About Us
Aspire Research Group helps you leverage fundraising intelligence to change the world
We are your donor prospect strategy partner. With the right information, we believe nonprofit fundraising professionals can connect more deeply with donors, include more donors, and fulfill their mission.
We are committed to helping organizations around the world connect with the right prospects—whether they are individuals, foundations, or corporations— to meet their fundraising goals. We help nonprofits to get to know their constituents better and work to strategize ways to cultivate and solicit them.
We help clients with their campaigns, identifying prospects and working to develop plans and approaches to develop relationships with prospects to help meet those campaign goals.
We also work with organizations that know they need to use prospect research, but aren’t sure how to get started. We walk them through the steps to use research effectively and efficiently to benefit their fundraising practices.
Our clients include local, national, and international organizations that are making a difference in the world. We also support fundraising consultant firms that want to provide their clients with high quality prospect research.
We partner with nonprofits to make sure you get exactly the information and support you need, when you need it.
Our Team
Jennifer J. Filla, president and founder of Aspire Research Group, leads a group of talented researchers from around the United States. She recently founded Prospect Research Institute, which offers the first-ever, rigorous online courses in prospect research in the industry. She is co-author with Helen Brown of the popular book, Prospect Research for Fundraisers: The Essential Handbook, part of the Wiley/AFP Fund Development Series.
Jen is a member of the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA) and the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). She previously served as president of APRA-FL, and as past director of AFP-FL Suncoast, Habitat for Humanity of Delaware County, and The Center Foundation. She received a B.S. from Neumann University.
Email Jen
727 202 3405 x700
Skype: jenniferfilla
LinkedIn
Elisa Shoenberger is a researcher and writer in Chicago. She has over eight years of experience in the fundraising sector working as a prospect researcher at Loyola University Chicago and benchmarking analyst at Grenzebach Glier and Associates.
Elisa earned her MBA in marketing and operations management from Loyola, a MA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and a BA in history from the University of Chicago.
She writes regularly for Book Riot, Library Journal, and Murder & Mayhem. She has written about philanthropy for Inside Philanthropy, Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Daily Dot, Brainfacts.org and others. She has spoken at several fundraising conferences for both international and local chapters of APRA and others. She has published with the Boston Globe, Huffington Post, Business Insider, and many others. She has written In Good Company: A Guide to Corporate Fundraising (2021) and Disruptive Philanthropy: A Guide to Donor Advised Funds (2022).
Email Elisa
727 202 3405 x703
LinkedIn
Julia Bojarcik is a researcher with over 25 years in the field of Advancement. She started her career in fundraising with the Sisters of Mercy Regional Community of Dallas doing everything from events to annual fund mailings to writing grant proposals. She entered the world of research when she became the Assistant Director of Research and Donor Relations for Wilkes University. Most recently she was the Director of Advancement Research for King’s College.
Julia earned her BM in Music Education from Misericordia University and her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from King’s College. She is a member of the Board of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (Apra), serving as its Membership Director. She is also serving as Secretary for the Child Development Council of NEPA Board.
In her free time, Julia enjoys sewing, reading historical fiction novels and volunteers in the music ministry for her parish.
Email Julia
727 202 3405 x706
LinkedIn
Jacob Jose was introduced to prospect researching when he was volunteering with Oxfam while in college. After graduating, he joined a global educational organization as a prospect researcher conducting research on donors in 8 different countries. He has over 7 years of experience in prospect researching.
Jacob earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College. He enjoys cycling and listening to audiobooks in his spare time.
Crystal Dutton is a local Florida native with over 7 years of experience in administrative work. Her background includes work in customer relations, training and development assistance, and office management support. Primary tasks include arranging weekly agendas, travel plans, and managing maintenance for 30+ fleet vehicles. However, she found a passion when she stumbled into the accounting field in 2017, overseeing 200+ accounts as AP/AR lead.
Crystal is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of South Florida where she set to graduate in summer of 2023. In her spare time, she enjoys the outdoors, exploring local trails and attractions with her family.
Email Crystal
727 202 3405 x705
LinkedIn
Our Core Values
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Think like a fundraiser
- Prospect research aims to create mutually satisfying life-long relationships between a nonprofit and its donors. Our work changes the world through the missions of our clients. We strategize with fundraisers to ensure that the research we provide helps them with their end goal.
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Build open and honest relationships with communication
- Communication is key to fundraising at all levels, whether it is between a donor and the nonprofit or between staff within the nonprofit. We work to maintain open communications on research and questions with our clients, working together to answer questions and overcome challenges.
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Do more with less
- Nonprofit organizations of every size face extreme pressure to raise funds using the least amount of resources, sometimes nearly starving themselves. Aspire Research Group needs to recognize and provide right-sized solutions that deliver maximized results. Guerrilla tactics are often required.
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Embrace and drive change
- The fundraising world is constantly changing whether it’s the economy or the needs of a nonprofit. We work to stay abreast of wealth industries, new technologies, economic factors, to help drive the strategy to get to know your prospects. This kind of expertise requires constant learning and accepting challenges to our personal bias and perspectives.
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Use Ethics as a guide
- With so much data in the world and so many technologies, it’s important to place ethics at the center of what we do. We work carefully with sensitive data, maintain data security practices, that help to ensure the integrity of the information.
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Be adventurous, creative, and open-minded
- We take our unique perspective working in the fundraising field for over 20 years and find new innovative ways to answer your questions.
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Be passionate and determined
- We want to see our clients succeed in meeting their goals, whether it is a campaign or an annual fundraising goal. But research can be also challenging, fascinating and filled with people, numbers and incredible needs. We bring our passion for you and our love of research to help find and evaluate the best prospects for your organizations.