Xapien newsletter — July 2024

Welcome to Xapien's monthly newsletter featuring articles and insights from the team. ???

Prospect research isn't a one-time effort—it should be used throughout the entire donor lifecycle. In an earlier webinar, Samantha Harford and Abi Abcock from the British Red Cross discussed how they get the most out of prospect research. Watch on-demand.

• Research is the key to unlocking insights about cold prospects in the philanthropy team's pipeline. It helps them move prospects closer to the organisation and sparks creative ideas for forming deeper connections.
• Research enables the philanthropy team to enter prospect meetings with a clear understanding of what philanthropy means to the donor. This way, the team knows when the donor is ready to give and when to ask.
• It’s not just about the next step but planning several steps ahead—especially in transformational giving. The philanthropy team uses the research to identify the best times to uplift support from existing donors.

In our recent webinar with The Law Society, Andrew Cheung explained that when he first joined Pinsent Masons, it took nearly 10 days for an AML analyst to review a client. Using Xapien for initial due diligence, the process has been reduced to hours. Watch the replay.

• Andrew suggests using an AI tool for an initial pass to gather available data and conduct an initial risk assessment in line with the firm’s process.
• Analysts can then see what the tool has already discovered about the client and their business, identify any missing information, and decide if further research is needed.
• With AI, gathering and analysing information now takes just a few hours. For Pinsent Masons, this used to take at least half a day, sometimes even longer for more complex cases.

Mercy For Animals’ research team spent hours manually searching and summarising information about foundation directors to create prospect reports. It often left them unsure when their research was enough to move forward. With Xapien as their on-demand researcher, they now receive consistent and comprehensive reports every time. This has freed up more time to focus on strategic work where human judgment and creativity matter.

Our COO, Dan Secretan, recently spoke with The Times about how AI can help firms curb financial crime ahead of an anticipated government crackdown. He pointed out that while there's so much information in the public domain to build a holistic risk profile, manually finding it is challenging. That's where AI comes in. Read his interview in The Times here.

Fundraising is undergoing a major shift as high-net-worth individuals take the place of everyday donors. Adapting to this change starts with having the right insights.

Curious about how your due diligence process compares to others? Wondering if your trigger levels are set correctly? Nonprofits often struggle to find benchmarks for their efforts, so we've researched for you.

AI is on the radar for many law firms, with over 60% of large firms actively exploring its potential. Yet, firms still hesitate over how to use the technology safely while following the SRA code of conduct. Reshma Raja from RPC summarises five guardrails for adopting it.

Compliance teams often feel overwhelmed and under-resourced with AML compliance, and it's no wonder—many still rely on outdated, manual processes. Looking for more sophisticated client intake software? Here’s how to build a strong case for it.

Chartis has recognised us as a leading risk technology provider for the second time this year by awarding us the Financial Crime Investigation Support and Copilot Award. Read why the Chartis analysts praised our AI technology on the blog.

We've raised ￡8M in Series A funding! This will accelerate our growth in the US, improve our entity resolution engine for even more precise reports, and enable us to integrate with more leading data providers. Learn more about what this funding round unlocks for us here.

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