Tag Archives: donor prospect

Will Your Donors Talk to You?

4Fundraisers, Focused Fundraising, , ,

Your donors sound so good!

Lately I have been reading many a headline about how donors ask and respond to good stories told by nonprofits. In the video interview with Táňa Hlavatá of Nadace Via she tells a story about the Mayor of a small village in the Czech Republic who asks for a grant to beautify space in the village. Through the project residents are engaged and community spirit is ignited. It’s a quick story but shines a bright light on the work of Nadace Via.

But what about the stories of the donors who make nonprofit work possible? Planned giving and major gift initiatives know that spotlighting donor stories encourages others to give. In my blog post, 3 Steps to Major Gift Mojo, I talk about listening to your donors as a catalyst to reinvigorate your major gift initiative.

But there is another benefit to talking to your donors. When it is done methodically, you can learn a great deal about why donors give to your organization and how to strategically reach more donors based on that information. But let me tell you a story…

While I was visiting Prague this August and September I began asking local Rotary Club members and others how they felt about giving to local nonprofits. Almost every person I spoke to could tell a story about a charity in the early 1990’s that was corrupt and stole donor money. They would only give to a charity with people involved who they knew and trusted, or to an international charity with a strong reputation.

There is no electronic screening, no purchasing of lists that could have gleaned this critical information about Prague donors. It was only by asking them, talking with them, and listening to their stories that this information came to light. How to grow the donor base? I would begin with existing donors and leverage their peer networks to grow awareness and trust. For major gifts I would research affluent social networks connected to board members.Methodically listening to your donors, perhaps through surveys or random calls in each donor segment, is valuable prospect research that will allow you to intelligently grow your donor base – whether you are focused on major gifts or all gifts.

Do you need to breathe new life into your major gift efforts? Have you been asking the same donors to stretch year after year? Contact Aspire Research Group! We can help you understand your donors better and lay a clear path on which you can methodically move more donor prospects toward gifts. Call us today at 727-231-0516 or email jen at aspireresearchgroup.com.

3 Steps to Major Gift Mojo!

Focused Fundraising, Fundraising Analytics, Major Gift Teams, , , , ,

Not infrequently fundraisers want to talk to me about finding major gift prospects who are outside of the donor database. Often they have been asking the same group of donors and need to expand their reach.

Too frequently I find out that they have not screened or mined their own donor database for good prospects! Screenings come with a price tag that can be hefty for some and getting management to invest often requires some educated persuasion.

Consider the following plan for jump-starting your fundraising confidence and creating results you can demonstrate to management.

Phase One

  • Pull a list of your top lifetime donors and start calling and visiting to thank them
    • They will be mucho flattered because many will not be wealthy and the lifetime giving will be a significant number. They all make great planned giving prospects
  • Pull a list of your one or two-year lapsed donors by lifetime giving and largest gift
    • Schedule visits with any excuse: wanted to recognize your lifetime contributions with a chatke; wanted you to meet our new CEO; wanted to thank you and tell you about new initiatives you made possible.
  • Consider asking your gift entry/database administrator to make some thank you calls to top-end annual fund donors
    • Pick a list of people similar to your employee to make it easy to relate
    • Already too busy? Make one phone call a day
    • Success in a new task is invigorating! Expect your employee grow

Phase Two

Do not just pull lists…

Pick a concrete time-period – say three months – and blitz call and visit. Every. Single. Day. Especially if you haven’t done much visiting in the past! You will have friendly, feel-good visits that will build your confidence and reward your donors with the stewardship they so deserve. Any excuse for calling will do, but sincerely thanking, recognizing and telling them what their gifts have accomplished is numero uno.

Phase Three

After the designated time period, stop and evaluate. This is important. You will be amazed what your donors tell you and you will be better able to strategize your future efforts. This is where you begin rating which prospects are likely to make major gifts and you will now know how to better recognize them in your database. Check out the Aspire Research Group paper on creating a moves management system.

Looking for customized help with your donor lists? Contact Aspire Research Group today!

Work smarter, not harder. Because you’ll have your major gift mojo of course!

Prospect Research Has Always been Mainstream

Focused Fundraising, , , , ,

When asked by Blackbaud’s NonprofitTrends blog, Jay Frost tells it straight: prospect research has always been mainstream. And it feels so good to hear someone else saying it! Every time you find a quick company bio or a phone number on your prospect you are performing prospect research.

But Jay doesn’t stop there:

The danger in not making the distinction between the type of cursory review most offices do and the kind of work performed by a professional prospect research unit is that they miss opportunities, ask for too little and, because they are spending time looking things up rather than seeing donors, they ask less often than they could. All of these things put organizations without professional level prospect research at a significant short and long term fundraising disadvantage. [emphasis added]

So what does that mean to you as a fundraiser? You have to research stuff on your own because otherwise it wouldn’t happen, right? But Jay is not advocating all or nothing. I like to use the plumber analogy.

I am a do-it-yourselfer and I am not afraid to plunge a clogged drain or change the washer on a faucet. But if I told you that I was an expert plumber because I could plunge a drain or change a washer you would definitely have to stifle a giggle. And if I attempted to repair a leaking supply pipe I could end up wasting hours of time and end up in a pool of water.

So learn some basic search techniques and find what you need for that first donor prospect visit. But as cultivation deepens and you involve leadership or begin approaching the solicitation, don’t skimp on professional prospect research. If you need help identifying prospects for your campaign, don’t wait until you are struggling to reach your goal. Use professional prospect research before you risk thousands, perhaps millions, in gifts.

Aspire Research Group sells a fabulous how-to tool, Search Tips for Fundraisers, that has been helping fundraisers use their time effectively. At Aspire Research Group we recognize the fundraiser’s reality and craft solutions that empower you to effectively close on your major gifts. Check us out sometime at www.AspireResearchGroup.com.

Tips and Trends from Bob Carter

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I am on an airplane trolling through the little notebook that I take everywhere and found my notes from Bob Carter’s talk at the APRA Florida conference. I’m realizing just how much of what he told us is showing up in the stories of the people I have been researching lately. I have to wonder if others of you are seeing these up close and personal too.

Bob Carter of previous Ketchum fame, has his own shop now, Of Philanthropy, and it is a fitting name for what he has to say. He is an engaging speaker with a global outlook. Best of all, he makes good practical sense.

The Best Solution
Carter mentioned that philanthropists are trending towards being married to the solution instead of the institution. I’ve heard this spoken of as a generational trend as well and it’s probably both, but I have written up a few donor profiles recently that demonstrate this emphatically. While the largest gifts go to the charity the donor is closest to and trusts the most to achieve the mission, giving is not guaranteed and is quickly shared with innovating organizations. Are you communicating your effectiveness at  implementing the solution?

Direct Involvement
Many speakers, not just Carter, have been talking about donors being more involved for a while now, but it has only been recently that I have seen it firsthand as so intrinsic to some donors’ giving. I heard Carla Harris speak at the AFP Florida Caucus’ Planet Philanthropy conference and she donates the proceeds of all of her gospel albums. Her occupation is Wall Street banker!

And more than usual I have been writing up donor profiles demonstrating this kind of it’s-a-way-of-life giving. I am also seeing more and more donors who don’t just give, they serve in four or five or even more volunteer capacities at the same organization!

Leveraging
Carter told the APRA Florida researchers that for every major gift there is no excuse for not getting three or four more from that donor’s network. Nothing new there, but it gave me a good kick-in-the-butt about priming my clients with possibilities when I send them a profile in preparation for solicitation. Depending on the client and the relationship I can do more than name-drop in my profiles, I can be part of the ongoing conversation and strategy.

Jennifer Kehoe of the University of Central Florida shared a great story at the APRA Florida conference about how her research department was able to add value to a major gift donor’s cultivation *throughout* and without which a gift would have been unlikely. Prospect researchers are fundraisers too – we want the big “YES” just as much as the fundraiser!

Collaborating
How do you get in with the philanthropic in-crowd in your community? Carter suggests a collaboration. The donors want it and I have watched one of my clients use a collaborative project to successfully promote the organization’s commitment and excellence to the in-crowd of philanthropists in her community. Leveraging the collaboration, donor research and excellent cultivation, she has brought her organization’s fundraising from barely there to million dollar gifts.

Provocative Ideas
But maybe the comment I liked most was when Carter talked about an organization that invited its best donors to a fundraising training. I am no longer surprised when board members show up for my Introduction to Prospect Research trainings. When board members and major donors become educated about fundraising it only makes them more effective givers. I have to wonder what other unusual cultivation activities fundraisers have begun using!

What have you been doing and seeing lately?

Dating Donors, Data Mining & Donor Profiles -oh my!

Focused Fundraising, Fundraising Analytics, , , , , , ,
Roxie Jerde, President & CEO, Community Foundation of Sarasota County

by Jen Filla.

I had the pleasure of hearing Roxie Jerde speak at the AFP SW FL luncheon on May 10, 2011. She is the new president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, having previously been with the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. She packed a lot of information into her 20-minute slot. Thank you Roxie!

First, as the new person on the block, she made an interesting comment. She told us that she will not accept offers to meet for coffee or lunch. Instead she invited herself into our organizations. That really resonated with me. Since moving to Florida I have spent a lot of time getting to know the organizations operating in my area and that has meant of lot of driving and a lot of tours. For someone who works on billable hours this is an expensive investment! But I have never left a visit with an organization and felt it was a waste of time. There is so much culture, pride, and action packed into the buildings and places where fundraisers realize their missions.

Roxie also reviewed the Giving USA statistics, which reflected giving in 2009 (2010 is due out in June). Here’s a breakdown of giving in the U.S.

  • Individuals -75%
  • Foundations -13%
  • Bequests – 8%
  • Corporations -4%

Ho, hum, yawn, we’ve all seen this before. BUT have you actually gotten the statistics out of your own donor database? This kind of data mining yields key information you *must* know to create an intelligent fundraising strategy. Does somewhere around 75% of your funding come from individuals? If not, why? Every organization is different, so it might not make sense for your percentages to match the country’s giving overall, but if you differ significantly you’ll want to investigate whether you do indeed have the best strategy for your organization.

Roxie Jerde

Peppered throughout her presentation Roxie referred to the donor gift cycle as dating. Yes, most of us have heard this before too, but Roxie took it to a new level. In a previous position she and her staff used the dating terminology instead of the usual fundraising terms. It was endearing and funny to hear her talk about how blind dates can work too (prospecting), what it’s like to be newly married and still in the honeymoon stage (a major gift) and then, down the road, planning for your golden years (planned giving). Words are powerful tools and using dating words can create a much needed shift in how we interact with our donors.

Near the end of her presentation Roxie talked a little bit about asking for a major gift. She mentioned the uncertainty around how much to ask for and the drawbacks of asking for too much or too little. Being as passionate as I am about using prospect research to inform cultivation and solicitation it was all I could do to sit quietly. Profiles! DONOR PROFILES! I wanted to shout.

Donor profiles provide an awe inspiring amount of information to aid in determining an ask amount. Time and again fundraisers have told me how much more confidence they have asking for the gift when they can base it on known assets *and* their gut feelings. Development shops using prospect research, including donor profiles, ask for and receive larger gifts.

Too many human services and other similar organizations are not receiving their share of million dollar gifts and it is not because they don’t attract million dollar donors. It is because they don’t ask for million dollar gifts from their very own donors who are capable of giving them.

If you want to find out how Aspire Research Group can help you find your million dollar donors, just ask us! Call 727-231-0516, email jen at aspireresearchgroup.com or visit our website for more information, www.aspireresearchgroup.com

What I like about Google Searching

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"Sherlock" Kate goes Google

As a new prospect researcher with Aspire Research Group I am constantly reading and learning new techniques. I recently came across a very helpful document on the internet: Google and Beyond: Making the Most of Search Engines for Prospect Research by Steven Hupp. He explains many useful search options within Google Search and expands upon the topic to speak about other search engine and meta search engine options. I thought I would share the search techniques that I found most useful while reading his presentation.

When using Google Search, you can use the ordinary Google search box or click the Advanced Search link near the box. I am describing how to use the everyday Google search box.

Using Quotes
The first advanced operator (otherwise known as useful thing to help make your searching more productive) is one that most people who have used Google already know about. When searching for a prospect (Jane Doe) put her name in quotes: “Jane Doe”. This weeds out all the search results that have Jane and Doe but not together. I use quotes for all the known combinations of the donor prospect’s name (e.g., Jane Doe, Jane E. Doe, Jane Evermand Doe)

The Asterisk
You can also use the asterisk with quotes. If you put “Jane Doe * Pennsylvania”, the * acts as a wild card and will produce search results that include all Jane Doe “any word at all” Pennsylvania. This can be helpful if you are not sure where in Pennsylvania a prospect lives or want to find all the places she might be involved within the state.

The Minus Sign
Another advanced operator that can be very time-saving is the minus sign (-). When you are searching a prospect’s name and it is relatively common or there is another specific person who is not your prospect who keeps showing up and taking over all the search results, simply put “Jane Doe” –ski ball and all the ski ball results will go away.

Domain Search
One can also use Google search to look specifically at a single website. Site searching looks like this: “Jane Doe” site: aspireresearchgroup.com. This will produce search results that only include Jane Doe’s name when it shows up on the website in question.

Type of File
The final search function that Mr. Hupp mentions that I think could be really helpful to people doing prospect research is the filetype search. In order to do this search type: “Jane Doe” filetype: pdf (or whatever file type you want) and the Google search results will only include documents of that particular file type where Jane Doe is mentioned. This would be particularly useful when used with PDF documents, as so often they include foundation reports and donor lists.

Happy Searching!
By using these tips on more productive Google searching, I hope that your searches will become less like searching for a needle in a haystack and more like searching for a colorful drinking straw in a haystack. 😀

Go Ask Aspire
And of course you can always ask Aspire Research Group to find your donor prospect in the haystack for you! We provide some of the most thorough donor prospect profiles in the business! Click here for more information.

Yes! You Can Still Raise Major Gifts Without a Wealth Screening

Focused Fundraising, Fundraising Analytics, Major Gift Teams, , , , , , ,

I sat next to Heidi Shimberg, VP of Development and Marketing for the Glazer Children’s Museum, at the Suncoast Chapter meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals in March. She told me an amazing story. In September of last year the Glazer Children’s Museum held its grand opening. Only six months later, they have a whopping 6,000 members!

Her fundraising dilemma? To do a wealth screening on 6,000 people would put an unhealthy bulge in the budget. “So why not filter your list and send a smaller number of records to be screened?” I suggested to Heidi. She had thought of that, but when you are brand spanking new, what do you filter by? She felt that if she filtered by wealthy zip codes or addresses, she might miss some “hidden” prospects. It troubled her.

As I was driving my cat to the veterinarian the next morning, my conversation with Heidi was on my mind. Then the light bulb went off. Heidi might not need a prospect researcher on staff, but she sure needed a prospect research strategy. She was averaging 1,000 members a month!

When there are no big dollars in your budget how do you get smart – and still get big dollars in gifts?

Depending on the amount of pressure to raise funds, Heidi has some fun choices.  She could go for the wealth screening and decide on a fundraising strategy for cultivating people with known wealth – maybe joining a special society as a first step and/or one-on-one meetings. Armed with the wealth screening she knows exactly who can give and won’t waste any time approaching members who can’t give.

Or she could swing wider and filter her list by addresses, making a first contact without any real wealth information. Cultivating more people in small groups instead of one-on-one would allow her to find “hidden” donors in her community. Ask the Benevon people about that one. It works.

I can hear you calling me to account. “But Jen, you have not addressed Heidi’s concern about missing the hidden prospects in her member list!” Well here’s the answer. Without a giving history to the Glazer Children’s Museum or any other history (like event attendance etc), Heidi cannot know a crucial piece of information – affinity, or how close someone feels to the museum. It’s just too new. You can’t screen for that on a newborn list. What she can do is methodically approach prospects while developing her entire member list.

Going from “A” to “Z” contacting 6,000 members is foolish. Heidi knows this. Picking 1,000 and working them in small groups will have Heidi training another gift officer next year when her well-stewarded member list, which has also been solicited for unrestricted operating dollars, gets filtered again for the next 1,000. And since she started with her best prospects, she can now feel better about having a trainee cultivating the “B” list. By year five there isn’t likely to be a “hidden” prospect, especially because now there will be money in the budget for a wealth screening on a well-kept donor/member database!

If we could all start out with the very best prospect research tools, so much more could happen. But that’s not reality and it doesn’t have to stop a fundraiser like Heidi from exceeding her major gift fundraising goals.

Aspire Research Group wants to see you succeed. If that means a one or two-hour consult to brainstorm for a mean-and-lean strategy, we’re all about it. Call us today! (727) 231-0516 or email jen at aspireresearchgroup.com.

The Friends of a $55 million Donor

Discussion, Major Gift Teams, , , , , , ,

by Jakki Aviles

David Alan Tepper, founder of Appaloosa Management L.P., has recently announced that, through the David Tepper Charitable Foundation, he will be making a $3 million gift to Feeding America, one of the nation’s largest organizations that fight hunger.

Tepper’s philanthropy did not start with hunger-relief organizations. A gift he is probably best known for is his record $55 million gift to Carnegie Mellon’s business school. Tepper attended the school to receive his MBA, but certainly did not come up with the idea for the gift completely on his own. He was prompted by a friend and former professor, Kenneth Dunn, to donate. Tepper was convinced, but was also driven by naming capabilities– the school is now named the David A. Tepper School of Business.

Friends, however, seem to be the main source of motivation behind Tepper’s generous gifts. According to the Clark-Garwood Patch, Tepper was introduced to the hunger-relief area of philanthropy by a friend, Kathleen DiChiara, who is the founder and president of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. She asked Tepper for his help in a campaign and he, in turn, got together $2 million between himself and others in his company.

According to an article in PR Newswire, the FoodBank is part of a larger network: Feeding America. Through being introduced to the hunger movement in his home state by Ms. DiChiara, Tepper was made aware of a larger cause that was in need of gifts. Feeding America tapped into a valuable source in Mr. Tepper. He is motivated by the causes his friends encourage, and was already donating to Feeding America’s hunger movement on the local level.

Perhaps the most interesting and valuable aspect of a donor like Tepper is his enormous wealth. The David Tepper Charitable Foundation first became interested in hunger in 2006. In a rather short amount of time, the Foundation moved from a local charity to donations to the national charity. As Tepper’s giving progression has shown, he is capable of giving to all sorts of hunger charities and does not need to be dedicated to just one. His wealth allows him to give on a level that many only dream about.

Tepper’s wealth and wide-range of interests should be a major clue-in for fundraisers looking for donors. As he has demonstrated, his engagement in charities like Feeding America is relatively new, and highly influenced by a friend dedicated to the project. As a fundraiser you need to be careful not to overlook the social networks within your reach. Although Tepper may not have come up with the idea to give to hunger based on his own inner passion for the cause, he is still giving– in large amounts. Who’s to say he could not be influenced to put his money into another great cause?

Are there any David Teppers lurking in your donors’ social sphere? Would you know if there were? Predictive modeling, wealth screenings and donor ratings all focus on the names you have in your database. The social reach of your board members and existing major gift donors might not reveal a David Tepper.

At Aspire Research Group we have helped organizations use prospect research to find their David Tepper in two ways:
(1)  Researching an individual identified as wealthy and/or interested in the mission – Sometimes a fundraiser will read about a David Tepper in their community (you are reading local and philanthropy news sources, right?!) Through in-depth research, Aspire Research Group focuses on business, volunteering, giving and social relationships. Using this information the fundraiser can begin to connect the dots back to her organization, with Aspire Research Group providing quick follow-up answers as part of the profile service.

(2) Exploring the relationships of someone known to the organization – Especially with major gift donors, a fundraiser will come to Aspire Research Group looking to find ways to leverage the donor’s business and social spheres of influence. Being informed before sitting down with the donor helps to keep the meeting focused and productive.

If you want Aspire Research Group to help you find your very own David Tepper, give us a call at 800-494-4132 or email jen at aspireresearchgroup dot com.

Gift acceptance: Boldly look a gift horse in the mouth!

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Prospect research is all about finding assets and drooling over the gift possibilities, but at today’s AFP Suncoast chapter meeting, I heard all about the challenges of accepting some of those non-traditional assets as gifts. Two accountants from Gregory Sharer & Stuart, Catherine Mary Sullivan and Amy Mierzejewski told us to be prepared to boldly look the gift horse in the mouth!

Taxes and audits are not easy lunch conversation, but Catherine and Amy walked us through the important parts of a gift acceptance policy and why we should have one. Talking to donor prospects is always a delicate dance and having a gift acceptance policy gives you:

*  A graceful way to let the prospect know you’ll be inspecting the opportunity with counsel and possibly decline the gift
*  Talk about who needs to pay for the costs incurred by accepting the gift, such as appraisals and valuations
*  And lets the prospect know your organization is a good steward of its mission by accepting only the gifts it is capable of using

As part of the conversation, Catherine and Amy touched upon the many issues that arise with gifts like gold coins, real estate, gift annuities and more. And of course, it was quite clear that they are accountants and we are fundraisers – which is to say that if I ever had to consider accepting an unusual gift, I would definitely call Gregory Sharer & Stuart for their expertise and NOT try to do it myself!

Prospect research is the same way. If you just need preliminary information to make a first visit with a prospect, Google away. But if you are going to ask for big-hairy-scary-gift, you need to call on someone like Aspire Research Group to provide you with a donor prospect profile that will make sure you walk away with the major gift that rewards your organization *and* respects the donor.

Do you need a donor prospect profile? Contact Aspire Research Group today.

A Call to Donors Who Can Appreciate the Mission

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“The worst thing for artists is not to have the money available to carry out the ideas they have in their heads,” says Mark Bradford, explaining the thought that went into his $100,000 donation to create the Artists2Artists Fund.

Bradford would know. An article in the Wall Street Journal describes him as once being a financially struggling artist himself; one who was greatly helped by the award of a $50,000 fellowship grant from nonprofit organization United States Artists (USA). It’s important to him now to make available monetary grants for other artists who are in the same spot he once was.

An artist born and raised in Los Angeles with two degrees from California Institute of the Arts according to art21, Bradford is the lead donor to the Artists2Artists Fund of USA, which is designed in an innovative way as to best use social networking for community fundraising.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the  Artists2Artists Fund will be financed by established artists, and will match funds received through USA Projects, which is a social-network fundraising website. Artists can create their own pages on the website, where their works and ideas for future works will be displayed. People donate money for a specific artist to USA, which matches their gift. Of the funds raised, 81% goes to the artist and the other 19% covers program and website expenses.

So how does a nonprofit come by a donor as valuable as Mark Bradford? Look to his story. He is someone who appreciates the value of USA’s mission because his success, at least in part, grew from it. Bradford was the recipient of aid, and is now the leading donor to USA’s budding project. And his donation goes beyond just money– along with the $100,000 major gift he provided, he is also helping USA blaze a new trail for arts philanthropy by starting up a social-network fundraising website and encouraging successful artists to give back.

It is interesting that no gift from Mark Bradley could be found to the California Institute of the Arts where he received two degrees. One of Mr. Bradley’s primary motivations to give to USA was giving back. Why didn’t he want to give back to his alma mater? Did the Institute ask? Do they just not publicly recognize their alumni gifts? After a visit to their website I couldn’t even find a place to make a gift. From appearances, it would seem that the Institute missed a golden opportunity with Mark Bradley.

Mr. Bradley’s primary giving motivation appears to be to give back, but he also gave back in a way that mirrors his art and expressed values. In his art he re-purposes paper, twine and other materials he finds out in the world. He makes art possible from various discarded materials. The Artists2Artists Fund takes small gifts from many people and pulls them together to create a matching grant to an artist. Technology makes it possible to turn small gifts into a real opportunity for a struggling artist.

USA recognized that one of its previous aid recipients was now a successful artist. They took the time to listen to his interests and created a gift opportunity that matched Mark Bradley’s needs as well as their mission. Do you have a way to identify those who receive your services and move on to financial and other success? Once you identify the person, do you have a way to find out how to best connect?

Aspire Research Group helps organizations across the country find better ways to connect with donors. By preparing comprehensive, in-depth profiles on donor prospects we have helped clients just like USA learn enough about their prospects to reach out in a meaningful way by identifying board memberships, peers who could solicit, past giving history, wealth and so much more. You can bet that USA did their research before asking Mark Bradley for a gift. Have you done yours?

To learn more about donor prospect profiles, visit www.AspireResearchGroup.com or call (800) 494.4132.