Introduction to Prospect Research Tips and Tools for Researching and Managing Prospects

Agenda What are prospect research and prospect management? What is a major gift prospect? Indicators of a major gifts prospect Major gifts prospect managing and tracking Developing a major gifts prospect portfolio Researching prospects using external and internal sources Tips and Strategies

What are prospect research and prospect management? Prospect research involves the discovery and evaluation of prospective donors based on their inclination, relationships, and capacity to make a gift to an organization. Prospect management is the managing, tracking and reporting on an organization’s activity with its prospect pool.

What is a major gifts prospect? Individuals with the identified capacity and inclination to make a large gift to your organization. Many organizations set a minimum dollar amount, such as a $25,000 pledge over five years. Major gifts fundraising involves more personal one-on-one contacts and visits, as compared to annual fund, in which funds are raised through telephone, mailings, and e-solicitations. Cultivation, qualification, and solicitation of a major gift can take a long period of time, typically months or years.

Major Gifts Prospect Identifiers Affinity Other philanthropic activity Wealth capacity Other factors

Identifying Major Gifts Prospects: Affinity to your Organization What is this individual’s relationship to the FFA? Former member; past officer on the national, state, or chapter level; awards; volunteer in any capacity, including board service. What is the giving history to your organization? Number of years individual has been giving and at what level. Are there existing relationships that could help move the prospect forward? Board members, fellow staff, employment history with a corporate donor, family members.

Identifying Major Gifts Prospects: Other Philanthropic Activity How philanthropic is this individual? Search for donations to other organizations and try to find at what level they give. Does this individual have a family foundation? If yes, find public documents (such as tax forms) that determine what other organizations it supports and at what level. What is of interest to this individual? Do they support other agricultural and/or youth organizations? Has this individual served on any other boards or volunteered with similar organizations? Look for any type of board memberships that may indicate an interest in the FFA and/or a relationship with other individuals who may be able to help move the relationship forward.

Identifying Major Gifts Prospects: Wealth Capacity Common indicators of wealth capacity: Real estate ownership (primary and secondary ownership) Business ownership Compensation Stocks Philanthropic gifts Private foundations Note: Wealthy individuals have hidden assets. Benchmarks can be used to help gauge giving capacity.

Identifying Major Gifts Prospects: Other Factors Current life situations - family obligations or other circumstances that may preclude them from making a major gift. Occupation history - ideally a professional bio. Education - look for studies/training in agriculture. Upbringing - growing up on a farm or any other exposure to agriculture. Family members - especially any family members who may have an FFA background.

Phases of Prospect Management Where the individual is in the prospect management continuum determines the amount of research that is needed. Discovery: A basic level of research (capacity and affinity) determines that an individual would likely make a good major gifts prospect. Qualification: The gift officer will make contact (typically in-person) to determine directly from the individual the ability and inclination to make a gift. Spot research is done in advance of the qualification visit to ensure that that gift officer is prepared. Cultivation: Once a prospect has been qualified, they will move to the Cultivation stage in which the gift officer will continue to make contact and visit a prospect, working towards making a major gift. At this stage, more in-depth research is conducted to determine the individual’s giving interests and ask amount. Solicitation: A proposal is created and presented to the prospect. Stewardship: Once a gift is received, gift officer will thank donor for their support. Individual will typically be moved back into cultivation to work towards the next major gift.

Major Gifts Prospect Tracking Each fundraiser is assigned a portfolio with major gifts prospects to continuously track progress. Portfolios should represent individuals a gift officer plans to contact in a given year. Typically, portfolio sizes range 50-150 prospects. All prospects are tagged as Discovery, Cultivation, Solicitation, or Stewardship and moved to the next phase as the relationship progresses toward closing a gift.

Research Resources-Internal Establish what information you already have internally about a prospect. Maintaining a donor database with accurate and up-to-date information greatly enhances research efforts. Information that can be used to build your donor database include: Call notes from visits (any personal contact, including email, phone call, and face-to-face visits). Gift history Membership rosters Archives Past board member lists Event attendees Call notes from visits Survey data

Research Resources- Examples of Free Online Sources National FFA Archives, IUPUI: contains correspondence, minutes, newsletters, publications, reports, audio cassettes, video cassettes, and photographs. County assessor websites: information on land ownership and values. Zillow: determining home values, particularly a recent sale. USDA: information on agricultural land. Online Foundation Directory: information on family and corporate foundations. LinkedIn: information on executives and businesses. Yellow Pages: helpful for tracking down contact information. Salary.com: helps to provide salary benchmarks. Million Dollar List: high dollar donor list (individuals and foundations). Google Maps: Provides a visual the prospect’s property and immediate area.

Research Resources- Paid Subscription Examples LexisNexis Development Pro: Property and address history directly from source documents, including deeds and tax assessment records. Other information includes employment locators, business ownership, and potential relatives. NOZA: Giving activity among individuals and foundations that have been captured and published in online annual reports. ResearchPoint: A wealth screening software by Target Analytics providing estimated giving capacity based on real estate assets, compensation, and securities.

Research Resources- APRA Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA): Online resources, research tips, networking. A good resource for learning about the latest industry trends and newest products available for research. Annual dues are required for membership. APRA chapters at the state and regional level are a great resource for learning from research experts in your local area. State APRA chapters also hold annual events, such as skills workshops and conferences for those wishing to learn more about prospect research.

Research Resources- Wealth Screenings Individual records are matched against a collection of databases, such as D&B, Larkspur, NOZA, Assessors, SEC, FEC, etc. Information is returned with a reliability score segmenting prospects into annual, major and planned gift prospects. Screening is helpful in identification and prioritization, but data should be verified through research. Wealth screening companies: Target Analytics DonorScape Donor Search Wealth Engine True Givers

Tips and Strategies Use standard templates for writing profiles and call reports. Review the major gifts portfolio on a monthly basis and set guidelines for moving prospects out if there is a lack of progress: for instance, disqualify if you cannot contact a Discovery prospect after a period of one year, and either disqualify or reassign a Cultivation prospect if there is no movement after two years. Identify and prioritize the highest capacity prospects for qualification and develop a monthly contact plan to work towards asking for a gift.

Appendices

What to include in a research profile template Full name and full spouse name DOB or age Location Current occupation Educational degrees Any affiliations and board memberships Giving history to your organization Career history Family ties (in particular spouse information, if applicable) Assets Other philanthropic interests

What to include in a call report template Date of contact (when the call/visit/letter took place) Full name Contact information (additional information not already in database) Contact made by (everyone involved, such as staff, volunteers, state/national officers) Type of contact: phone call, letter, in-person meeting Purpose of contact: qualification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship Any new information about FFA involvement, such as FFA membership, volunteering at state or local level, awards, judging. Any new information about wealth, such as land or business ownership, job changes, retirement, etc. Results of call, i.e., move from discovery to cultivation, etc. Next steps, i.e., what are your next steps and by when?

Contact Info Abby Christensen Donor Prospect Researcher National FFA Foundation achristensen@ffa.org 317-802-4218