July 31, 2009

I admit it. I think prospect research is fun and probably spend too much time thinking about it and fine tuning ways to make it better. It may also be more important than you think.

For example, did you ever wonder why the colleges and universities you know get all the big gifts?

In the 20 years that I have been involved with nonprofits, I have always heard that colleges get the larger gifts because alumni care most about their alma maters. This always struck me as odd because I never felt that level of affection for my university. While I am proud that my brothers and I were the first generation of my family to get bachelor and graduate degrees, I believe that was a function of my mom's determination and our personal work ethics.

No, after working with over 700 nonprofits, I think there are different reasons colleges and universities get consistently larger gifts.

Virtually, 90-95% of organizations that receive major gifts have two things in common:

1. They have fund raising individuals whose principal responsibility is to ask for large gifts and who are held accountable.
2. These fund raisers are always supported with solid and timely prospect research function that can realistically define a donor's inclination and capacity to give.

With the right processes in place, even some unfocused and ill-planned efforts have achieved some level of success. Although, I would like to say that vision, clarity of purpose, mission and or leadership were the most important keys to major gift acquisition; I believe there is a more pragmatic factor.

Telosa has recently negotiated a working partnership with DonorSearch.net to provide high quality and affordable prospect research services to Exceed! Premier users. These are services that colleges and universities and hundreds of other nonprofits use to support their major gift efforts.

DonorSearch prospect research tools leapfrog the classic long-form prospect profiles and focus on short-form profiles highlighting the key markers of philanthropy. More importantly, complete prospect research packages for Telosa clients start at $1500.

All DonorSearch subscriptions permit you to consider the giving potential of hundreds or thousands of prospects in one sweep. It also features ongoing access to 20+ U.S. databases for looking up individual prospects, one at a time. DonorSearch includes access to the largest publicly available combined database of gift histories, the single best marker of philanthropy. The service also provides access to asset information like real estate and stock. In addition, the tools deliver business, foundation, and nonprofit affiliation information.

President and CEO of Telosa Software, Susan Packard Orr, says "We are excited about our new relationship with DonorSearch. It allows our clients to leverage Bill's long experience and great expertise in prospect research." Telosa offers a Prospect Research Interface that allows Exceed! Premier users to easily transfer data to and from Donorsearch. To learn more about how integrating Donorsearch prospect data with Telosa's Exceed! Premier can benefit your organization, see our article on How To Make Donor Relationships That Work.