Bentz Group - Prospect Research

Prospect Research

The first step in implementing a major gift program is engaging in prospect research to identify individuals, corporations, foundations, and government entities that are potential donors. While being essential for capital and endowment campaigns, major gifts are also the key to funding for special programs or exhibits, and can greatly enhance annual giving programs. Many institutions also use prospect research to identify qualified board members.

With the enormous amount of information available today, prospect research requires both experience and resources. The Bentz Group’s seasoned staff employs all of the following: interviews with current constituents and community leaders; widely-available sources such as the Internet, public records, and libraries; our subscriptions to specialized electronic databases; and the resources offered by the Foundation Center of which we are a member. Because the store of available data is so vast, the Bentz Group focuses only on information that is both ethical and relevant.

In addition to evaluating a potential donor’s capacity to give, it is equally important to determine the level of interest in your mission and the motivation for a prospect’s philanthropy. Accordingly, the Bentz method focuses on identifying as many prospects as possible with the capacity to give, and then refining the research to target those who are most likely to actually give because of their interest in your work. This method delivers prospects who may be engaging with your organization for the first time, as well as identifying existing donors who may be ready to move to a higher giving level.

When the research is completed, we prepare a detailed donor profile for each prospect.

Services