One of the more notable giving trends of 2016 shows that 1/3 of total charitable donations came from the uber-wealthy. There is a shift from smaller annual gifts to major and mega-gifts from the top 1% of the population. Let’s take a moment to focus on what advancement teams – especially major gift officers – can be doing to prospect and engage these big donors. Use Various Strategies to Find a Wealthy Donor Pool Traditional wealth screenings give tangible evidence of a perso

Organizations today are more global than ever. They operate in different countries and cultures and understand the value of international diversity. Modern CEOs are global citizens with multi-cultural overseas experience. [1] Unfortunately, prospect research and development officers often overlook expatriate and international alumni because they are so difficult to track and locate. It is tough to encourage any alumnus to be diligent about self-reporting changes in employment

Donations made directly to an educational institution can help boost innovation, technology and leading edge approaches to teaching which in turn ensures the school’s reputation in these fields. Parents can also donate to sustain and enhance the undergraduate experience. This can include donations to financial aid, faculty support, and undergraduate life as well as capital gifts that “create a lasting legacy at the university.” [1] These donations help to ensure that students

Propensity, in the fundraising world, is someone’s tendency to get involved in philanthropy. This is their likelihood to make a donation, of either money or time. To discover an individual’s propensity, check their giving history. Have they given? How often? How much? Affinity is defined as someone’s natural liking for someone or something. So, put into nonprofit terms, it is an individual’s connection to a cause. It’s all about knowing your alumni to better understand their

Finding lost alumni is a priority for many alumni departments, and understandably so. The more alumni that you identify, the greater your pool of prospective donors. Traditionally, lost alumni are considered those whose contact information including mailing address, email, or telephone number are unknown. In general though, lost alumni may also be those who aren’t being contacted – either because the institution doesn’t have their updated contact information or because the st