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Major gifts are crucial for driving your nonprofit’s mission forward. With the help of these generous donors, you can launch large initiatives, expand your team, or even build new facilities. However, identifying potential major donors is a significant challenge facing nonprofits. So how can you improve your identification process and begin forming connections with major supporters?

The answer: prospect research.

By using publicly available information, prospect research can help you determine who in your constituency may be willing and able to give major gifts to your nonprofit. Commonly considered data points include both wealth indicators and previous philanthropic behavior. With smarter prospect research strategies, your major gifts officer has a better chance of securing those all-important donations with maximum efficiency.

Well, here we are – kicking off 2022 feeling uncertain about the world around us and the ongoing impact of the pandemic. Amidst this uncertainty, we look ahead with hope for a healthy and prosperous new year for those who share their generosity and those who receive. For those of us who have the privilege of working with both those who give and those who receive, here are a few trends to watch for in 2022.

1. Leadership gifts will continue to drive giving. In the most recent 2021 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy: Charitable Giving by Affluent Households, 26% of affluent individuals reported increasing their giving in response to the pandemic to help with direct services to those in need. In addition, the majority of households reported no change in their charitable giving with 15.5% indicating that their giving increased and 21.5% saying they decreased their giving. Looking ahead, while we cannot predict future giving, 74% of affluent households indicated they would not change their long-term philanthropic priorities, 20% expect their charitable giving to be more directed to specific issues, while 5% expect to be less restrictive in their giving. More affluent households created a charitable provision in their will (13% in 2017 vs. 17% in 2020) and more utilized a donor advised fund (5% in 2013 vs. 7% in 2018).

Now more than ever due to the pandemic, nonprofits are faced with many questions about how to adapt and revise their services and extend their outreach to donors and constituents.

Taking the time to solicit feedback from stakeholders can help your organization be thoughtful and strategic as you make these decisions. This feedback can:

• Help take the guesswork out of decision-making.
• Impact your strategies for current and potential clients, audience members, program participants, donors, and partners.
• Help you answer questions, understand real and perceived barriers, hear from new and underrepresented voices, and hone efforts around philanthropic support, services, inclusion, perceptions, and brand messaging and communications.

We are pleased to offer this guest blog post by Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Ph.D. If you would like to learn more about Madam C.J. Walker and the tradition of Black philanthropy, listen to the webinar which we recently recorded with Dr. Freeman, Madam C.J. Walker's Gospel of Giving: Insights on the Past, Present, and Future of African American Generosity.

By Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Ph.D. 

Data plays a vital role in the world of nonprofits. It is a critical tool that helps you make smarter decisions, and it can play a key role in supporting future investment in your efforts.

Your data tells a story that can help you identify key trends as you think towards the future. Sometimes determining what that story says can be a challenge, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by too much data. But with the right guidance, you can quickly gain clarity that can make decision making much easier. For more information on how others are using data in fundraising to achieve results, download our content collection,  How to Use Data to Improve Your Fundraising, produced by Chronicle Intelligence, a division of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, in partnership with JGA.

Successful organizations know that it’s important to use the data you have to guide decisions that will help you build stronger and deeper relationships with your donors and friends in the most efficient and effective way possible. Many are using that data to guide future investments in fundraising.