Best Practices for Prospect Research in Higher Education Fundraising, published by WealthEngine in October 2009, outlines eight best practices, details five university case studies and includes helpful return-on-investment worksheets.

Report findings show the variance in prospect research human and financial resources among high-performing institutions and their counterparts, as well as effective wealth-screening and data-collection strategies. Also examined are techniques for implementation planning, data validation, data and workflow integration, and prospect management. The report also addresses the importance of ethics and data security in fundraising.

“By tying quantitative fundraising performance metrics into the study, we are able to ensure that our Report truly represents best practices and not just common practices,” said Sally Boucher, the Report’s primary author. “Without exception, the findings of our study demonstrate that organizations investing in prospect research consistently achieve higher fundraising results”

Note: APRA does not endorse this study, but is making it available to APRA members as an informational resource.

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