Nonprofit Genie (FAQs) | Fundraising

Determining how much someone can give is part of a process called "prospect research." The research process involves collecting information on prospects in three primary areas:

• the prospect's financial circumstances (income, assets, etc.)
• the prospect's relationship to the organization
• key personal "linkages" between the prospect and key organizational supporters (donors, board members, members, etc.)

In his classic book on fundraising, Achieving Excellence in Fund Raising, Hank Rosso describes a research concept that echoes this approach known as the L-A-L principle:

"A research concept known as the L-A-L principle of prospect identification will help fundraising planners separate suspects from prospects, thus enabling staff members to direct their solicitation and enlistment energies toward those individuals who are most likely to give or to volunteer their services.

What is the L-A-L principle and what is its function in both fundraising research and constituency development? The principle is timeworn. It is a heritage of the past, a piece of wisdom passed on from one clan of veteran fundraising practitioners to another, and it is as described below.

L -- Linkage

A linkage relates to a contact, a bridge or an access through a peer to the potential donor. If there is access to the gift source, then this link to the prospect makes it possible to arrange an appointment to discuss the potential of a gift. If access ability is not a reality, then it would be difficult or downright impossible to arrange for an appointment. Solicitation becomes a matter of a letter or telephone approach, and neither is effective in the production of large gifts.

A -- Ability

Through research, it can be determined that the potential gift source has sufficient discretionary holding to justify a gift solicitation at the appropriate "asking" level. Two perceptions pertain: the asker's perception that the prospect has a gift capability at the level suggested, and the prospect's own perception that such a gift capability is reality. Some wealthy but financially insecure individuals who are not brought up with the tradition of philanthropy are not sure that they have sufficient resources to give at the level requested. They may not be psychologically prepared to give.

I -- Interest

If the potential contributor has no interest in the organization or little knowledge about its work, then the person will be prone to make a small gift or none at all. Interest in the organization and an understanding of its mission and accomplishments are imperative in the identification of valid prospects."

It is critical to understand that a prospect's ability to give is only part of what determines a gift's size or whether it will be made at all. Ability alone does not qualify someone as a legitimate prospect. People, as well as philanthropic institutions, will give and maximize their giving when a relationship between them and the organization has been established and developed. The stronger the relationship the more likely a prospect will give and give generously.

In the Grassroots Fundraising Journal, volume 2, no.5, Kim Klien discusses the prospect research process in terms of "ABC:"

You are looking for three things in each prospect:

• Evidence that the prospect is connected with someone in your organization, so that you can establish contact.
• Evidence that the person believes in your cause (or a similar cause), which includes evidence that the person gives money to similar organizations.
• Evidence that the person has the ability to make the size gift you want.

When you have positive information about ability, belief and contact, then you have a qualified prospect - that is, someone who can be asked for a gift. For obvious reasons, we call these criteria ABC, but in order of importance, they are CBA, and we'll examine them in that order.

Contact

The most important factor is contact. If you don't know the person or have no access to them, that person is a stranger and not a prospect. That's why you start with who you know. You know three kinds of people: people you know personally, people who are known by people you know (you might gain access to a person in this category by using the name of someone you both know), and definitely, people who are currently donors. Though you may not personally know each current donor, you can call any donor and say, "We don't know each other but we have in common that we support Very Good Group." As described earlier, many of your best contacts are going to come from people who give money already.

Belief

Ask yourself if there is any reason that the potential prospect would not believe in your cause. Social change groups often think that a person won't believe in their cause when in fact the prospect has no opinion one way or the other. He or she may not have heard of the group, or even the issue, or doesn't see how the issue affects him or her.

Sometimes a person may not recognize that his or her own beliefs are represented by a group because of the way the issues are presented. For example, an organization working to keep abortion legal ran into problems at a meeting in a small, politically conservative community when it described abortion as a vital feminist issue. This language did not resonate with the audience. When a leader in the organization said that the government should not make these decisions for us -- a woman should make a decision about the outcome of a pregnancy for herself, the meeting participants clapped loudly. Though they support legal abortion, they do not identify their support as a tenet of feminist ideology. Several large contributions to the abortion-rights group subsequently came from that community.

In a second example, a man living in a small town was approached for a donation by a suicide prevention group. The person asking him had not done any research on this prospect, but was able to make an appointment through a common acquaintance. The prospect believed suicide tended to indicate a weak character and was, furthermore, more a problem of big cities. He listened politely and noncommittally as the solicitor described the global nature of suicide, using as examples numbers of suicides in Los Angeles, New York an London. He was sent away with a token donation.

Later that year, another person did more research on this prospect. The prospect was member of the local Chamber of Commerce and active in civic affairs. He had lived in this community all his life and owned a great deal of real estate there, much of which had become suburban developments. This solicitor made an appointment to see the prospect and told him exactly how many suicides and attempted suicides happened right in that town. He further discussed that some of the suburbs had high suicide rates for no apparent reason. The suicide prevention program, he explained, proposed to address the problem of suicide locally having on-call counselors available at churches and libraries and by launching a large poster campaign telling people how these counselors could be reached. Posters would be hung in grocery stores ('Two of which are yours,' the solicitor commented) and other public places. The solicitor then asked the prospect to underwrite the entire campaign. He walked away with a check for $10,000 -- exactly what was needed. Obviously, this prospect is not interested if the entire city of Los Angeles kills itself. What matters to him is what happens in his community.

A great deal of money is lost through assuming a lack of belief on the part of a potential prospect. Be careful and broad-minded in weighing evidence of belief in a cause.

Ability

The first question to ask about ability is not how much the prospect has, but whether he or she gives away money at all. Many people profess to be committed to the environment, or women's rights or civil liberties; however, if they do not make financial contributions to groups representing those causes, they are not good prospects for them. We know that about seven out of ten adults are donors. You need to first determine if your potential prospect is one of those seven. If not, she or he is not a prospect.

Sometimes people wonder how they can find out if someone is a donor. There are several ways. (In the course of a conversation, one might ask, "Do you belong to Greenpeace? or ... the National Organization for Women?" If the person says yes, you know that he or she has given to these groups.

To find prospects, start with yourself. Can you give $100? Whom do you know who could give that much or more? (Keeping the size of a major gift at $100 opens up the possibility for a lot more people to become major donors. Almost any employed person can give $100 if they pledge $8-10 per month.) Recognizing that being a large donor is not the exclusive province of the upper-class, you begin to find a number of prospects among your own friends and acquaintances.

From yourself, you can move out to he Board of Directors and other volunteers or staff in the organizations. Statisticians tell us that every person knows 250 people -- no doubt some of these people can give large donations.

Another place to look for prospects is your current list of donors. Do you now have any donors who have given $50 or more? What is the highest gift you have received, and how did it come about? It is not unusual for people to send in $50 or $100 from a mail appeal, and sometimes people send in large donations based on a radio program or other publicity. If any of these people are in your area, it is perfectly legitimate to contact them to renew their gift and to ask them to give you the names of five to ten people they think could also give a gift. Ask first if they will ask their friends: if they don't feel comfortable asking, then ask if you can use their name in contacting their friends."

Therefore it is essential to think about fundraising as a long term process of building on-going relationships with potential donors. In other words, the task is to build a constituency of regular givers. Every organization has a natural constituency of people and institutions that are predisposed to be supportive of your mission: board members, clients, members, current donors and volunteers. Each member of these various constituency segments has a relationship with you. The process of fund raising requires that you understand that relationship and the existing level of commitment, and then solicit an appropriate gift. Beyond the natural constituencies are additional individuals and organizations that have similar interests, but have not yet been identified. The organization's job is to find out who these people are and begin developing relationships with them.

Answering the question "How much can someone give to my organization?" involves judgments (informed by facts) about their financial ability and their relationship to the organization. Remember, almost anyone can give something. However, true generosity depends on strong commitment to a cause that is built and reinforced over time. Involvement builds commitment and commitment leads to generous giving.

Excerpt from Hank Rosso's Achieving Excellence in Fund Raising reprinted with permission from author. Copyright (c) 1991 Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, Ca.

Excerpt from Kim Klein article in the Grassroots Fundraising Journal, volume 2, no.5, reprinted with permission from author. Copyright (c) 1986 Chardon Press/Grassroots Fundraising Journal.

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