Armando Zumaya - Training and Consulting
Email Me at aez2@hotmail.com
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    • Published Articles >
      • "You Don't Belong Here"
      • Adelante! A Message for Latinx Focused Nonprofits
      • Separate Worlds: Let's Unify the Worlds of Prospect Research and Development
      • Whole Community Fundraising
      • All Together Now: Discovering Your Nonprofit’s True Potential
      • The Unread Article
      • Missed Opportunity: Why Don’t Foundations Give More Support to Development Teams?
      • Finding the Right Mix: Unraveling the Mystery of Powerful Major Gifts Management
      • Seeing the Elephant in the Room: Low Board Diversity and How to Change It
      • Silent Service: Breaking the Bubble of Silence in Nonprofit Fundraising
      • Latino's Stand Ready to GIve, Why are they being overlooked?
      • Three Simple Things You Can Do To Boost Your Board’s Fundraising Knowledge
      • Philanthropy’s Sleeping Giant: Why Can’t We Engage Latino’s More Successfully?
      • "Power to the Researchers"
      • What’s a “Vampire Fundraising Event” and Is It Time To Kill It?
      • How To Evaluate Your Development Officer
      • The Crisis of Development Officer Short Tenures
      • From Chicken Soup to Gumbo
      • Disconnect: Why Most Institutions Don’t Use Prospect Researchers Effectively.
      • The Fundraising Boogie Man
      • The $5 Million Dollar Chocolate Bar
      • Jumping Off the Merry Go Round !
      • "Fundraising is Beautiful"
      • Chronicle of Philanthropy OpEd March 2014: "Give Fundraising Researchers More Influence and More Credit"
      • The Prospect Profile: The Killer of Great Prospecting
      • Secret Weapon: The Freelance Prospect Researcher
      • Under Investing in Fundraising: The Myth of the One Person Development Shop
      • " I am a Fundraiser"
      • The Non Profit Achievement Gap: Seven Ways Small and Medium Nonprofits Stunt Their Own Fundraising
      • Let's Go Beyond Prospect Research and Talk about Fundraising
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Secret Weapon ! The Freelance Prospect Researcher
By now all of you know I am kind of a prospecting fanatic. I have spent my career bridging the worlds of the grassroots and major institution fundraising. I have also spent my career going back and forth between the worlds of prospect research and field fundraising. Note, I say “field”. That’s because I fervently believe that researchers ARE fundraisers as well. I believe that a lot of what major institutions do in prospecting, small and medium institutions can do as well but adapted for size and budget.

When I give classes, seminars to medium and small nonprofits they lament that they “can’t afford a Prospect Research” or that “that our budget isn’t focused on prospect research”.

My response is pretty annoying. It’s simply that you “can’t afford NOT to have some sort of prospect research”. After some eyes roll I explain different ways to acquire that research. Yes, it’s awesome to have a full time prospect research officer. I have had several, they rock. Someone dedicated to producing solid leads for your field fundraisers is invaluable. But since I don’t have a magic budget wand for many of you I strongly suggest you go to the next step. Hire a Freelance Prospect Researcher.

What’s amazing is in my seminars few field fundraisers know these nice folks even exist. !! You hire them on a contract or retainer, just like any consultant. “I want to find our current $1,000 donors who could make $10,000 gifts this year”….or “we need to improve Board Recruitment and find key fundraisers” or “we need to identify Hispanic prospects in the $10k and up range”. You get it. Or have them on a steady retainer and reach to them for help, guidance, and analysis. I work with one right now, (and probably drive her nuts) it’s been invaluable. I am just starting up my development team at my new job so it’s not in the stars just yet to have a full timer. But my freelancer is learning my issues and those little nuisances to finding me donors. Just like when you have a full timer, when you engage you’re Prospect Researcher in real discussion and use them as analysts you calibrate them, they get more feedback and get more and more accurate. I realize that prospect research isn’t the only part of the major gifts program, but in my experience is the most neglected and forgotten part.

You can find Freelance Prospect researchers on LinkedIn under the FPRA , Freelance Prospect Research Assoc. or go to APRA’s Prospect L. A list serv for Prospect Researchers. Put an ad on Prospect L and you will get plenty of responses. There are probably other sources I don’t know about.

Whoever runs your nonprofit needs to understand that one common way to be a more effective organization is to have more money through good fundraising. And the difference between what I call “survival fundraising” and “growth fundraising” is time. Spend your time with the people who can make the largest gifts to your institution, who are passionate about what you do and can make those game changing gifts. Through good prospect research you can find those folks. So think about how you want to spend your 40+ hours at work. Let’s get out and compete with those big institutions for those big donors !!

If you like what you hear on this same website under "Contacts" is a list of Freelance Prospect Researchers from around the US


All Articles and Documents Can  Only Be Reproduced With Written Permission of Armando  Zumaya
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