Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “prospect management” in meetings and conferences. But what exactly is it? And what is it not? It can go by several names including relationship management, or donor cultivation. Keep reading to learn more about prospect management and discover the truth behind three common myths about prospect management.
Apra, the professional organization for prospect development, which encompasses prospect research, prospect management, and data analytics, describes prospect management as follows:
“Managing, tracking, and reporting on an organization’s activity with its constituent and prospect pools and making recommendations to influence fundraiser and campaign activity positively.”
Myth 1: Prospect Management is Prospect Research
While they are definitely related and often combined into a single role, they are different. Prospect research focuses on identifying, collecting, and evaluating prospective donors. They help inform gift officers about prospects, especially their philanthropic affinity and capacity.
Prospect management focuses more on the larger picture – looking at fundraisers’ portfolios and the prospect pool. Ideally, a prospect manager acts as a strategy partner to fundraisers, helping them navigate and manage prospect cultivation, effectively use information systems for tracking and work process, as well as facilitating reporting so that fundraisers know where they are to goal and managers and leadership can make data-informed decisions.
Myth 2: It’s just more meaningless busy work
Having a robust prospect management system does mean more work – especially data entry – but it is important work. Fundraisers are asked to enter tracking information about their prospects into the database, from contact reports to prospect status to creating gift proposals in the CRM.
There are many reasons why this is so important. First, it means that the information can be stored and read by other people at the organization. In this way, if the fundraiser leaves the organization, that institutional knowledge does not leave with them. Second, putting in proposals and plans allows leadership to forecast what philanthropic gifts could come in a certain period. That is powerful stuff!
While data entry may feel tedious, it is not busy work. Tracking key information about prospect movement is essential to the health and wealth of any organization.
Myth 3: Prospect management is going to take away my favorite prospects!
While prospect management may recommend removing people from your portfolio, this is not done willy nilly. Prospect management (along with prospect research) wants you, the fundraiser, to be successful. That means you need prospects that can and will make major gifts when you ask them. Portfolio reviews examine several data points including contact reports, past giving history, capacity rating, proposals, and other information. But fundraisers should never be left out of the process. Your intimate knowledge of the prospect from face to face contacts is critical to deciding if the person or organization is worth continued efforts.
Once someone is removed from the portfolio or prospect pool, that means your portfolio can have new people in it, which means new opportunities to raise funds. Why continue to carry a portfolio of people who aren’t going to give…or give much? When done well, the relationship manager is your partner, helping you achieve your relationship and gift goals – ensuring your organization can thrive and grow in support of its mission.
Resources
- Definition of Prospect Development l APRA 2014
- Five Things That the Disney Movie Frozen Taught Me About Prospect Management l Aspire Research Group 2024
- Add Speed to Major Gift Portfolios with RPM l Jen Filla Blog 2024
About the Author
Elisa Shoenberger 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, Wired, Slate, Huffington Post, Business Insider, and many others. She has written In Good Company: A Guide to Corporate Fundraising (2021); Disruptive Philanthropy: A Guide to Donor Advised Funds (2022); Volatile Opportunity: A Guide to Cryptocurrency and Fundraising (2023).