New Prospect Identification
 Cecilia Hogan, Development Researcher
University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington

“If there are 10 people in a row and five of them are capable of giving and one of them gives, there’s something wrong with that picture.”

> Opera lover and philanthropist Alberto Vilar, The Chronicle of Philanthropy; 01.25.2001

A glance back . . .

A few definitions:

Dr. Livingston, I presume?

Give yourself a present at the start: Create a profile of the typical major gift donor at your organization. Then you'll recognize who you are looking for when you meet up with them during your searches.

What characteristics will elevate a constituent to "new prospect" status:

And, by the way, that change can be a real one for the prospect or a change in your knowledge about a potential prospect.

How to Play in Traffic

How do I look for thee, o' Prospect? Let me count the ways . . .

- one-by-one (that's with a fishing pole)

- in groups large and small (that's trawling with a net)

  1. Watch the gifts coming in (those over a certain level)
  2. Sharpen your vision to the details of contact reports
  3. Generate special database reports that will tip you off to new prospects

Reports sorted by (for example):

How this got easier in recent years

1. Select the part of the database that is worthwhile to screen (segment and segment again).

2. Review screening options (price and scope).

3. Achieve absolute clarity about what you will get and what it will mean.

4. Make a plan to  further qualify the results.

5. Make a plan for (gulp) appending the results to your database.

6. Make a plan for getting the right information to the right places after No. 4 and No. 5.

7. Later, evaluate intentions and outcomes and write it up for next time.

8. Make a plan for next time (see No. 7).

And then . . . 

. . . back to Playing in Traffic!

Using the Toll Roads

"Free" is now relative: the blurring of "fee" and "free" on the Web

Premium content, subscriber-only areas 

Top Lists: 

They often include the top local executive, the top salary, the gross revenues, and other details that will move your constituents to the top of your cultivation lists

"Top 100 Public Companies in Washington State" - http://www.waceo.com/topwa/PublicCompaniesRevenue.html 

"Washington's Top 150 Private Companies" - http://www.waceo.com/archive/may01/coverstory.html 

Top lawyers, top law firms -- and what everyone is earning - http://www.infirmation.com/shared/insider/payscale.tcl 

http://www.law.com/career_center/lists_rankings.html 

Highest-paid CEOs- http://www.waceo.com/topwa/2001highestpaid.htm

"Compensation Scoreboard" - http://bwnt.businessweek.com/exec_comp/2002/ 

"Power 100" - http://www.waceo.com/archive/mar02/index.html 

Richest people in the U.S., in the world, and more - Forbes at http://www.forbes.com/lists/ 

Business Examiner - http://www.businessexaminer.com/ (choose "Lists" from the menu bar on the left)

Puget Sound Business Journal's Book of List - http://www.bizjournals.com/bookoflists/?op=bol_form_market&t=seattle ($)

Other Resources to Find People Who Are Capable of Giving

County Real Property Assessor Records - http://indorgs.virginia.edu/portico/ 

Securities and Exchange Information

Names of company's chief officers and directors, brief biographies, compensation (salary, bonus) for about three years for the officers; stock holdings, options, retirement information, other financial benefits for all listed

EDGAR - http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm 

EDGAR Online - http://www.edgar-online.com/ ($)

10K Wizard - http://www.tenkwizard.com/ ($)

FreeEDGAR - http://www.freeEDGAR.com/ ($)

Ecomp's Executive Compensation tool - http://www.ecomponline.com/ 

IPO.com's Executive Search (choose by state or by college) - http://www.ipo.com/venture/peoplesearch.asp?p=IPO 

by state: 455 matches on the day I looked. Are any of those people among your constituents?

Other Resources to Find People Who Are Already Giving:

Political contributions - http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/index.asp 

The Foundation Center - http://fconline.fdncenter.org/ ($)

Puget Sound Grantor List - http://missionmovers.org/index.jsp ($)

Philanthropy Northwest - http://www.philanthropynw.org/ ($)

Foundation DataBook - http://www.foundationdatabook.com/index.html ($)

GuideStar and the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) - http://www.guidestar.org/npo/ntee.stm 

T20 Private Grantmaking Foundations
T21 Corporate Foundations
T22 Private Independent Foundations
T23 Private Operating Foundations
T30 Public Foundations
T31 Community Foundations
T70 Fund-Raising Organizations that Cross Categories (includes Community Funds/Trusts and Federated Giving Programs) e.g. United Way
T90 Named Trusts/Foundations N.E.C.
T99 Other Philanthropy, Voluntarism, and Grantmaking Foundations N.E.C.

News Stories:

Example: "The top of the market - 34 Pierce County residences top $1 million," by Jim Szymanski; The News Tribune; Nov 21, 1999

Is one of your constituents in this group?

"It was little more than a decade ago that the Seattle area had its first million-dollar home sale. Such listing prices are common today, and at least 55 homes in Seattle sold for more than $1 million in 1998 alone. The number of $1 million-or-more home sales on the Eastside was put at 144 last year."

              > Big-house building boom," by Peyton Whitely; The Seattle Times, May 10, 1999

Don't forget about the greatest inventions of all time (for researchers, that is): 

- The public library 
- The telephone
- Your research colleagues (say hello to the person next to you!)

The Magic and Wonder of the Internet (it's okay to sigh now)

So many Web sites, so little time . . .

How to be a good new prospect searcher:

Gregg Notess’ Search Engine Showdown: http://searchengineshowdown.com/features/

Gary Price’s Direct Search: http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~gprice/direct.htm

Search Engine Watch - http://www.searchenginewatch.com

Search Engine Watch’s Search Day-  http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/

Tara Calashain's Research Buzz - http://www.researchbuzz.com/

Internet Prospector’s Review of Researchers’ Web Pages
http://www.internet-prospector.org/tool1201.htm
http://www.internet-prospector.org/tool0102.htm
http://www.internet-prospector.org/tool0202.htm
http://www.internet-prospector.org/tool0302.htm

"It's a pencil – I just want it to work."
                 
                   – Catherine Scarlett, prospect researcher

When Pull Turns to Push

Don't forget . . . one-by-one . . . en masse

Puget Sound Business Journal's Search Watch - http://seattle.bizjournals.com/account/search_watch/ 

Tracerlock - http://www.tracerlock.com/ 

Northernlight's Divine Search Alert - http://standard.northernlight.com/cgi-bin/cl_cliplist.pl 

Mind-It - http://www.pumatech.com/mymindit_main.html

Forbes People Tracker - http://www.forbes.com/cms/template/peopletracker/index.jhtml

Hoovers News Alerts - http://alertwizard.hoovers.com/

Spyonit - http://www.spyonit.com 

ChangeDetection - http://www.changedetection.com/monitor.html 

EDGAR Online News Alert - http://www.edgaronline.com

10KWizard Alerts - http://www.10kwizard.com/

Cool Tools

Gator - http://www.gator.com

Web-based bookmark managers - http://www.webwizards.net/useful/wbbm.htm 

Powerreporting: Resources for Journalists - http://powerreporting.com

". . . The skills required to be a successful researcher really have not changed. It still takes creativity, above all, a flexible approach to problem-solving, a good command of language, the ability to discern subtle connections and to make intuitive leaps instead of just proceeding down an orderly linear path. Those skills -- or maybe they're characteristics one is born with -- still define a virtuoso searcher."

                                             – Reva Basch, freepint.com, 08.05.99