Money does not grow on trees, as the saying goes. For NGOs, funding cannot grow without thorough and proactive donor research. Hounded by the “tyranny of the urgent”, fundraisers often tackle this crucial part of their job in a piecemeal and reactive fashion, resulting in data accuracy risks and messy donor management workflows.
It takes more than furious Googling to conduct this type of research, despite the wealth of information floating around on the internet. For instance, what is available online on certain high net-worth individuals (HNWIs) can be sparse and may not tell you enough about their personal inclinations in philanthropy. Some community organizations that donate, such as high-income schools and churches, may not have the kind of fine-grained information on application modalities that could give you an edge over your numerous competitors.
In such circumstances, a fundraiser has to access other data sources such as personal and organizational connections which can provide insights on your target donor and fill in the missing gaps. Once your data collection hits 70% or higher on a potential donor organization or individual, you are ready to devise an action plan to reach out and grab their interest, hopefully leading to an introductory meeting.
There are several areas of fundraising where donor research is critically needed: (1) grant development; (2) HNWI gifts; (3) community organization partnerships; (4) government funding; and (5) CSR donations. If one were to place these categories in a spreadsheet, each one needs to have a separate tab with several columns that may have the following basic headers:
1) Name of Donor (organization or individual)
2) Contact Info (email address at the minimum)
3) Focus Concerns (causes being supported)
4) Geographical Coverage (if selected countries, regional or global)
5) Type of Funding (if Restricted or Unrestricted)
6) Website (if any)
7) Range of Funding Amount
8) RfP Cycle (if yearly, which month)
9) Application Process (if solicited or unsolicited submissions)
Going granular may be helpful in the case of grant-making foundations and CSR funding, to include information on Country Base, Lead Contact Person, and Data Source for reference purposes. Some nonprofits bank on a separate document profile for each donor rather than putting everything in a spreadsheet, as this can have more context and depth. However, it will not have the convenience of a grid, which allows for a quick, at-a-glance appraisal of data necessary for reports and meeting presentations. Depending on the need, using both methods creates the option to zoom in or out on your donor database.
Donor research is a core function of the fundraiser, and should be part of his/her daily or weekly work routine. It aspires for a well-rounded information collection similar to intelligence gathering, only without employing devious, unethical methods. Done adequately and correctly, it can reap handsome dividends for NGOs which may also justify the hiring (or keeping) of a dedicated fundraising professional.