Hospices are an essential part of our communities, providing physical and emotional comfort to those at the end of their lives. To make sure everyone can access the end-of-life care they deserve, fundraising is a vital part of hospices’ work.
Prospect research is the process of gathering information about potential donors and supporters. It can help hospices make the most of their database, find new major donors or secure funding from grant-makers. Here are some simple steps to help you undertake prospect research the right way.
Updating your privacy policy
Before starting any research, tell your supporters about your plans. You can do this by updating your hospice’s privacy policy and informing your supporters of the changes you’ve made. Make sure your privacy policy is accessible to your supporters via your website and on any sign-up forms or mailing lists that collect their data.
Once updated, keep your supporters in the loop about changes to your privacy policy, and give them the opportunity to opt out of any specific aspects of your data processing.
Identifying potential major donors through wealth screening
Once you’ve updated your privacy policy, you can begin your research. Wealth screening is a great first step for hospices new to prospect research. It involves comparing the information on your supporter database to our Wealth Intelligence Database, which contains information about over 270,000 HNW and well-connected individuals in the UK. A prospect that shows up on your database and ours is likely a good candidate to make a major gift.
Understanding your prospects’ personal philanthropy
For prospect research to yield successful results, you need to understand your supporters’ personal interests, philanthropic motivations and legacy desires.
Once you’ve identified potential donors, also known as ‘prospects’, through wealth screening, undertake some research to get to know them better. A good prospect has capacity, affinity and proximity. You can determine the suitability of a prospect by looking at their ability to give to your cause (capacity), their interest in your organisation’s work (affinity) and the ease with which you can reach them (proximity).
Analysing your prospects’ donor potential
Analysing your prospects’ potential as major gift donors is often the quickest route to meeting your fundraising targets. If your fundraising targets haven’t been determined yet, a table of gifts can help you understand the size and scale of gifts you need and how many prospects it will take you to reach them.
With your table of gifts in place, you can evaluate the potential of your prospects. Some may have a greater capacity to donate but may not be as interested in your cause. Others may be passionate about your mission but may not have substantial financial means. Analyse the balance between their capacity to donate and their affinity with your cause. This will help you prioritise your prospects and direct your fundraising efforts effectively.
Developing personalised outreach strategies
Now that the research phase is complete, develop a personalised outreach strategy for each of your major donor prospects. Tailor your communications so they come from the right person at your organisation and match your prospects’ interests, plan your fundraising asks to fit their giving capacity, or even plan personalised events for high-potential donors.
We have worked with over 70 hospices in the last 26 years to help them achieve their fundraising goals.
We can support your major gift fundraising with prospect research, wealth screening, pipeline assessments, prospect identification and qualification, as well as data protection training and advice.
Our wealth screening and data summary report is free when we screen 2,000 or more of your UK supporters. Ready to transform your major gift fundraising? Contact us today.