Do you ever wonder how to learn new information about your donors? Or even how to find new donors? Well here are a few tips and places that I go when I’m looking for information. It is important when doing prospect research that you have a policy on how you handle this information. A good standard is that you should only keep information that you would be willing to hand over if that donor asked for their own file. Prospect research information is a delicate subject all the methods that I am going to talk about are all publicly accessible using donor names and addresses. Be very careful how you use and keep information you find.
When first researching your donors the best place to go is to look within your existing database. How much do they give, what programs have they historically given too, where do they live? A great start is to use traditional search engines: Google, Yahoo, MSN. Here is a great example of a Google name search:
(“Jason Dick”|”Jason Robert Dick”|”Jason R Dick”|”Jason R. Dick”|”Jay Dick”|”Jay Dick”)
One good thing to look for is what other organizations is the donor giving to or involved in. This can help you figure out what level or amount to make “the ask” for and what they might be interested in giving to. It can also help you know who the donor knows to help in talking with them or in getting a meeting with them. A fellow board member, church member, chamber or rotary member are great people to help in networking. Social networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook are great to see who your current board members or donors know.
A lot of prospect research for individuals can be done just by using Google. Some organizations will use external businesses to help them comb their database for information examples include Blackbaud Analitics or PIN. There are also online prospecting tools such as ZoomInfo, Foundation Search, or ProPlatinum (a service that combines a number of other prospecting tools). Most counties have public records for homes purchased, this can be a good way to know the wealth demographic of a specific donor via the purchase price of their home (and a great place to learn donors middle names or initials).
Another great place to go for information is OpenSecrets.org a database searching political contributions of people. This site is a public disclosure of all campaign gifts given by individual donors. The use of library periodical searches can be a big help for some of your more well known donors. For your business donors or high-level donors you can do research into their foundations and look at their public 990 form. Website to do research on a 990 are Guidestar and Foundation Finder.
Please comment on other websites that you have used or ideas and strategies you have. I would also be interested in your feedback as to if this kind of information is surprising or offensive to those of you who are donors.
Below is a list of other handy prospecting website to visit:
http://www.zabasearch.com/
King County Parcel Viewer
