Beth Bandy Research & Consulting

Tag: Prospect Research

  • Five questions to ask when looking for new fundraising prospects

    Five questions to ask when looking for new fundraising prospects

    Over the last week, I have had several clients contact me about identifying new prospects for them. The organizations are different, from global NGOs to educational institutions, and they are looking for new donors in different places, from here in the US to countries around the world. These requests to find new donors made me want to share a few thoughts about the prospecting process.

    Schools, colleges, and universities have built-in prospecting pools. Generally, these kinds of organizations look for individual donors who are alumni or parents. This type of prospecting project starts by looking for overlooked prospects in an in-house database and build from there.

    For other kinds of nonprofits without a defined universe of potential prospects, the process of looking for new individual donors can seem a bit daunting. How do you start? Where do you end?

    In either type of organization, identifying new prospects involves answering these five questions:

    1. How many gifts do you need – and at what level?

    If you haven’t already identified your fundraising goals in terms of numbers of gifts at specific giving levels, start here. Knowing that you need X number of new donors who each can make gifts of at least Y dollars will help you focus your prospecting work. (If you need help with this step, please let me know.)

    2. Do your potential donors have the financial capacity to make gifts at the level you are seeking?

    There are lots of ways to assess financial capacity. Common methods involve finding asset values (such as the value of real estate holdings) or compensation and then plugging those numbers into standard (read: US-based) estimated net worth formulas. If you are looking at potential donors who live outside the United States and a handful of other countries, you may need to modify your formulas to make sure you are taking country-specific asset allocation norms into account.

    3. Have these potential donors made gift(s) at your target level in the past?

    Financial capacity alone does not a prospect make. If a prospect has the financial capacity to make a gift at the level you seek but has no interest in making large gifts, you may be wasting your time trying to cultivate this prospect.

    4. Would they be interested in your organization’s work?

    What kinds of organizations do they currently support, as a donor, a volunteer, or board member? Do the missions of those organizations have a similarity to yours?

    5. How could you connect with these potential donors?

    Of course, you will need basic contact information. Beyond that, however, you should understand how a potential donor’s network might cross paths with the networks of your board and staff. Who would be the best person to make an intial contact and why?

    So where do you find information that will let you answer these five essential questions? The best sources will depend on what kind of organization you work for, what type of project(s) you are trying to fund, and where your potential prospects live.

    If you would like to discuss your prospect identification needs, please be in touch. I can conduct prospect identification projects for you, and I also can help you start this process on your own through hourly consultations. For starters, you can schedule a free 30-minute introductory Zoom call with me. I look forward to helping you find the prospects you need to fund your organization’s important work.

    Photo: by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

  • 10 years of helping not-for-profits around the world

    10 years of helping not-for-profits around the world

    This wild time known as 2020 has been my 10th year in business as an independent researcher and consultant serving not-for-profit organizations. As this milestone year comes to a close, here is a brief snapshot of the services I provide, the kinds of organizations I serve, and how I work with my clients. If you have any questions, please be in touch!

    How do I help nonprofits?

    Although the services I offer have broadened over the years, I began my business under the name International Fundraising Intelligence LLC, and my core services have long focused on global prospect research, including:

    • prospect screening services, particularly for countries where automated screenings are not available;
    • deeper-dive research to validate and expand on automated screenings of prospects in the US, Canada, and UK;
    • US and international prospect profiles;
    • training on international prospect research techniques;
    • US and international grant research.

    Some of my clients are smaller organizations that do not have a dedicated prospect researcher on staff. These organizations bring me in to help with specific research needs at strategic points in the year. Examples include:

    • screening incoming parents to support an independent school’s annual fund effort,
    • conducting grant research to find funding sources for a medical research organization’s new initiative,
    • helping nonprofit staff develop a practical prospect rating system.

    I also work with larger organizations that have existing in-house prospect researchers. For these clients, I:

    • work on special projects that in-house researchers don’t have time to tackle;
    • develop reference materials for in-house staff, such a guide to using international addresses for database administrators and prospect researchers;
    • provide training in international prospect research techniques and global philanthropy trends for in-house staff.

    Who are my clients?

    Because I worked in higher education before going out on my own, many of my clients have been in the education sector. These clients include independent schools, colleges, and universities.

    The services I offer are not limited to this sector, though. I also have worked for hospitals, medical research organizations, museums, global NGOs, foundations, nonprofit networks, and other consulting firms.

    Where are my clients?

    Although I am based in the eastern United States, my clients have been located around the world since I went into business a decade ago. In the US, I have worked for organizations everywhere from New England to Minnesota to California. I have had clients in Canada since I went into business. I also have worked for institutions in the UK, EU, and South Africa. My live courses, international research handbooks, and recorded training materials have been used by organizations in all of these places, as well as by groups in Australia and Singapore.

    How do I work with my clients?

    Every new client relationship begins with an introductory conversation by Zoom or phone. This discussion gives me the chance to hear what challenges the organization is facing and to talk about ways I might be able to help.

    Sometimes, these conversations reveal that the organization just needs my help on a specific project. Other times, the organization may have an ongoing need for assistance on a monthly retainer basis.

    Based on this initial conversation, I prepare a proposal for services that outlines:

    • the project need,
    • the scope of work,
    • the project timeline,
    • deliverables,
    • a flat-rate quote for the project
    • invoice amounts and dates,
    • terms and conditions.

    Once the proposal is signed electronically, I work with a designated contact within the client organization to:

    • to get set up in their system as a vendor,
    • sign privacy and confidentiality forms,
    • submit an initial invoice,
    • set up a system for securely exchanging project data and results,
    • answer any questions the client might have before I begin my work.

    Clear communication with my clients is very important to me. Unless we decide on a different communication structure, my standard procedure is to send a project update email every Friday until the project is completed. At that point, I schedule a project wrap-up call with my client to make sure everything went according to plan.

    I truly enjoy developing long-term relationships with organizations. To that end, I reach out to my past clients about once a month to see how things are going. These emails are an opportunity for my past clients to ask any follow-up questions that may have come along since the project concluded and for me to learn about things are going at the organization.

    How can I help you?

    Since you have arrived here at the end of this long blog post, I am guessing you might have questions about how I could help your not-for-profit organization. I would love to talk with you!

    Please set up a time for us to talk at your convenience by using my online meeting scheduler. (You also can reach me by email at beth @ bethbandy.com, if you would prefer.) I look forward to hearing from you!

    Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash