October 3, 2007 | Categories Fundraising Strategies

Capital Campaign Prospect Research Matters

I’m blogging live from the Pacific Region Boys and Girls Club conference in downtown Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s been a great conference, and I expect that we’ll add on quite a few new clubs to add to our 100+ list of current Clubs across the country.

I also had a chance to learn some new things (always a good thing), and talked with Jay Grigsby, President of Netzle Grigsby Associates. Jay and his 25 member team provide campaign consultation for all types of non-profit organizations, and he had a few key insights into finding potential donors, especially for private schools capital campaigns:

• The first task was to find those parents that paid for the tuition in full. Since almost all schools provide some kind of payment plan, those parents that pay in one lump sum are much more likely to be potential major donors.
• It’s also important to find those people that are paying tuition for students whom are not their children. This list usually includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other extended family members. Again, it’s important to note if the payment was made in a lump sum or over time.
• Finally, it was critical to have the database scanned for Prospect Research purposes- and make sure to include ALL alumni. This will uncover hidden prospects, as well as provide a more definitive wealth rating for your existing pool of major donors. As I mentioned in the past, we have a fantastic relationship with Donor Search, and the prospect research data is automatically integrated within DonorPerfect, saving valuable time.

Successful campaigns don’t happen by themselves, and it’s much wiser to take the planning advice from people who have already hit all the landmines (and they have the battle scars to prove it!)