An Opportunity to Stop Doing (at least for an Hour) & Start Teaching About Prospect Research

by LoriNo Comments
Several months ago, Alyce Lee Stansbury (professor and fundraising consultant) asked me to be a guest lecturer for her FSU graduate level course called Fundraising and Fund Development, Askew School of Public Administration, to discuss prospect research. I've spoken to her class on this topic in previous years, and I was very much looking forward to another engaging conversation. Last night as I began, I, as I usually do, informed the class they should feel free to interrupt me with questions, especially if something I said did not quite make complete sense to them. This course tends to have a variety of students – some current practitioners within the nonprofit world, others just interested in the topic of the course, as it's an elective, so most students were likely rushing into class at the end of a long workday. Within the first couple of minutes, there was a question about the field of prospect research, "Is this a growing field?" and followed...
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Behind the Scores – The Untold Story of Data

by David LawsonNo Comments
APRA members — Register for the Upcoming Online Solutions Showcase Webinar May 8: Behind the Scores – The Untold Story of Data Level: Intermediate Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm EST, 12:00pm – 1:00 pm CST, 11:00am – 12:00pm MST, 10:00am – 11:00am PST Speakers: David M. Lawson, Partner, TrueGivers, LLC, and Melissa Kwilosz, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Reporting and Analytics, Arizona State University Foundation Track: Prospect Identification This webinar will take you behind the scores where you will discover invaluable intelligence about your prospect's capacity, affinity, and philanthropic propensity.  David Lawson, a Partner with TrueGivers, LLC, will show you  how to identify and qualify prospects using over 200 data elements including home equity, household economic stability, discretionary income, buying behavior, lifestyle, personal interests, and philanthropic activities.  Melissa Kwilosz, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Reporting and Analytics at the Arizona State University Foundation will discuss how she has used the data to not only find prospects missed by traditional wealth screening, but also to better match the interests of their constituents with ASU's programs and projects. ...
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Decluttering Your Mission

by LoriNo Comments
Along with most of the modern world, I, too, took it upon myself to create a New Year's Resolution for 2012. OK - so I am also somewhat of an overachiever, so I actually have two. First, decluttering my house, in bite size chunks, became one of my missions for 2012. So much so I found a calendar with daily (except for Sundays) decluttering projects to guide me, encourage me, and hold me accountable. [Note: I found the calendar via Pinterest.] My first HUGE project (I did say bite size, but...) was weeding the pantry. First step was to assess what exactly was in the pantry - best way to do this? Remove all items from said pantry. This was the scene in my kitchen: Decluttering Pantry Project   It only made sense to throw away expired items in the process of removing all items from the pantry. So, this had me thinking about how stale research (and/or prospects) can become when such...
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Director of Mission Advancement

by Lori1 Comment
Like a lot of you, I subscribe to numerous listservs serving the nonprofit space. Advance-L, PRSPCT-L (and yes, every time I type that, I do sing it –in my head – to the tune of that Aretha classic), CFRNET, FUNDSVCS – the list goes on and on. And of course with Twitter, I have created my own listserv of sorts – following (including Twitter lists others have created) other Tweeps with similar interests to my own. One aspect of listservs which intrigues me is the title contained in the posting – not the subject title, but the poster’s job title. This morning, someone posted with a question regarding database conversion and whether or not anyone had a calendar of events or a checklist of tasks they had found to be helpful in the process.  This person’s title? Director of Mission Advancement & Donor Stewardship. I absolutely LOVE the insertion of the word mission before the word advancement. David and I (along...
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Prospects Most Likely to Go MGO

by LoriNo Comments
A list of companies most likely to go IPO came across my Facebook wall the other day, and this list was created by Goldman Sachs. Now, most of you will say, “Well, so what, it’s another list.” But something caught my eye in this piece, as the companies listed are STARTUPS: “So why hold a conference for early stage companies if you’re an IPO underwriter? Well, the event basically functions as an extremely foresighted form of lead generation. According to multiple people I spoke to, these are the 30 or so startups Goldman has designated as potential IPO candidates. And it wants to make a relationship as early on as possible, in case some of them actually do and need Goldman’s services in the process.” Oddly enough, nonprofits might be able to learn a thing or two from GS… What are your organization’s steps to identify who, amongst your constituents, members, and prospects, are most likely to go MGO (major gift offering)? Has your organization developed...
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Desperately Seeking Mathematicians

by LoriNo Comments
It warmed my heart (and it was extremely cold here this a.m., in FLORIDA, so I needed that warmth) to hear a piece on NPR regarding math degrees and BIG DATA. Reportedly, mathematicians can make sense of this data for businesses. No doubt this is true, and “intense curiosity to understand what’s behind the data is a common trait amongst such mathematicians.” I would argue people with BIG LOVE of research (like us – that is, a love of prospect research and data mining) all have this trait as well, with or without math degrees. How many nonprofits and higher ed foundations look for (and hire) mathematicians? Perhaps you should share this NPR story with your HR department, to adjust the requirements for certain development positions. Hey, I’m not suggesting you stop hiring those of us with library science, information studies, history, and/or English degrees. Read on and see why math majors should be included, too. McKinsey released their results of...
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