Fundraising Research

I have 23 years of professional experience conducting fundraising research for a wide range of not-for-profit organizations in the US and around the world. Over the last five years, I have

  • prepared research profiles on more than 1200 prospects
  • researched individuals, foundations, and companies based in the United States and 32 other countries
  • identified more than 800 major and leadership gift prospects with a combined philanthropic capacity of more than US$2.5 billion.

My fundraising research specialties include the following:

Grant Research

  • Best use: finding new sources of funding from government agencies; private, family, and corporate foundations.
  • Research level: Comprehensive.
  • Research topics: Funders with grantmaking priorities and upcoming grant opportunities that match your organization’s programmatic priorities and funding needs. Contact information, grant application guidelines, grant application and award timeline.
  • Delivery format: Research findings can be returned in the form of a summary spreadsheet. Additionally, I can prepare one-page profiles of each identified funding source.

Individual Prospect Identification

  • Best use: Building your pipeline of potential donors by:
    • Identifying viable but overlooked prospects who are already in your constituent database (for example, alumni of an educational institution or small-gift donors to other types of nonprofits).
    • Finding individual prospects who are not already in your database but may have an interest in your organization’s mission.
  • Research level: Basic or intermediate, depending on your organization’s needs.
  • Research topics: assets and compensation indicating the financial capacity to make major or leadership gifts; visible signs of philanthropy to peer organizations or nonprofits working on related issues; relevant board memberships.
  • Delivery format: Spreadsheet or one-page prospect profiles, depending on your organization’s needs.

International Prospect Screening 

  • Best use: Prioritizing new potential prospects outside of the United States.
  • Research level: Basic. 15 minutes of research per person, high-level information only.
  • Research topics: Compensation, career highlights, value of primary residence (and additional properties, if known in advance), compensation, recent visible philanthropy, high-profile news coverage, estimated net worth, estimated philanthropic capacity over 5 years.
  • Delivery format: Spreadsheet.

Brief Prospect Profiles

  • Best use: Initial cultivation meetings, event preparation.
  • Research level: Intermediate.
  • Research topics: Contact information (if not already known), brief summary of career history, compensation, corporate board memberships, educational background, family information including family wealth (if any), visible philanthropic interests, family foundation asset and grantmaking priorities (if publicly available), nonprofit board memberships, visible philanthropy in last five years, estimated net worth, estimated philanthropic capacity over five years.
  • Delivery format: One page narrative, PDF.

Full Prospect Research Profiles

  • Best use: Preparation for major or leadership gift solicitation.
  • Research level: Most comprehensive.
  • Research topics: Contact information (if not already known), summary and assessment of wealth and potential philanthropic interest in your organization, in-depth exploration of career history, compensation, corporate board memberships, educational background, family information including family wealth (if any), visible philanthropic interests, family foundation asset and grantmaking priorities (if publicly available), nonprofit board memberships, visible philanthropy, estimated net worth, estimated philanthropic capacity over five years.
  • Delivery format: multi-page narrative with charts, graphs, and maps as needed, PDF

For more detail about these services and how I work with my clients, please see this blog post.

To discuss your fundraising research needs, please click here to schedule a free introductory call with me. I would be happy to put together a flat-fee proposal for completing your project based on that call. In most cases, I will send you a proposal within one business day of our conversation.