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DIY Prospect Research: 5 Must-Know Tools For Your Nonprofit

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A guest post by Sarah Tedesco of DonorSearch

If your nonprofit is just starting out or has a tight budget, your fundraising team may be facing some serious pressure to set a promising prospect research or wealth screening game plan in motion.

Never fear however; there are plenty of DIY tools out there for one or more nonprofit team members to successfully put to use, including:

  1. DonorSearch (best for comprehensive prospect research).
  2. Double the Donation (best for matching gifts).
  3. IntellectSpace (best for nonprofit networking).
  4. Government-related search engines (best for public records)
  5. Online social connections (best for individual profiles).

These handy resources will not only single out key major giving prospects, but also help your nonprofit build a diverse prospect research network to rely on for years to come.

 

DonorSearch

1. DonorSearch (Best for Comprehensive Prospect Research)

When it comes to making the most of prospect research, no one has a more refined and easy-to-use collection of services than DonorSearch.

Apart from their blog which delves into every area of prospect research imaginable, DonorSearch also offers two essential resources for budding nonprofits: DS Giving Search and their charitable giving database.  

To begin with, DS Giving Search is a FREE one-of-a-kind tool that provides a condensed version of all of DonorSearch’s philanthropic data — and it’s available to everyone!

Many prospect research professionals use DS Giving Search to identify top donor prospects — individuals and corporations alike — at lightning speed by honing in on major giving identifiers like:

  • Past giving to your organization or other nonprofits
  • Philanthropic history and nonprofit affiliations
  • Political giving or real estate ownership

This exceptional tool works best on mobile devices to help you perform prospect research on-the-go, but is also effective on tablets, laptops, and desktop computers.

DonorSearch’s charitable giving database is another must-know source for print and online philanthropic data — including past giving, annual reports, print references, and more — to construct prospect profiles around.

By gathering this information in your donor profiles, your nonprofit can better target old and new donors’ giving potential in areas like annual giving, major giving, and planned giving. DonorSearch even offers free prospect profile templates to help you get started cultivating donors right away!

Takeaway: DonorSearch provides younger nonprofits FREE expert tools to make growing a substantial prospect research database that much easier.

Double the Donation

 

2. Double the Donation (Best for Matching Gifts)

Another prospect research resource for nonprofits to utilize involves examining matching gift programs and donor profiles.

Matching gifts can encourage donors to reach new levels of giving with your nonprofit by teaming up with their place of work.  

A matching gift search tool can help your nonprofit access a corporate directory of matching gift programs. You can then determine top corporate and individual prospects from this list as well as identify donors who may have already made matching gifts to your nonprofit.

Luckily, Double the Donation’s matching gift search tool is the best in the business for helping your nonprofit coordinate prospect research through matching gifts.

Let’s take a moment to break down how this practical tool works:

  1. Matching gift prospects enter their employer’s name in Double the Donation’s matching gift search tool.
  2. The matching gift search tool then directs the prospect to their employer’s matching gift program (if it has one) and to the necessary forms and guidelines for participating.

The brilliance behind matching gift search tools for prospect research lies in nonprofits using this crucial data to initiate matching-gift related communications with eligible donors.

A matching gift search tool can also be added to donation forms and matching gift pages to provide donors with easy access to their employers’ programs. This allows them to learn more about corporate giving programs during the donation process.

For more top-of-the-line prospect research tools, check out Double the Donation’s exclusive ranking, including favorite features and pricing!

Takeaway: Matching gift search tools and programs are an excellent way for nonprofits to get in on the ground floor of prospect research.

 

IntellectSpace

 

 

3. IntellectSpace (Best for Nonprofit Networking)

This form of DIY prospect research takes a more analytical approach to navigating your best bets for major giving donors.

IntellectSpace specializes in “relationship mapping,” a technique that visually lays out all of your nonprofit connections, including donor prospects.

This service provides you with the most up-to-date information on all of your nonprofit ties, allowing you to develop a reliable database of constituents.

For example, if your nonprofit wanted to launch a fundraising campaign for a medical cause, IntellectSpace could help you draw lines between existing contacts and top prospects with a giving history to grateful patient programs or healthcare facilities.

IntellectSpace also offers a portfolio of tailored networking solutions that make it easy for your nonprofit to reach out to prospects and encourage donation opportunities, such as:

  • LiveAlumni: An online app that hosts current alumni and donor data to help nonprofits identify major giving prospects, find corporate sponsors, and more.
  • ProspectVisual: A relationship mapping tool that helps nonprofits connect the dots between existing supporters and target prospects.
  • SalesVisual: A plug-in app for Salesforce that helps nonprofits visualize internal integrations to reveal new prospect research opportunities.

Once you’ve uncovered these valuable relationships, your nonprofit can then get to know these prospects even better with tailored solicitation strategies.

Takeaway: New and established nonprofits can utilize IntellectSpace to reveal lucrative connections you didn’t even know you had!

 

Government Search Engines

4. Government-Related Search Engines (Best for Public Records)

One of the most important steps of prospect research is to look into financial markers that set donors apart in their giving capacity. That’s why it’s always a good idea to look into government-related search engines for filtering through essential public records.

These resources not only display influential wealth markers, but also reveal personal factors that help you understand the little details that make every prospect unique.

Check out our favorite FREE government-based prospect research tools below that nonprofits can’t go wrong with:

  • SEC.gov (The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission): Discover prospects’ stock ownership and corporate filings.
  • FEC.gov (Federal Election Emission): Research donors who generously supported a political committee or campaign.
  • County Tax Assessor’s Site: Explore prospects’ real estate ventures and property values to determine their financial standing.

On top of researching wealth factors, your nonprofit can really go the extra mile by investigating individual and organization philanthropic data from other public records like:

  • The Foundation Center’s online grant database and site-specific nonprofit libraries.
  • GuideStar’s virtual finance documents for all IRS-registered nonprofits.
  • Biographical, business, and newspaper databases from your library.

As a side note, while your nonprofit is gathering valuable prospect research data, don’t forget to organize it efficiently by investing in the right donor management software.

 

Takeaway: Use government-related search engines to track down notable wealth markers in a prospect’s public records.

Online Social Connections

 

5. Online Social Connections (Best for Individual Profiles)

Last but not least, never underestimate the power of your nonprofit’s virtual community.

By tapping into your online social connections, your nonprofit can not only spread the word about major donation opportunities, but also research personal and professional facts of key donors.

For instance, social media platforms like Facebook allow users to fill out their online profile with all kinds of individual information from hobbies and interests to belief systems and relationships.

On the other hand, your nonprofit can examine someone’s LinkedIn profile to get a better idea of their professional background and network connections.

As noted earlier, social media channels also provide your nonprofit with the perfect opportunity to generate a call-to-action for donations. This can be accomplished simply by connecting with online donors directly through videos, storytelling, pictures, and infographics.

Rest assured, if your nonprofit’s development team isn’t too keen on social media research, you can always take the more simplified route of Googling a top prospect.

These straightforward online search results can uncover just about anything about a potential donor, including but not limited to:

  • If the prospect works for a company with a matching gift program.
  • If the prospect has a history of philanthropic work at similar nonprofits.
  • If the prospect has a record of giving to nonprofits, charities, and community projects.

All in all, a shrewd DIY prospect researcher should take full advantage of these online avenues to discover as much as they can about a potential donor before reaching out with a tailored solicitation strategy. After all, chances are higher that your donors will renew their gifts if your team puts the effort into making a personal impact first.

Takeaway: Online social connections are a foolproof resource for prospect research that not enough nonprofits are following up on.

No one ever said that launching a nonprofit was easy, and unfortunately neither is securing the funds your organization needs to thrive and survive. With these DIY essentials for prospect research though, your nonprofit can lay the groundwork for a trusted community of donors in no time.

Sarah TedescoSarah Tedesco is the Executive Vice President of DonorSearch, a prospect research and wealth screening company that focuses on proven philanthropy. Sarah is responsible for managing the production and customer support department concerning client contract fulfillment, increasing retention rate and customer satisfaction.

Fundraising Tuesday: Where does your nonprofit keep its stories?

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storybankThe judge shook his head in disbelief. Before him stood a bank robber, arrested for the fifth time. “Why do you do it?” he asked. “Why do you keep on robbing banks?”

The robber looked at him in pity. “Because that’s where they keep the money!”

A good story you can tell your donors is like money in the bank for your organization. Where does your nonprofit keep its stories?

If you want to tell stories that will touch your donors’ hearts and move them to give money, you need a place to keep the stories. You need a story bank.

Collect Your Nonprofit Stories

You get to work in the morning and realize it’s time to send out an appeal letter. Naturally, since you know it will dramatically increase the number of people who read your letter and give, you want to include a story.

What do you do? Do you start emailing and leaving voicemail for your frontline staff? How long does it take for them to get back to you? How much of what you hear from them is actually a story (as versus a dry timeline)?

Collecting your stories as you go solves all these problems. When you need one, it’s right there–and you’ve already figured out the story arc that will make it stick in the reader’s mind.

What is a Storybank?

“A storybank is a mechanism for capturing and sharing stories in a variety of media,” says Wendy Levy of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture.

  • Written–by the person who knows the story
  • Oral–notes from the story’s source, or a recording of them telling it
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Quotable quotes

Elizabeth Prescott has good advice for how to start your story bank. Begin by

collecting the low-hanging fruit–those stories that your colleagues already know well and routinely share with each other (or with donors) to illustrate the
importance of what you do.
Then, ask (or even require!) staff, Board members, and volunteers who help you carry out your mission to report a good story every month. When something special is going on, make sure that someone is assigned to take photos and someone walks around interviewing people about their history with your nonprofit. Put it all in your story bank.

Tools to Have Stories at Your Fingertips

You could use tools specially designed for storybanking. Prescott likes TrackVia. Others have spoken well of Zahmoo or WuFoo. It’s certainly going to be helpful to be able to share the information you collect online, and no spreadsheet or word processing document can do that.

tools they can useThe problem with new technology is that often, the people in your organization won’t use it.

Learning a new tool feels like one more thing to do, on top of a pile of things to do that’s large and constantly growing (in every nonprofit I know!).

So, you are probably better off using tools that are familiar to people in your organization. Do you have a shared Google Drive?  Use that. How about a wiki, or a Dropbox? Use what people are used to.

If you have to, assign one person to be the address for the storybank and have everyone email their stories, photos, etc., to that person. It’s better to have a bank of stories that’s low-tech than not to collect those stories at all!

Tips for Banking Your Nonprofit Stories

  1. Think ahead about how you will use these stories. It’s possible to use them many different ways–and it’s a good idea! But if your sources can picture their stories–in print, or on your Facebook page, or on YouTube–they’re more likely to share them and shape them for an audience.

2. For each story, track dates, demographics and times used.
This tip comes again from Elizabeth Prescott, who says, “It may not seem as important when you only have a few stories, but the bigger your bank gets, the more you’ll wish that you had some good search terms so that you could find just the right person to speak about a particular topic or from the perspective of a particular social group.”

3. Make sure you have permission to use names and photos. Having a standard release form for people to sign is a good idea. In your story bank, keep notes (or copies) of the permission given. Even then, though, double-check. It’s better to use a slightly less vivid story than to make a client or a supporter feel bad about your organization.

You be the judge. Is storybanking right for your organization?

 

Fundraising Tuesday: Now That’s a Story!

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storytelling boardThe organization had a lot of money to raise: for an elevator, a new roof, and to pay salaries.

The Board President wanted the Board members to practice telling their stories to potential donors. But all she was hearing were generalities and grand narratives.

So I told the Board a story.

The Tale of the Rigged Raffle

When my wife and I first set foot in our synagogue in 1990, shortly after we moved to Somerville, MA, it was because two friends separately invited us. Rona and I are very different kinds of Jews. I tutor kids for bar and bat mitzvah. She goes to shul when there’s a wedding, a bar or bat mitzvah, or a holiday. Not just any place would suit both of us.

We went to a Sunday brunch first, to see if we’d like the people.

They sat us down across from two of the older members, Morrie and Ada. Morrie was the type who, five minutes after he met you, he’d know where you grew up, where you lived now, what you did, and what committee you should be on. In the same amount of time, Ada would know all about your family (and make you feel like part of hers).

During the brunch, we were invited to buy tickets for a raffle. Being the warmly welcomed guests, we thought we’d pitch in for a ticket or two.

The people who managed the raffle made sure that we won. Our prize? A bottle of Manischewitz sweet red wine, as big as my head!Manischewitz bottle

Rona and I looked at each other, bemused. What were we going to do with our new-found treasure?

Then Morrie leaned across the table and said in his hoarse Yiddish-accented voice, “The custom is to donate it back to the Temple for kiddush (the blessing over wine after services).”

“We will be happy to donate the bottle back to the Temple!” we said.

Shortly after that, Rona and I became members. We’ve been there over twenty-five years. And the Board was the current governing body of that same synagogue.

Now That’s a Story!

What made my anecdote memorable?

  • People–Rona and me–with a problem: would we ever find a synagogue that fit us?
  • They meet new characters (and I do mean characters): Morrie and Ada.
  • They encounter a new problem: how to make ourselves at home with a place that thinks a giant-sized bottle of Manischewitz is a prize.
  • They receive advice and help (donate it back) and reach their destination (a place where we could belong).

Are You Telling Winning Stories?

Your nonprofit organization should be telling real stories every chance you get. Tell them in person and on the internet, in y0ur newsletter and in your appeal letter…and in your thank-you letter!

Storytelling connects your organization with the supporters you want–especially if you make the donor the hero of the story. But don’t leave the success of your storytelling to chance.

Rig your stories with people, problems, helpful characters, challenges, and solutions. That way, you know who will win: both you and your donor.

(P.S. They’re installing the elevator at our synagogue this summer.)

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