2. Objectives
● Understand what prospect research is and the process
involved
● Develop ideas about how to start and expand your prospect
list
● Explore various web resources for prospect research
● Apply the research process
● Get exposure to other resources that will aid donor fetching
and engagement process
3. Prospect Research
● Prospect research can help to provide insight into an
individual's background, interests, and connections.
● This can help determine the capacity to give and
informs the strategy for cultivation.
● This background also builds the
confidence of the person asking
for support.
4. ● The identification of and research of
individuals who are capable and interested
in giving a major donor gift to your
organization
● Consider: What is the major gift level for
individuals at AID NYC?
Prospect Research
5. Individual Donors
Three types of prospects:
● Individuals who currently give or have given to AID
that may be ready to increase giving amount/renew gifts
and/or sponsorships
● Individuals with whom AID has some personal
relationship but no history of giving
● Individuals who have allied interests but no personal
connection.
6. Prospect Research
● Begin with individuals closest to AID NYC
● Expanding prospect list means exploring donors
and board members of local and/or similar
organizations
● Lists of the wealthy, large gifts, top people by
profession or industry, state and population group
7. What are we looking for?
● Biographical information
● Financial information
● Philanthropic giving history
● Professions, age, interests, affiliations,
accomplishments
● Note on Ethics: Look for positive and relevant
information
8. Financial information on the Web
● Compensation
● Stockholdings of public company insiders
● Proceeds of a private company sale
● Real estate values
● Major assets
● Art holdings
9. Financial Information not on the Web
● Bank account balances
● Non-insider stockholdings
● Private Investments
10. Using Databases
● The New York Public Library also has a good database
resource called Biography in Context.
● For example, I entered the following delimiters in this
database: nationality=Indian and occupation=engineer,
gender=male (n=170). We can see for example that
Munir Cheryan has a giving history to the ethanol
industry and therefore would not be a good match.
11. Stanford Development Research
● FAQs- How do I:
○ Determine the value of a private company?
○ Verify an email address?
○ Verify that he/she is the same person?
○ Find information about a company?
● Resources:
○ Political contributions
○ IPO tracking
13. Who has donated to a particular NGO?
● Donors filed with Form 990 are not available for public
inspection
● Some nonprofits may thank their donors, particularly
major donors, in public documents, like annual reports,
newsletters, or their web sites.
● Foundation Center libraries subscribe to databases that
can help in researching individual donors.
14. Foundation and corporate donations
● Information on foundation and corporate donors typically is
more accessible. Private foundations, including private
corporate foundations, must publicly disclose all of their
grants in their annual tax filings (990-PF).
● Direct corporate giving is not subject to the same public
disclosure rules, but corporations might share who they
support in order to build their community image.
15. 990 and 990 PF
● Exempt organizations must file some version of Form 990
annually
● Form 990-PF has information on a private foundation's assets,
financial activities, trustees and officers, and, most
importantly, a complete list of grants awarded for the
specified fiscal year.
● Essential tool when researching past giving patterns, and will
include the recipients' names, locations, and grant amounts;
sometimes the purpose of the grant is also described.
16. 990-PF: What to look for?
● Assets: fair market value of all assets- line 16
● Part VIII - Names of trustees are of interest.
● Part IX-A - Exact dollar amount given in grants.
● Part XV: This section will tell you how grant applications
should be prepared, if there are any deadlines, etc. along with
a listing of grantees.
● Income from investments: Taking a look at a foundation's
investments can give you a generalized idea of their overall
philosophy.
18. Dasra Report: Key Findings (2013)
● Foundations are the key distribution channel for donor
contributions
● Younger relatives significantly influence their families’
charitable giving
● Young donors show higher potential than other age groups to
increase their contributions
● Poor transparency and accountability on the part of
philanthropy recipients inhibit the growth of contributions
19. Dasra Report Con’t.
Philanthropy Ecosystem
● Assessment and communication of the impact of their work to
donors is essential.
● It is of paramount importance to ensure that donors and
recipients have a common language and common goals
around results.
● Young donors often set their family’s philanthropic vision.
20. India: A Guide to Prospect Research
Online training tool available on a subscription
basis
Resources in the areas such as wealth trends,
philanthropy, business
21. India Giving Network
● Marketplace for donors interested in credible
non-profit organizations
● Resources for donors and for NGOs
● Partners provide leads
● Being listed on these websites provides
NGOs ample exposure
22. GuideStar India
● Focus on transparency and ground-up orientation
● Claims to be India's largest, fully searchable,
database of reliable and comparable information on
over 4,200 NGOs
● Registration on GuideStar India is free for NGOs
● Online application process (30 minutes)
23. American-India Foundation
● Donate by program, region, donate in India in INR, corporate giving.
● Corporations fill critical funding gaps in programs while enabling the
organization to expand their work into new areas and accelerate
impact. Corporations and foundations partner to meet crucial
development needs in India, and to establish philanthropic and
community engagement platforms across India
● Corporate funders include:
○ CITI
○ Adobe
○ American Express
○ Dell
