Five reasons research matters when it comes to good fundraising
July 2019
This year Cancer Research UK celebrated raising more than half a billion pounds in gifts. This allows them to invest more than ever before into their research and get closer to realising their vision of a world where every cancer is cured.
Inspiring right? Or overwhelming if you’re a tiny charity with an equally worthy cause wondering how you can raise money to meet your aspirations. Less widely publicised is the fact that Cancer Research UK spent £98.9m on fundraising in the last year. If you’re a charity with an annual income of less than £1,000,000 how can you make the most of your fundraising expenditure? The answer is with good research. Research has been shown to cut fundraising costs and enable charities to make educated and well-received asks of your potentially biggest supporters. We looked at Dr. Beth Breeze’s Good Asking report to remind ourselves why good research matters so much for effective fundraising.
1) Most gifts are not spontaneous
People can’t give gifts to a charity that they don’t know exists. Most gifts that a charity receives aren’t spontaneous, someone or something has prompted that individual to give the gift. Someone could be a friend, family member or a fundraiser and something could be a historical connection to your cause or philanthropic values that align. Good news for charities...if you can find the people waiting to be asked to support you! Good research allows your charity to explore its existing connections and make asks of people who are ready to offer their support.
2) Research cuts down on your fundraising costs
Good research helps fundraisers focus on making the right ask of the right people. If your fundraisers are making well informed, clear asks of people with the inclination and capability to support your cause, you will spend less money fundraising and have more money to deliver your services and make an impact.
3) Good research prevents you from bothering people who aren’t interested
Good research focus on the people who are more likely to want to support you. It helps you steer clear of those may not be so interested and minimises poorly targeted fundraising.
4) You might be surprised by how many people do it…
Prospect research has been described as the ‘bedrock of fundraising from wealthy individuals’ and you might be surprised to hear that most charities do it. Prospect research is perfectly lawful under GDPR as long as it’s done the right way. Research focuses on publicly available information on aspects such as property ownership, shareholding and business affiliations. It helps you identify the fraction your pool of supporters who might be able to give a bigger gift.
5) And wealth screening too!
Wealth screening is a very effective way of getting to the right people quickly. As one method in your prospect research toolkit, it helps identify those with the ability to give at higher levels, in a non-intrusive way. Like all prospect research, it just uses publicly accessible information to enable you to focus on those who may have both the affinity and the ability to give at higher levels. Using that along with your best relationship fundraising methods, can help to transform your major gifts programme in a cost effective way.
In summary, research enables cost-effective and efficient fundraising. Of the fundraisers, Dr. Breeze interviewed one commented that
‘I recall many a meeting with major or potential major donors in which they either commended the fact that ‘I had done my research’ before coming to see them or appreciated a quick, efficient meeting that resulted from good preparation based on thorough research.’
Researching your prospects as part of good relationship fundraising, leads to lower cost, more focused fundraising. It minimises the risk of not knowing the basics any potential donor expects you to know about them.
At Prospecting for Gold, we have over 20 years of experience undertaking effective prospect research. To find out how we can help your cause, get in touch with us today at info@propsectingforgold.co.uk
