As the Development Director, you need to cultivate your donors and prospects, and give them reasons to get excited about supporting your school. You need to understand who these individuals are, what their passions are, and how they connect to the mission of your school. The more you listen and learn, the better able you will be to make an effective appeal.
It is essential that you record and organize the data you gather in thorough prospect records, in a database. A successful development program uses qualitative and quantitative data to support, analyze, and communicate fund raising priorities over time.
Fund-raising databases record constituent and gift data to provide organization, standard reporting, and comparative analysis. As such, an effective database directs internal and external marketing efforts and guides every element of cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding individual donors to a school. Accuracy and consistency count, and a solid database gives you all the information you need about your donor—including complete giving records—at your finger tips.
A well-organized Development Office should have the following information about each of your constituents, as applicable.
- Full name and title, class year
- Home address and phone number
- Business: name, address, phone, size and nature of business, recent sales totals, and position held by the prospect
- Business career: companies, positions held, dates
- Directorships: past and present
- Affiliations: trusteeships, offices, memberships, clubs
- Foundations: associations with private, family or corporate foundation
- Known assets: some perspective on the prospect’s capacity might be obtained from proxies and SEC reports
- Family: name of spouse and children, their birth dates, educations, and careers
- List of colleges and degrees: dates, honors, etc.
- Association with the institution: history of activities while a student and an alumnus/a; names of relatives who also attended the institution
- History of contributions: capital, annual or other current, special gifts, matching corporation or foundation
- Contacts: History of correspondence, meetings with the prospect (especially indicative of attitude and interests), classmates or school mates he or she may know
- Hobbies and interests: special interests which may indicate partiality to specific department, dormitory, etc.
- Comments: Subjective impressions added by development officers, Headmaster, faculty, trustees, friends, etc., if relevant
You can also include supplement anecdotes or opinions with hard facts and data-driven analysis to strengthen overall operations and improve fund raising results. Learn more about turning prospects into major donors, by connecting what you know to your school’s mission: Four Strategies That Turn Prospects Into Major Donors.
