Management Tips » Prospect Research

Prospect research, sometimes known as development research or donor research, is a key element of fundraising. The researcher will identify relevant information about potential donors, which will be used to develop a solicitation profile of an individual. Prospect research is most often utilized to find donors who have the potential to provide major gifts. However, the process is used to find donors at all levels and for all fundraising channels. This is done by evaluating a prospect’s ability to give and the person’s affinity for the nonprofit. Researchers follow a strict code of ethics to protect the prospects they research, as well as the organization for which they are doing the work. The process has evolved to include sophisticated, computerized information gathering and sorting.

Read more about prospect research, and why it's important to every nonprofit organization, in the articles below.

• 10 Tips To Securing Major Gifts
• Upgrading Donors With A Soft Ask
• Why Me?
• 3 Tips For Prioritizing Prospect Research
• Religious Donors Give To Secular Groups, Too
• 7 ideas for estimating capacity to give
• 7 standards for information collection
• 7 steps to donor assessment
• Study: Online-Acquired Donors Switch To Mail, Not Vice-Versa
• Three ideas for middle donor acquisition
• 8 ways to target big donors
• NPT and infogroup national donor poll
• Young donors have rhythm
• Knowing Who Can Afford What
• Hispanic Donors
• Will You Survive?
• Donor Wealth Drying Up Only On Paper
• Charities Hope To Rev Giving Engines Of NASCAR Fans
• Answering Donor's Questions
• Who Are They?
• One Third Of Donors Skip Giving In Some Years
• Auction Bidders Are Affluent And Female
• Special Report: Exclusive NPT Donor Research
• Philanthropy And The Family
• Special Report: Prospecting For Donors
• Special Report: Give And Go
• New Homeowners Respond To Mail