Data-Driven Fundraising:
Using Data to Find Major Donors
June 14, 2017
Brought to you by
Data-Driven Fundraising:
Using Data to Find Major Donors
June 14, 2017
presented by
Ryan Woroniecki, Vice President of
Strategic Partnerships
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About DonorSearch
DonorSearch was founded in 2007
with one goal: to provide nonprofits
with the nation’s largest philanthropic
database and best wealth information
to identify your best donors.
The current vision is to make high
quality prospect research affordable
for every nonprofit and make it
available proactively to improve the
operational efficiency of fundraising.
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Bill Tedesco
Founder, CEO
DonorSearch
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Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What is Prospect Research slide 5
Myths about Prospect Research slides 6 through 11
Why Major Gifts matter Giving USA slides 12 through 16
Markers of Philanthropy slides 17 through 26
Common Questions slides 27 through 30
Wrap up information slides 31 through 35
DS integration screenshot slide 14
Q&A
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How Do You First Identify Major Gift Prospects?
Prospect research – Discovering and evaluating prospective donors, and
their interests, relationships, inclination to give, and philanthropic capacity to
inform and support an organization’s fundraising strategic efforts. – APRA
o
o
o
o
Start with donors and current supporters
Identify any Internal Relationships and Capacity
Segment donors & Prioritize
Use Screening – pinpoint capacity, uncover relationships, identify
competitive philanthropy
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Myths About Prospect Research
• “My organization is too small”
• “Only certain types of organizations use prospect research”
• “We can’t do major gifts”
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“My organization is too small”
MYTH: Only super large organizations that pull in millions and millions of
donations are capable of affording and utilizing prospect research services.
FACT: Prospect research is appropriate for organizations of any size as it is
the catalyst for major gifts. The most effective nonprofits use research to
raise major gifts regardless of the size. Hundreds of DonorSearch clients
raise less than $1 million a year in contributed revenue.
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“My organization is too small”
Amy Eisenstein and Adrian Sargeant conducted a study on major gifts at
small nonprofits, the study proved major gifts and therefore research are
effective:
•
•
662 organizations with a $10 million or less budget
336 of them have under $1 million budget
“We were able to quantify the negative impact of focusing on new donor
acquisition and our results therefore suggest that the pipeline should be
carefully evaluated to ensure a focus on only those individuals most likely
to offer a contribution. The need for good quality prospect research to
assist in this kind of donor evaluation is therefore highlighted” - Eisenstein
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“Only certain types of organizations use prospect research”
MYTH: Organizations like healthcare and higher education are the only
types of organization that are capable of using prospect research.
FACT: We work with all kinds of organizations from local social services
organizations and community foundations to major healthcare systems and
of course higher education
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“We can’t do major gifts”
MYTH: Many organizations like us have to focus on grants and corporate
gifts because the that’s what we’ve done in the past and where all the
money is.
FACT: The majority of giving in the USA is from individuals. Individuals give
almost 4 times as corporations and foundations put together.
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The Giving Institute – Annual Report
o Longest Running Annual Report!
o Begun in 1956 by the American Association of Fundraising Counsel, now The Giving Institute
o Researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
The annual report examines the rates of change for giving in the previous two years, by:
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o
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o
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Source and recipient type
Trends in total giving
Economic trends and giving
Trends in giving by source
Trends in giving by recipient type
Trends in volunteering
Trends in number of nonprofit organizations
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An Increase in Giving
Individuals contribute
the largest amount to
charitable giving.
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Environment/
animals
$10.68
International affairs
$15.75
Arts, culture,
and humanities
$17.07
3%
2%
To
individuals
$6.56
1%
4%
Public-society benefit
$26.95
5%
Religion
$119.30
7%
Health
$29.81
Unallocated
$2.18
32%
8%
11%
Gifts to
foundations
$42.26
15%
12%
Education
$57.48
Human services
$45.21
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Allocation of charitable
gifts in 2016 (in
billions)Giving USA 2016
Source:
Giving Institute: Trends in Philanthropy 2014-2015
Giving by individuals are up 5.7%, $25.8 billion
Giving by foundations are up by 8.2%, $53.97 billion
Giving by bequest are up by 15.5% by $28.13 billion
Giving by corporations are by 13.7% by $17.7 billion
• Healthy economy with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)up by
2.2%
• Disposable personal income up by 0.5% for 2014 compared to a 1%
increase 2012-2013
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So where do you fit in?
Charitable donations are up!
Personal Income is steady!
GDP is healthy!
Individual Giving is up!
Foundation Giving is up!
Corporate Giving is up!
It’s prime time for fundraising, so how do we maximize the
success of your nonprofit’s fundraising and research efforts?
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Markers of Philanthropy
How do you know
Who are in the top
them when you
20% for your
see them?
nonprofit?
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Four Markers of Philanthropy – DonorSearch Study
$5 Billion
in Giving
2 Million
Individuals
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400
Organizations
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Four Markers of Philanthropy
Giving to Your Organization
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Previous Giving to Your Organization
R+F+M = RFM or 82+43+65=190
Common measure of loyalty
Easy to calculate
Can be weighted to suit your organization
RECENCY
Last Gift
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FREQUENCY
Number of Gifts
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MONETARY
Total Giving
Four Markers of Philanthropy
Giving to Other Organizations
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Previous Giving to Other Organizations
Largest Gift
% of Donors
% of Giving
Predictive Strength
Benchmark
100%
100%
1.00
$100,000+
0.7%
24.1%
32.67
$50,000 - $100,000
0.5%
13.5%
25.02
$25,000 - $50,000
0.6%
6.5%
11.79
$10,000 - $25,000
0.7%
7.0%
10.73
$5,000 - $10,000
1.1%
5.4%
4.98
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Four Markers of Philanthropy
Foundation Trustee
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Position as Foundation Trustee or Board Member
o Information is easy to find
o Understand the importance of philanthropy
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Four Markers of Philanthropy
Political Giving
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Political Giving
% of Donors
% of Giving
Strength
All Giving > $2.5K
3.8%
54.6%
14.37
All Giving > $1K
11.0%
70.7%
32.67
All Giving > $500
14.4%
74.3%
25.02
o Single gift of $250 puts your
donor in the top 6% of the
U.S. population
o Single gift of $1,000 puts
your donor in the top
1/10th of 1%
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o Virtually every FEC donor
with lifetime political
giving of $15,000 has
made a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7figure charitable gift
somewhere
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Common Questions
• How is philanthropic data defined? What type of information is it?
• Is this information sensitive? Confidential?
• Are there specific suggestions on how to use this information
effectively?
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How is philanthropic data defined? What type of information is it?
• How is philanthropic data defined?
Philanthropic data is a broad term. It means any information related to
philanthropy.
• What type of information is it?
In the context of DonorSearch, philanthropic data is any of the
following:
• Gift records in your database
• Gift records from an annual report
• Nonprofit/Foundation affiliation
• Political gift records
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Is this information sensitive or confidential?
• Is this information sensitive
YES. Many major donors are aware that organizations collect some
information on them, and if they ask to see it, it is ethical to share it
with them. You don’t want to talk about the process to them or say, I
have a profile on you. You may not even show staff this information if
it is unrelated to them.
• Is this information confidential
The gift records in your database are confidential. The DonorSearch
data is not since it is all from public sources.
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Are there specific suggestions on how to use this information
effectively?
•
•
•
•
What are your goals?
How do you fundraise now?
What is your definition of a major gift?
How is your board willing to help?
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So, why do Donors Give?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Want to Make an Impact
Feel Financially Secure
Donors have a strong belief in values and/or mission
Affiliated with the Charity
Management of the institution
Powerful and wealthy individuals give to other powerful
organizations…want to interact with well respected people
as well as the cause. Less desire to give to “needy”
organizations.
Findings suggest that giving is a habit and if an individual
has given a large amount once, there is a good chance
they’ll give again.
Source 2014 U.S. Trust Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy
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Donor Identification Process: Collect Names
o Look for individuals, foundations, businesses, etc.
o Work your connections – board, donors, volunteers,
employees, grateful patients
o Look at other organizations – donors give to multiple
organizations, especially those with similar missions.
o People in your service area
o Those with healthcare interest
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Donor Identification Process: Gather & Analyze Relevant Data
Understand what you want to know, then find the right data to support it.
o Major donor prospects among annual givers
o Grateful patients
o Seasonal residents/vacation homes
o Planned gift prospects
o Land-rich prospects – grand lists
o Stock-rich prospects – SEC filings
o Gifts of real estate, LLCs
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Best Practices of Data Analysis
o Observe strict data integrity standards.
o Don’t be driven by data; use it to better understand.
o Forget data that isn’t public or helpful. Don’t dig too deep.
o Don’t forget “negative” data.
o Use data to help focus on best prospects,
but don’t overlook anyone
The Wrap-Up
 Giving is up Overall
 Major Gifts have a high ROI
 Prospect Research is Essential to Major Gift Fundraising
 Understanding the Motivations and Concerns of Major Donors
 The Essentials to a Successful Fundraising Program
Resources and Information:
http://www.givinginstitute.org/
http://masteringmajorgifts.com/report/
http://www.donorsearch.net/white-papers/
We’ll give you a
free File Audit!
DS Integration
Questions?
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