WealthEngine Best Practices in Higher Education for Prospect ...

Best Practices
1
Build a Foundation
for Success
Prospect research is a fundamental and essential building
block of any successful, multi-faceted fundraising program.
Programs that include major gifts, planned giving, campaign
components and/or an annual fund that is stratified
to include a leadership tier, must include some access to
research intelligence in order to efficiently focus resources on
the constituents or prospects who can and are most likely to
make the biggest impact on programs, infrastructure and/or
student financial aid.
In our survey, the average number of full-time equivalent
(FTE) prospect researchers among high-performing
organizations (HPOs) was 2.51. Among others responding
to the survey, the average number of FTE prospect
researchers was 1.12. Only 21% of respondents reported
having less than one FTE prospect researcher. Average
numbers of FTE researchers are summarized in Figure 1.1.
Clearly, high performing organizations are investing in the
human resources that are necessary to ensure the prospect
research function meets the needs of the fundraising
programs that depend on it.
Organization Size HPOs Others % Difference
Large 4.40 1.55 184%
Medium 2.00 1.07 87%
Small 1.66 0.73 127%
Grand Total 2.51 1.12 124%
Figure 1.1: Average number of full-time equivalent prospect researchers by
organization size and fundraising performance
Our survey also looked at staffing at the development/major
gift officer level. Figure 1.2 summarizes the average number
of FTE development officers (DOs) of survey respondents.
Organization Size HPOs Others % Difference
Large 81.80 10.47 680%
Medium 9.00 6.64 35%
Small 6.20 3.83 62%
Grand Total 28.76 6.99 311%
Figure 1.2: Average number of full-time equivalent development officers by
organization size and performance
As the data indicates, HPOs are investing in resources at
the development officer level as well. In all organization
sizes, HPO staffing for DOs outpaces that for other organizations—from
35% to over 680%. For organizations
focusing on raising significant gifts through a major gifts
program, staffing adequately at both the prospect research
and development officer levels is imperative.
Based on responses to our questions concerning staffing
levels, we calculated the ratio of prospect researchers to
development officers to determine desirable staffing ratios.
We discovered that HPOs have a higher number of development
officers per prospect researcher than others. In fact,
across all organization sizes, HPOs had 8.7 DOs per prospect
researcher, while others had only 4.3. While this is a significant
finding indicating that the prospect research function,
when managed effectively, can support a large major gift
team, it is only part of the story. Our research indicates that
HPOs have on average two to three prospect researchers
on staff, so a reasonable conclusion is that a staff of two or
more prospect research professionals is optimal to support
a high functioning, efficient fundraising team.
For small to medium-sized organizations, these two
individuals can reasonably be expected to support the
research needs of 6 to 10 development officers, the average
number of development officers for HPOs in the
small to medium categories. As we shall see in Figure 1.4,
success will be dependent in part on adequate funding for
research resources.
For high performing large organizations, where the
number of development officers on staff ranges from 39 up
to 150, researchers are supporting on average 18.67 development
officers. This indicates efficiency gains as prospect
research departments increase in size. Efficiencies most
likely include the division of tasks, such as prospect management,
reporting and tracking, from basic research and
analysis; the addition of more proactive research capabilities,
such as wealth screening and predictive modeling;
higher funding levels for time-saving resources; and a
more mature research function overall. It may also indicate
the addition of more administrative/support personnel
with involvement at the Prospect Research, Development,
Campaign and/or Program/Academic Unit levels. This data
is summarized in Figure 1.3.
Organization Size HPOs Others
Large 18.67 5.70
Medium 5.00 5.11
Small 4.48 2.27
Grand Total 8.72 4.34
Figure 1.3: Average number of development officers per prospect researcher
Best Practices for Prospect Research in Higher Education Fundraising - 2nd Ed. | 7