When meeting a new prospect, it’s quite exhilarating to find out that they are philanthropic and have given generously to other organizations. Perhaps the prospect will be interested in focusing some of that philanthropy towards your organization. But occasionally, fundraising professionals may find a gap between what the prospect says and what is publicly available.
It can be very frustrating to learn that Jane Doe has given extensively to ABC KidsCare but prospect research has no philanthropic gifts listed in the donor profile! Or John Smith talked about his family foundation and it is not even mentioned in their profile!
Let’s talk about the top five reasons why this information may not be available, even in this day and age of seemingly infinite data.
Reason 1: Not All Nonprofits Publish a List of Annual Donors
This might be the number one reason that a prospect’s giving is not available. While foundations are required to file tax filings that list their grant giving, nonprofits do not have the same requirements.
Many nonprofits publish an annual report that provides information about an organization, its successes, its programs, and much more for the past year. Many include a donor list, often by giving range. These annual reports are a great marketing tool to show off an organization and encourage other donors.
However, that information is up to the discretion of the nonprofit organization. If the nonprofit does not decide to publish it on the website and/or supply it to aggregators like iWave and DonorSearch, that information won’t be available. That means that research and other fundraising professionals may not find that information.
Reason 2: Anonymous Giving
While a prospect may be telling you about their giving to nonprofits, they may be shy about having that information publicly available to anyone. Many organizations allow donors to be anonymous in their honor rolls and sometimes even in their own databases.
There are many reasons why someone might want anonymity. It could be they don’t want the whole world to know how much money they have or to know that the they and their family are philanthropic. Some people want to protect their privacy and fear that they will be deluged with requests for funds if the information is public. Others may not want the public to know where their donations are going.
Obviously, this information is not available for prospect research professionals to find in the public domain. This makes the conversations you have directly with your prospects an important to fill in the picture that no amount of research can find.
Reason 3: Giving through a Third Party
Another reason that a prospect’s giving may not be easily findable is that they are giving through a third party, notably a donor advised fund, an LLC, or a trust. Similar to Reason 2, people can pick and choose how much information is available through these third party entities. In Fidelity Charitable’s most recent donor advised fund report they share that 81% of Fidelity DAF holders share their names and addresses with a gift; 15% share only the name of the fund; and 4% give anonymously.
Similarly with LLCs, trusts, and funds, people can give as much or as little information as they want. You might find just a surname, like “The Connor Family Charitable Fund.” Sometimes you find an LLC that does not appear to tie to the prospect at all, such as “123 ABC LLC.”
You may be able to infer that the Connor Family Charitable Fund is likely to be the prospect’s fund based on geographical location and areas of interest, but it’s not a certainty. Sometimes there just isn’t enough information.
Reason 4: Their Giving is International
One thing for certain is that the US has a lot of information publicly available, from real estate to SEC filings to foundation tax filings. We can find out a lot just from official databases. We also have a society norm where nonprofits tend to publish annual reports with donor lists.
But outside of the US, the situation is different for pretty much every country. Some places like Canada may have some giving information available but many countries do not have the same expectation or rules even for their foundations. So, the prospect could be giving extensively overseas but we may not be able to find it because the information is not public. There are some giving search sources for different countries, but even then, the prospect’s giving might not be in that database either.
However, there are workarounds that can help. Fundraising research professionals at Aspire make a point of researching how different cultures give back so we might understand general ideas about what people generally feel about philanthropy in the country in question. Additionally, there may be press releases about the prospect if the prospect commands a high profile.
Reason 5: That’s Not Really a Foundation
Sometimes prospects will tell us about their foundation, which is a huge sign of capability (foundations are expensive to start and maintain!) and affinity (they give!). But for whatever reason, the fundraising professionals cannot find heads or tails of any foundation in the name of the prospect. This is because using the name “foundation” is not regulated.
Anyone can name their donor advised fund, trust, or another fund a foundation. The best way to figure that out is to search for an incorporation record. A grant-giving foundation must be an incorporated entity and receive IRS designation as a foundation. If the organization isn’t found in Foundation Center, Candid, or the other IRS Form 990 databases, such as the IRS Search for tax exempt organizations, it is likely that it is not a foundation.
However, watch out because if a foundation was recently incorporated, it may not have its information publicly available yet.
Appreciating Information We Can Find
While these are just five reasons that someone’s giving may not be found in public information, it is pretty amazing that there is so much information that is made available.
There are many organizations throughout the US that do publish their annual reports. Press releases about philanthropy are published in the media. Foundations file tax returns which the IRS makes available in machine readable format.
All of these sources and others allow prospect researchers to find new major gift prospects and confirm affinity and capacity for existing donors.
Additional Resources
- Looking Behind the Curtain: How Anonymous Giving Can Uphold White Supremacy l Community Centric Fundraising 2020
- Search for tax exempt organizations l IRS website
- Disruptive Philanthropy: A Guide to Donor Advised Funds l Aspire Research Group 2022 ($)
- Fidelity Charitable Giving Report l Fidelity Charitable 2024