CFRE – #1: Current and Prospective Donor Research (16%) – Flashcards

identification, cultivation, solicitation (Ciconte, 137)

1. People give to people, not organizations. 2. People can give only what they have, not what orgs think they have. 3. People give only when they are interested and involved in a cause or org. (Ciconte, 137-138)

Use the people and information resources already found within an organization. (Ciconte, 138)

Organization will compile a list of "suspects" - individuals who with further research may become qualified prospective donors for the org. (Ciconte, 138)

Board members (current and past), current gift club members, current donors, volunteers, alumni, staff leaders, affiliated groups, advisory council members, special event attendees (Ciconte, 138)

Basic information: name, address, telephone, occupation, work address, date and place of birth, marital status, family data, giving history within org, cultivation contacts, org events attended. Internal info: gift potential evaluated by peers and professional staff, solicitation assignments and results Other: news clippings mentioning prospect, articles about prospect from internal and external, copies of correspondence, memos of telephone contacts, written reports by development staff More comprehensive info for selected prospects: income and assets, insider stock ownership, directorships, family and community foundation connections, social, political, community associations, club memberships. (Ciconte, 138-139)

Internet service; online subscription fees for newspapers, magazines, journals; online research tools such as Diaglog, LexisNexis, 10k Wizard; directories on CD-ROM; Foundation Center for info on giving, fund info service, and researchers; libraries and their databases including Who's Who and periodicals; firms that specialize in wealth identification screening (Blackbaud, Target America, WealthEngine). (Ciconte, 140-143)

The main purpose of a screening (or rating) committee is to classify or "rate" prospects according to general giving capabilities. A second purpose is to involved volunteers in a meaningful way that heightens their own level of commitment to the org. (Ciconte, 141)

Focus the search, limit the search time, have a plan of attack, check for relevance and validity, handle info carefully, capitalize on the experience and knowledge of others. (David Lamb in Ciconte, 142)

Both involve a batch review of large groups of records and appending info to individual's record, but differences in how info is identified and what is appended. 1. Modeling uses general data (name, addresses, affiliations, prior giving, relationship) and demographic info (how old, hometown, marital status) and inputs into statistical applications that predict charitable potential. 2. Fact Based using same general data, but instead of demographic info it uses factual, hard asset data that is publicly available (real estate, luxury ownership, stock holdings). Main difference is modeling requires another step to identify the hard asset data because it just scores the prospects or provides a rating. (Ciconte, 143-144)

Identification of potential leadership, potential organizational volunteers, and potential corporate sponsorship; more effective focusing of resources; cultivation of current leaders and volunteers (Ciconte, 145)

Filing and database systems should be secure, confidential materials should be marked "confidential" and dated, distribution list for information should be set up, researcher should be granted access to only certain institutional records, who does the research should be clearly designated. (Ciconte, 145)

Linkage, Ability, Interest: linkage is the direct connection of an individual to an org, ability is the individual's capability to make gifts, interest is the involvement with org and belief in mission and vision. (Martin in Tempel, 125-126)

1. donors are identified and qualified, 2. fundraiser develops individual engagement strategies for each donor, 3. cultivation, 4. solicitation, 5. gift acknowledgement, 6. stewardship of the donor's gift, 7. renewal of the donor's commitment. (The Fund Raising School 2009a, Martin in Tempel, 126)

Step 1 of prospect identification, which identifies individuals with closest connection to the org, ability to make a gift at a defined level, and inclination to support. Best way to begin is to analyze key segments of org's pool of current donors: major gift donors, annual donors, board members. (Martin in Tempel, 126-127)

Step 2 of prospect identification, which involves determining which donors have the linkage, ability, and interest (LAI) to make a gift at a level. Includes peer screening. (Martin in Tempel, 127)

When prospect research alone cannot provide enough prospective donors (i.e.: when entering a campaign), a formal database screening (or electronic screening) may be needed. This screening reviews your database, or a piece of it, for prospective donors. Outside firms conduct screenings and can be costly.

Alternative to database screening, the principle of data mining is to find individuals in the database who share similar patterns (i.e. giving frequency, volunteer activities, membership), then analyze the results to find which can be prospective donors at various giving levels. (Martin in Tempel, 129)

1. Ranking or segmentation report: list of newly identified prospects with initial designations of giving capacity. 2. Prospect memo: basic info about prospects who will have "discovery calls" or who are expected to attend an event. 3. Prospect report: Adequate data to allow fundraiser to generate plans, includes financial and biographical info. 4. Management report: cultivation/solicitation status report shows work with prospect and next steps. 5. Prospect strategy plan: outline of specific goals for a prospect and plans to move forward. (Greenfield, 717-718)

the careful and strategic coordination of prospects and activities centered on the development of major gifts from those prospects. (Greene presentation)