presented so artfully?

If I worked in-house, I would want to create three key ratings at the top of the profile that everyone understood and participated in. Ratings that stand on their own, but together create the perfect prospect flavor combination! Something along the lines of the chart below:

Affinity	3-Involved (Trustee, volunteer service, transformative giving) 2-Engaged (Responsive and participatory) 1-Like (Transactional) 0-Disinterested
Philanthropic Inclination	3-Philanthropist (Leadership/volunteer, Giving vehicles, Giving) 2-Generous (Giving) 1-Civic (Involved in community, but not giving) 0-Not inclined or not found
Gift Capacity	$$ to $$

If you could create the “perfect” profile templates for your organization, how would you want to arrange the information in your profile? How could your profile work together with prospect management to help development officers move prospects from Engaged to Involved or Generous to Philanthropist (or whatever language and definitions fit your organization best)?

Dessert is good. And the best desserts are paired well with all of the other flavors in the meal. But maybe the order in which we consume our food and our profiles does create balance – or imbalance. When was the last time you considered the balance in your profiles?