What are the best ways to use prospect research for fundraising?

2 How to qualify prospects

Once you have a list of prospects, you need to qualify them based on their ability and willingness to give to your organization. To assess their potential, consider their giving capacity, affinity, readiness, and propensity. Giving capacity is an estimate of how much a prospect can donate based on their income, assets, liabilities, and lifestyle. Giving affinity is a measure of how much a prospect cares about your cause and values. Giving readiness is a factor of how likely a prospect is to make a donation in the near future. Lastly, giving propensity is a prediction of how frequently and consistently they will give to your organization.

3 How to create prospect profiles

A prospect profile is an essential document that provides an overview of the relevant information you've gathered and analyzed about a prospect. It helps you gain insight into their background, interests, motivations, and needs, which allows you to customize your communication and solicitation. The profile should include basic information like name, address, phone number, email, occupation, education, family, and hobbies. Additionally, it should contain philanthropic information such as giving history, current involvement, affiliations, recognition, and awards. Moreover, it should include financial information like income, assets, liabilities, expenditures, and investments. Finally, it should include psychographic information like values, beliefs, opinions, attitudes, and personality.

4 How to generate prospect reports

A prospect report is an essential summary of the key findings and recommendations from your prospect research. It assists in prioritizing prospects, assigning them to the appropriate staff or volunteers, and planning cultivation and solicitation. The report should include a rating or score, which reflects the prospect's overall potential and priority for your organization. Additionally, it should have a summary or overview that highlights the main characteristics, interests, and motivations of the prospect. Lastly, it should contain a strategy or plan with specific actions, tasks, and deadlines to engage and solicit the prospect.

5 How to use prospect research tools

Prospect research tools are software applications or platforms that can aid in automating, streamlining, and enhancing your prospect research process. Such tools can help to locate and verify prospects' contact and financial information, using data enrichment, validation, and verification features. Additionally, they can segment and rank prospects based on their giving capacity, affinity, readiness, and propensity, utilizing scoring, modeling, and analytics features. Furthermore, these tools can create and update prospect profiles and reports with the aid of templates, formats, and integrations features. Finally, they can track and manage your prospects' progress and activities with the use of dashboards, alerts, and reminders features.

6 How to improve your prospect research skills

Prospect research is a dynamic and evolving skill that requires constant learning and improvement. To sharpen your prospect research skills, you should stay abreast of the latest trends, best practices, and innovations in the field through blogs, podcasts, webinars, and newsletters. Joining professional associations, networks, and communities of prospect researchers can also be beneficial. Furthermore, seeking feedback from peers, supervisors, or experts in prospect research is a great way to gain valuable insight. Finally, taking courses or certifications in prospect research can help you further develop your skills.