Major Donor Research Audits

A Single Disease Charity

“ Having researched and explored a number of other research companies, including those that offered screening and data reporting, we decided… Read more ”

Many charities and not-for-profits recognise the opportunity of a major donor development programme as a means of developing long-term key relationships with its donors, members, ticket purchasers and others close to the organisation.

The first phase of any such programme is to locate, research and provide biographical profiles including influence and wealth for the potentially most generous and influential individuals, particularly in relation to companies and trusts.

For many clients we undertake a major research audit to select from all their lists and their database the best 1,000 with the intention of finding the very best, say 100-120 people.

Based on twenty years’ experience Fundraising Research & Consultancy believe that to locate the very best potential major donors and to understand just what might constitute the basis of the best high value donor segments, we need to use the ‘selection method’ of research.

The mere matching of possible wealth and influence alone is only a very small part of what is needed. For a successful major donor development campaigns, such as we have been involved with on behalf of our major charity clients, requires:-

  • Research that is based on much more than the mechanistic matching of one whole database against another.
  • Research that does not treat all supporters as equal, but looks for likely warmth indicators as well as wealth.
  • Research that asks intelligent fundraising questions about where the best donors/supporters might be located selecting some of the best people for the establishment of the programme.
  • Research that understands exactly what is needed for the foundation of your major donor and/or high value development programmes.
  • Research that checks the value and quality of the selected records before it starts the profiling. Data is often incorrectly input (mechanistic matching misses opportunities that are much less likely to be missed by 20 years of experience of activity with wealthy people).
  • Research that chooses the research sources and databases given what is discovered about the data sample.
  • Research that is accurate
  • A resource that can look to mature soft data sources e.g. press cuttings, for chosen individuals. It is this information that often contains vital ideas for group or individual approach strategies. Our press library, which contains much more information on individuals than press internet sources, was established in the early 1980’s.
  • Bespoke research to locate and choose, one by one the very best prospects based on value, warmth and influence.

Each audit will provide a clear overview of the opportunities located during the research phase, together with detailed profiles and gift gradings for each of the chosen individuals.

Most organisations are astounded when they find out just who their donors are.

Understanding donors is the key to fundraising and is what has led our clients (with a little help from Fundraising Research & Consultancy) to raise £1 million plus major gifts, establish major gift programmes and high value donor programmes (with excellent ROI’s).

Based on our knowledge of charity donors and supporters the best way to identify donors with greater potential is to use a combination of:

  • wealth
  • warmth
  • fit (i.e. their interest in your work)

Screening of one database against another achieves, at best, an indication of wealth and even this is limited by many research companies by the standard sources that are applied to every charity they screen.

Each audit will provide a clear overview of the opportunities located during the research phase, together with detailed profiles and gift gradings for each of the chosen individuals.

Most organisations are astounded when they find out just who their donors are:

A major national charity concerned with health care commissioned us to research up to 120 influential individuals from a selection of 1,000 of their supporters.
We then developed with the client a major donor development strategy. The first year of the programme raised £200,000, the second £700,000, the third has already raised over £800,000 less than halfway through the year and seems set for £1,500,000. Major donor development expenditure this year will be less than £100,000.

If you are interested in our major donor audit services and would like to discuss your requirements further or obtain a preliminary cost indication, please click on the Contact Us button to make an e-mail enquiry or telephone 01242 522323 to speak to Sheila Pullin or Sarah Priestley.