WealthEngine

The following is an excerpt from WealthEngine's "Best Practices for Prospect Research in Healthcare Fundraising: 2nd Edition." To learn more, fill out the form to the right and download the full report.

Volunteers often play a significant role within a non-profit organization. Gathering groups of board members, physicians, key volunteers and staff in order to put a list of their peers in front of them for assessment as prospective donors is an effective way of enfranchising all levels in the fundraising process. Used with great success by many colleges and universities, hospitals and healthcare organizations are beginning to see the value in this substantive approach. A peer screening can be known by many different names; “silent screening,” “external screening,” or “outside screening.” A peer screening is used to make a long list of prospects shorter. It also provides a great platform to cultivate key volunteers and board members and, if your organization is planning for a capital campaign, to introduce them to your campaign goals.

The following is an excerpt from WealthEngine's "Best Practices for Prospect Research in Healthcare Fundraising: 2nd Edition." To learn more, fill out the form to the right and download the full report.

In many organizations, prospect research is conducted as a reactive process with researchers responding to specific requests to profile a specific individual, a group of individuals, a business, or a foundation. A researcher has the dual challenge of:

• Supporting the fundraiser’s need for information on prospects identified outside of research (i.e. brought to researcher from a development officer or other member of fundraising team)
• Ensuring that the prospect pool is properly maintained and refreshed

The following is an excerpt from WealthEngine's "Best Practices for Prospect Research in Healthcare Fundraising: 2nd Edition." To learn more, fill out the form to the right and download the full report.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was enacted on August 21, 1996 to ensure the privacy of protected health information (PHI). In addition to patient privacy issues, HIPAA includes specific language on fundraising practices as an important part of healthcare operations. Prospect research is the collection and analysis of information to identify new philanthropic gift potential, or to further qualify known donors in an effort to advance a fundraising program. Fundraising practices, including prospect research, need to be conducted in accordance with HIPAA compliance, often guided by a HIPAA compliance officer and/or a legal or risk management department.

The following is an excerpt from WealthEngine's "Best Practices for Prospect Research in Healthcare Fundraising: 2nd Edition." To learn more, fill out the form to the right and download the full report.

While most, if not all, healthcare organizations seek private funding from non-patient donors, patient fundraising continues to rise as organizations strive to ensure the future of their healthcare operations.

The following is an excerpt from WealthEngine's "Best Practices in Arts and Culture Fundraising Report." To learn more, fill out the form to the right and download the full report.

Increasing visibility and interest in your organization is always a challenge, but according to the many Arts and Culture organizations we surveyed hosting special events and targeting your audience yield positive results. Forty-two percent of survey respondents said Special Events are considered an important and integral part of their overall fundraising income. Events bring not only significant fundraising dollars, but also help to bring new audiences and develop new prospects. Special Events can be leveraged in many ways. In fact, 44% of organizations indicated they use Special Events to generate leads and increase their prospect pool.

The following is an excerpt from WealthEngine's "Best Practices in Arts and Culture Fundraising Report." To learn more, fill out the form to the right and download the full report.

The Role of the Board

Identifying the right Board members is integral to the success of any nonprofit. Generally speaking, the purpose of a nonprofit Board is to advise, govern, oversee policy and direction, and assist with the leadership and general promotion of an individual organization so as to support the organization’s mission and needs. A less obvious but clear responsibility of a Board member is also to support the organization financially and encourage others to do the same.

The following is an excerpt from WealthEngine's "Best Practices in Arts and Culture Fundraising Report." To learn more, fill out the form to the right and download the full report.

Defining Membership

The lifeblood of most Arts and Culture organizations is its members. A member, in the case of Arts and Culture organizations, is defined as an individual who receives benefits for a specific level of donation. Membership levels vary by organization, but there is usually some tax-deductible element to the level. For example, a $50 membership may carry a $40 tax-deductible bonus, plus $10 in ticket discounts. Based on this structure, members and donors can be seen as synonymous; however it is important to keep in mind that for the purposes of this study, a member is a higher level of donor who is participating above and beyond simply making a donation.

The following is an excerpt from WealthEngine's "Best Practices in Arts and Culture Fundraising Report." To learn more, fill out the form to the right and download the full report.

Arts and Culture organizations have a unique pool of individuals in their ticket purchasers who are already demonstrating a genuine interest in the mission and work associated with their organization. These ticket buyers are already contributing to the organization’s revenue stream and represent a natural prospect pool. Once these individuals have purchased tickets and walked through your doors, you already are presented with a far greater advantage—they are engaged and interested in the offerings of your organization. Now they must be cultivated while their interest level is high.

The following is an excerpt from WealthEngine's recently-released "Best Practices in Higher Education Report." To learn more, fill out the form to the right and download the full report.

As Northwestern prepared for their first major screening of 112,000 alumni records, they carefully defined two types of qualification ratings for prospects:

The following is an excerpt from WealthEngine's recently-released "Best Practices in Higher Education Report." To learn more, fill out the form to the right and download the full report.

When an organization acquires data through a wealth screening, there is almost always a need for some initial data confirmation and validation. Among HPOs providing data concerning a recent screening, 94% included a valida- tion strategy in their implementation plan.