WealthEngine Best Practices in Higher Education for Prospect ...

9. Return on investment (ROI)
Measure results so you can assess progress towards the goals identified in #1. Evaluate the results of the screening by
considering the following three categories:
1. Newly identified prospects highly rated by screening and not previously identified
2. Highly rated by screening and already identified by organization
3. Not highly rated by the screening but identified as a prospect by organization
Suggested Metrics for Major, Planned and Annual Fund Leadership Gifts Programs
# of new prospects identified & capacity of those identified
# of prospects qualified
# of prospects assigned
# of prospects under cultivation
# of prospects solicited and capacity (potential) of those solicited
# of gifts achieved
$ amount of gifts achieved
Suggested Metrics for Annual Fund Programs
% Increase in renewal rate due to refined segmentation
% Increase in upgrade rate due to refined segmentation
% Decrease in costs due to refined segmentation
% Increase in acquisition rate due to refined targeting
% Increase in average gift size
Suggested Metrics for Other Fundraising Functions
# of new/potential volunteers identified
# of new volunteers identified
# of fundraising event attendees identified
Sample plan of action/timeline for major gifts/campaign
1. Segment screening results and identify prospects. Prioritize based on capacity, interest and affinity (1-3 months)
2. Research-qualify prospects with minimum required research to confirm their validity as major gifts prospects
(2-4 months)
3. Assign to development officer’s (2-4 months)
4. Further qualify assigned prospects as necessary through additional research, assessment calls and visits
(2-12 months)
5. Begin cultivation cycle with those qualified prospects who have interest and/or affinity (2-12 months)
6. For those with high capacity, but little or no interest or affinity, begin high-touch engagement process to include
invitations to events, special news alerts, personalized mailings, thank you telephone calls if a gift is made, etc. Once
they have engaged through an event or made a donation, they can be moved into the major gift cultivation track.
(2-24 months)
7. Continue to feed the prospect pipeline as new prospects are research-qualified and assigned to DO’s
(3 to 24 months)
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