It’s estimated that 80% of individual donation revenue comes from the top 20% of nonprofit donors. At some organizations, the ratio is closer to 90/10. No matter the exact breakdown at your nonprofit, major donor fundraising is clearly critical for boosting your funding—and, therefore, maximizing your ability to further your mission.
If you’ve engaged in major donor fundraising before, you know that conducting prospect research is an essential step in identifying the best candidates for high-impact giving. However, gathering data is just the beginning of the process. You also need to analyze that information to help you qualify prospective donors, i.e., see if they’re a good fit for your nonprofit’s current needs and goals.
In this guide, we’ll discuss three tips for qualifying donor prospects so you can make your cultivation and solicitation processes more efficient and effective. Let’s get started!
1. Regularly Screen Your Existing Donor Database
Many nonprofits use prospect research to help them acquire brand-new donors from outside their organization. However, there may be qualified major donors hiding within your existing supporter base, and your prospect research tools can also help you find and strategically select these individuals.
Here are some tips for efficiently screening your existing donors:
- Integrate your prospect research and donor databases. Integration ensures data can transfer seamlessly from one solution to the other. This not only reduces the risk of error when entering donor data into your prospect research platform but also makes it easier to enrich the profiles in your donor database with the information you gather through screening. When choosing a prospect research solution, check whether it integrates with your existing donor database before you invest in it.
- Screen all new supporter records automatically. Once you’ve integrated your prospect research platform with your donor database, it may allow you to automate your screening processes. That way, whenever a new supporter record is created in your database, you’ll get various prospecting insights on them right away.
- Follow data hygiene best practices. Your screening tools will produce more useful results if you keep your donor database in order. To accomplish this, Double the Donation’s data hygiene guide recommends regularly auditing your database, clearing out inaccurate or unnecessary information, and standardizing data entry procedures.
- Consider each donor holistically. Just because a donor has the greatest financial capacity to make a major gift doesn’t mean they’re the most qualified candidate to contribute to your nonprofit’s high-priority initiatives. In addition to wealth markers, look for data on each donor’s philanthropic tendencies and affinity for your mission, such as past giving, other forms of engagement, and personal values.
Additionally, remember that data can only tell you so much about a supporter. When you find a strong major giving candidate in your donor database, consult with members of your nonprofit’s team who have interacted with that donor (for example, if they volunteer frequently, talk to your volunteer coordinator) to get their firsthand perspective on whether the donor would be a good fit for the initiative you’re considering.
2. Leverage AI Tools in Prospecting
Your donor database and prospect research platform are the basic tools you need for effective screening, However, other solutions can also help with prospect data analysis and donor qualification, several of which are powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
The most effective qualification processes involve two types of AI tools:
- Predictive AI solutions recognize patterns in data and develop projections based on those trends. A predictive modeling tool built for prospect research can evaluate potential donors’ wealth and philanthropic indicators according to your organization’s needs. It will then prioritize your prospect list so you can reach out to the most qualified and likely donors first, saving your team time while driving better results.
- Generative AI platforms use their pattern recognition capabilities to create original content. Prospect reporting solutions powered by generative AI can summarize the most important screening data on each potential donor into a concise but detailed report for your team to easily reference throughout cultivation. More versatile generative AI tools are also helpful for creating data-driven outreach materials, whether you’re drafting an email or brainstorming talking points for a phone call.
No matter what AI tools you leverage to enhance your prospecting processes, make sure to use them in a way that maximizes their benefits and minimizes associated risks. DonorSearch’s guide to responsible AI use recommends training your team on ways to ensure data security, inclusiveness, transparency, and legal compliance as they work with these solutions. Remember that nonprofit AI is an emerging field, so stay up-to-date on developments and commit to continuous learning and improvement.
3. Re-Qualify Donors Throughout Their Relationship With Your Nonprofit
Effective qualification isn’t a one-and-done activity at the beginning of a campaign. Your goal should be to not only secure one major gift, but also build a relationship with each potential donor that leads to long-term support. Plus, donors’ circumstances can change from initiative to initiative—or even while you’re cultivating their support for one campaign—so you’ll need to stay on top of those changes and adjust your strategy accordingly.
To re-qualify donors throughout a campaign, make sure to:
- Track their responses to your outreach so you know what tactics they were and weren’t receptive to and can hone your efforts from there.
- Take detailed notes during meetings with prospects and add new findings to their profiles in your donor database for future reference.
- Periodically re-screen donors to stay aware of any changes to their financial situation or philanthropic activity with other organizations that may affect your fundraising ask amounts and timelines.
- Record the results of all donation requests for reference during future campaigns.
After a qualified prospect responds positively to a solicitation, continue updating their data as you steward them. Then, when the time comes to request their support for another initiative, you’ll have an easier time determining whether they’d be a good fit and making another fundraising ask they’ll accept.
Donor qualification is useful for any initiative that benefits from large donations, from capital campaigns to annual fundraising to legacy giving. Keep in mind that even if a donor isn’t well qualified for one of these initiatives, they might be for a different one, so you should still screen them and store their data so you’re prepared when the time comes.
