Everyone loves online research, right? You can find out so much about a person online! But is all that information helping you in your donor prospect meetings?
Whether you are a frontline fundraiser prepping for your next meeting or a prospect researcher preparing a donor prospect profile, you need a plan *before* you start looking for information.
Ask yourself these questions:
* Where is this prospect in the gift cycle? How close is she to making a gift?
* Do I know what her passions are?
* What is my best guess on likely capacity given what I know right now?
* Do I know how she is connected to our organization?
Once you have answered these questions you are ready to do some research! Or are you? At this point you should know what you want to accomplish during your next contact with the donor prospect. Do you? I encourage you to be very specific about it. Here are some examples of specific goals:
At the next visit I want to…
- Discover whether the prospect has an interest in our organization and is otherwise a good major gift candidate.
- Confirm the information we know and solidify the next step.
- Deepen the prospect’s engagement with a special invitation that matches her interest.
- Ask her for a transformational gift!
If you are a prospect researcher you will want to have a conversation with the frontline fundraiser that exposes the motive for the visit and the research request. You can try to get the person to be specific by repeating what she says to you. For example, you might say things like:
- Oh, so you are trying to find out what the prospect is passionate about so you can figure out which program to talk about?
- Aha, her secretary is blocking your calls and you need to find another way to connect with the prospect. I can help with that.
Now you really are ready to do some research! But you are still in danger of being ill-prepared for your donor prospect meeting. How is that? Because online research is like visiting the witch’s house that Hansel and Gretel happened upon in the woods. Everything is so yummy you might crawl right into the oven without even thinking about it. You might follow so many different trails of fascinating information that you sit down with your donor prospect and lack the vital information you need. Yikes!
Maybe you have been diligent and answered the questions mentioned above. You also know specifically what you are trying to accomplish at the next visit. Here are three research pitfalls to avoid as you embark on your online research journey:
(1) Not documenting the information you collect. If you don’t have a template or a spot in the database for the things you learn, you assume the risk of selective memory. As humans we remember what we hoped to learn instead of what we really found out. And worse, we completely forget everything the next time round.
(2) Spending too much time on the wrong things. Let’s face it. Our prospects are fascinating people. But we need to find specific answers and then move on. Once again, templates help to keep us focused. Your job is either to get away from your desk and raise money or help your frontline fundraiser get away from her desk and raise money. Period.
(3) Not answering important questions thoroughly. Once you have collected your information and feel you are finished and ready for the visit, take a few minutes to imagine yourself at the visit. This goes for prospect researchers too. Pretend you will be on that visit. Now look at the information you collected again. What is missing? Are you wondering if she still sits on that board? Go back and answer the (now) obvious questions.
Online research is a powerful tool. As we apply our research prowess to fundraising we need to keep a razor-sharp focus on our donor prospects. We are not playing Jeopardy, we are playing Family Feud and it is up to your development shop to work as a team to effectively and efficiently answer the fundraising questions that will lead to more and larger gifts.