We’ve seen wealth screening transform charities’ fundraising, with the caveat that they have to be ready to use it. We’ve put together this guide for charities that want to do wealth screening the right way and make the most of their results.
What is wealth screening?
Put simply, wealth screening involves comparing the information on your supporter database with our Wealth Intelligence Database to find matches. A prospect that shows up on both databases is likely a good candidate for major gift stewardship. Wealth screening is not a replacement for relationship building and should be used as a tool to support long-term, sustainable relationships with your donors.
Data protection and transparency
Don’t even think about wealth screening if you’re not ready to tell your supporters about it. There’s some apprehension around wealth screening in the sector, but let us assure you now that it is perfectly lawful, and in our experience, your high-level supporters expect it. Before wealth screening, make sure your privacy policy is up to date, communicate any changes with your supporters and give them ample time to opt out of data processing.
Set clear screening objectives
If you don’t really know why you’re doing it, don’t do it. The success of your wealth screening hinges on knowing what you want to achieve with it. Screening will help you identify high-net-worth individuals, but it isn’t limited to major gifts. It can also support your trust, legacy and corporate fundraising, so involve all relevant teams in the conversation.
Segment
If you do segmentation well, you can get multiple uses out of the same screening. We’ve worked with organisations that split data by geographical regions and assigned donors to a specific fundraising team as soon as they received their results. This meant that major gifts, corporate and legacy teams all received relevant prospects they could start working with straight away.
Plan follow-up
Plan your follow-up before you get your screening results. The biggest mistake we see charities make is not having a plan in place to use their data straight away. This leads to it sitting on a shelf for weeks or months, going out of date.
There is plenty that charities can do to get wealth screening right, but there are also some common pitfalls that you can avoid:
- Buying reports without the resource for a quick follow-up.
- No plan in place for using your wealth screening results.
- Treating screened donors as ‘hot’ without doing any work to heat them up.
- Removing prospects from standard comms too early so they fall out of contact.
Will 2026 be the year you discover your major gift fundraising potential? If so, we’re here to help. At Prospecting for Gold, we specialise in research, wealth screening, consultancy and regulatory compliance, making fundraising more effective and successful.
Get in touch to start your research-based fundraising journey.