Donor prospecting: how to research and qualify a major donor

Donor prospecting is the work of finding which donors already in your list have the capacity and the connection to give a bigger gift, then checking that guess against real information before you pick up the phone. A finance director with 300 names in a spreadsheet and a development director planning next year’s major gift list face the same problem: neither has a wealth-screening service on staff, and neither wants to ask the wrong person for too much. This post covers what to look for in a donor’s own history, where to research the rest for free, and how to turn a hunch into a qualified prospect list you can work from.

Key Takeaways
– Donor prospecting starts with your own giving history, not a purchased list or a wealth-screening tool FundHero doesn’t offer.
– Qualify each name with linkage, ability, and interest, not a gut feeling alone.
– Public records, including the FEC’s individual contribution search and the IRS’s nonprofit search, fill in what your own data can’t show.
– A Contact Group or Smart Group turns a one-time research pass into a list that stays current as new gifts and calls come in.
– A qualified prospect still needs the relationship and a specific ask; prospecting only tells you who is worth that work.

What donor prospecting means

Donor prospecting is the step before the ask: deciding which donors are worth the time of a deeper relationship and a bigger gift request. It is not a cold list bought from a vendor. For a campaign or a small nonprofit, prospecting almost always starts inside the donor data already on hand, then adds what a quick, free search can confirm.

Fundraising researchers call the three things worth checking linkage, ability, and interest, a framework AFP’s prospect research resources cover in more depth. Linkage is the connection between the prospect and your campaign or organization. Ability is whether they can realistically give at a bigger level. Interest is whether they care about the work enough to say yes. A prospect strong on all three is worth the research time. A prospect strong on none of them stays on the regular list for now.

Start with the giving signals already in your data

Before researching anyone new, look at who has already shown interest by giving. A gift that increased from the one before it, a donor who gave more than once in a cycle, or a fast response to an appeal are all signals worth a closer look. Major donor fundraising covers that pattern in full; this guide picks up from there, once a name has caught your eye and you need to confirm it is a real prospect, not a guess.

In FundHero, Donor Profiles and Contact History hold the occupation, employer, and past conversations already on file for a donor, which is often enough to start forming a linkage and ability picture before you search anywhere else.

Research each prospect before you reach out

Prospect research is not the same as wealth screening, and FundHero does not offer a wealth-screening tool. AFP draws the line between the two: wealth screening runs a list through a paid database to estimate net worth, while prospect research is the slower work of confirming what a prospect can and will give using records anyone can check. For a small campaign or nonprofit, research is the realistic option, and it is free.

What to check depends on who you are prospecting for:

• Campaigns. The FEC’s individual contributions search is public record. Search a prospect’s name to see what they have given before, to whom, and at what level. A donor who gives at the maximum to similar candidates most cycles has both the ability and the interest a campaign is looking for.
• Nonprofits. The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search shows whether a prospect sits on another nonprofit’s board or is tied to a family foundation that files its own Form 990. A board seat at a similar organization is a strong linkage signal.
• Both. A prospect’s employer, a local news mention, or a mutual connection on your board or finance committee rounds out the picture. None of this requires a subscription, just a name and 20 minutes.

Qualify with linkage, ability, and interest

Turn what you found into a decision, not a pile of notes. A simple way to qualify a prospect:

For each prospect, score linkage, ability, and interest low, medium, or high:
– Linkage: do they already know someone on the board, the finance committee, or the candidate directly?
– Ability: does their giving history, employer, or public record suggest they could give more than their last gift?
– Interest: have they responded quickly, attended an event, or given more than once?

A prospect who scores medium or high on all three moves to your call list. One low score across the board means they are not ready yet, not that they should be dropped.

This keeps the list honest. A prospect with a big job title but no connection to your cause and no giving history is a guess, not a qualified prospect.

Turn the research into a list that stays current

Research that lives in someone’s notebook disappears the day that person is busy. Log what you find on the donor’s profile as it turns up, and build a Contact Group for prospects you have researched and qualified, separate from the general donor list. Activity Tags let you mark how a prospect was sourced, a referral, a board connection, a public record, so the next person working the list knows what is already confirmed.

Smart Groups and Tasks assign the next step, a call, a coffee, a follow-up email, to the right person on the team instead of leaving it to memory. A prospect list that updates as new information comes in is worth more than a one-time spreadsheet pull.

Move a qualified prospect toward the ask

Once a prospect is qualified, the work shifts from research to relationship: a real conversation before the appeal, then a specific ask tied to what they have already given. Major donor fundraising covers that part, from the first call to logging the pledge the moment someone says yes. Prospecting’s job is narrower: make sure the person on the other end of that call is worth the time before the team spends it.

FAQ

What is donor prospecting?
Donor prospecting is the process of identifying and researching donors who have the capacity and connection to give a bigger gift, before a campaign or nonprofit asks them for one.

How is donor prospecting different from wealth screening?
Wealth screening uses a paid database to estimate a prospect’s net worth. Donor prospecting uses records anyone can check, your own giving history plus public sources, to confirm whether a prospect is realistic.

Where can I research a potential major donor for free?
Start with your own Donor Profiles and Contact History. For campaigns, the FEC’s individual contributions search shows a prospect’s political giving history. For nonprofits, the IRS’s Tax Exempt Organization Search shows board ties and related foundation filings.

How many prospects should a small campaign or nonprofit research at once?
Start with a short list, 10 to 20 names pulled from your strongest giving signals, rather than researching your whole donor base at once. A short, well-researched list beats a long, thin one.

Does FundHero do wealth screening or prospect research automatically?
No. Donor Profiles, Contact History, and Smart Groups make your own research faster to use once you have it, but checking public records and confirming linkage is still work a person does.

How do you know when a prospect is ready for the ask?
A prospect who scores medium or high on linkage, ability, and interest, and who has had at least one real conversation before the request, is ready. One missing piece, especially interest, means it is too early.

Next step

Donor prospecting is not a wealth-screening subscription or a purchased list. It is the giving history you already have, checked against a few free public records, and sorted into a list worth a finance director’s or a development director’s time. Score each name on linkage, ability, and interest, log what you find, and move only the qualified ones to the call list.

Start a free FundHero trial, no payment info required, and keep the research on one donor profile instead of scattered across notes.