In the current fundraising environment with corporations and foundations cutting back on funding or leaving an area, what does an organization do when a key funder leaves? How do you fill in the gap in funding? When a large institutional funder leaves an organization that organization needs to rebuild its base of support and it typically relies on support from individuals to refocus fundraising efforts. This month’s Thursday Workshop entitled “Building Your Prospect Base in a Changed Environment” will address these questions and more. Join our Client Service Manager, Tricia Ambler, as she discusses how to use WealthEngine data to build a consistent pool of individual prospects, so that if a large funder leaves your organization will not be left out in the cold.

Register for this session and others scheduled for 2010 at: http://www.wealthengine.com/pub/workshops.jsp.

We hope to see you at our next Thursday Workshop:

Topic: Identify, Focus, Promote: Three Planned Giving Strategies to Enact Right NOW
Date: Thursday, November 19 from 1-2 pm EDT
Presenter: Sally Boucher, Client Service Manager at WealthEngine

Successful organizations succeed and even thrive in poor economic conditions not by cutting back on fundraising investments, but by focusing them more strategically. Because major and planned gift donors are often the most loyal and committed to your cause, and because they may be amongst the least affected by the vagaries of the current markets, now is the perfect time to review your planned giving strategies.

This workshop will cover three opportunities to enhance your planned giving program:

1) Identify and rate your best planned gift prospects
2) Focus on those least hurt by the financial market upheaval
3) Promote gifts that appeal to donors when times are tough

To register for this and other free workshops, please visit: http://www.wealthengine.com/pub/workshops.jsp

The New York Times’ annual Giving section includes over a dozen articles, essays and charity profiles on fundraising and philanthropy. One particulary interesting article, “New Fame for the Everyday Donor”, describes how, given the current economy, charities are rethinking their fundraising strategies to focus more intently on smaller-level donors found through direct mail, online giving and social networking.

“It’s easy to be drawn to the multimillion-dollar donations, but we’re doing ourselves a disservice by not elevating the stories of the working mothers and fathers who also contribute what are significant amounts to them,” says Eugene Cho from the nonprofit, One Day’s Wages.

At WealthEngine, we routinely hear stories of the $25 donor who, through proper prospect identification and cultivation, later became a major donor. We also hear how our Propensity to Give (P2G) score helps to prioritize and segment donors and prospects across multiple campaigns–major gift, direct mail, special events, etc. Now is great time to embrace and plan your 2010 cultivation approaches for the “everyday donor.” Let us know if we can help!

WealthEngine has teamed up with fundraising consulting firm, Bentz Whaley Flessner, to provide the market’s most comprehensive and effective analysis of giving capacity and propensity.

Bentz Whaley Flessner’s analytics division, DonorCast, founded by Joshua Birkholz, principal of Bentz Whaley Flessner and author of Fundraising Analytics, specializes in custom-engineered analytics and data mining training that provide nonprofit organizations with important insights into the giving patterns among their own donors across a spectrum of fundraising programs. DonorCast uses predictive modeling and statistical analysis to increase the sophistication of fundraising programs and to point their efforts to the greatest opportunities for success.

“We have proven to be a solid combination as our clients already respect the tremendous value WealthEngine and Bentz Whaley Flessner deliver within our own respective disciplines of prospect research and modeling,” said Tony Glowacki, chief executive officer of WealthEngine. “In fact, working together, we recently won engagements at two major universities in the Midwest. By formalizing our partnership going forward, institutions can benefit from our integrated approach to wealth identification, prospect segmentation and predictive modeling.”

For more information, click here or send us an email.

There is still time to register for a free webinar on WealthEngine’s Best Practices for Prospect Research in Higher Education Fundraising Report. Two free webinars are scheduled; to register, please click on the below link next to the date that is most convenient to you:

• Tuesday, October 20 from 1-2 pm EST
• Thursday, October 22 from 3-4 pm EST

We hope to see you at one of the webinars. If, however, you cannot join us, you can still download a free copy of the Report at: http://www.wealthengine.com/pub/bpEDUorder.jsp. In the Report you will find eight best practices, case studies highlighting best practices in action as well as useful worksheets for analyzing fundraising return on investment.

For more information, please contact marketing@wealthengine.com.

Today, WealthEngine released our latest Best Practices report, entitled Best Practices for Prospect Research in Higher Education Fundraising. This Report is the culmination of a 5-month research initiative which included an in-depth survey of colleges and universities and qualitative interviews with development professionals.

The Report outlines eight best practices, details five university case studies and includes helpful return on investment worksheets to help you achieve success in your prospect research and overall development efforts.

Visit our Best Practices page to download your free copy today!

Learn more by attending a free, 1-hour webinar on Tuesday, October 20th at 1 pm EST or Thursday, October 22nd at 3 pm EST.

We hope to see you on Thursday at this month’s FREE Thursday Workshop webinar:

Topic: Harnessing Special Events for Prospect Identification
Date: Thursday, October 15, 2009 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT
Presenter: Steve Knight, Client Service Manager, WealthEngine

Special events are an integral part of the fundraising process for all non-profit organizations. This session will look at different types of special events, including those for higher education, healthcare, and the arts, and how you can use research tools to identify prospects for longer-term cultivation. In the examples, we will use our products to show you how to improve your knowledge of attendees as well as target specific populations for more focused events.

To register, please visit:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/311127825.

A columnist for the Chronicle of Philanthropy (and donor advisor) predicts foundation giving will drop next year due to the loss of assets, minimum asset distribution of 5%, and the fact that those who gave more than 5% in 2009 can apply that amount/percentage over 5% to 2010 distribution levels.

See http://philanthropy.com/news/prospecting/index.php?id=9646 for the full article.

What do you think? Do you think foundations will remain steady, dip due to the above prediction, or increase because of community need?

Finding and attracting new donors to your organization is both an art and a science. Let us demonstrate valuable techniques for identifying new, highly qualified prospects that have a real ability to support your fundraising efforts.

Topic: The Art and Science of Attracting New Prospects
Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT
Presenter: Claire Logue, Director of Client Training, WealthEngine

Learn smart prospecting techniques with WealthEngine’s FindWealth Online:

• Use Circle of Friends and Data Quick to strategically expand your prospecting universe
• Use Pinpoint to build prospect lists of insiders and track their Form 144 filings. Set up stock alerts using Pinpoint and news alerts using Dialog on your top prospects and existing donors
• Use your History Section more effectively to save searches, combine records, manage and export your prospect lists

We will also show you our newest product, Prospect Generator, a national database of more than 7M individuals worth more than $1M. Prospect Generator will help you build targeted prospect lists and is searchable by multiple criteria (zip code, value, and number of real estate properties, stock, income, etc.). It is also easy to export for all of your direct marketing needs.

Gain CFRE credit for your attendance. Click here for more information or to sign up.

WealthEngine now offers to you… our most valued clients, FREE online Workshops designed to help you in your fundraising efforts.

Using our products in these capacity building workshops is sure to help you meet your fundraising goals.

These FREE workshops are one hour in duration and are offered monthly on the 3rd Thursday of the month.

Each session covers specialized training topics to assist you in putting your data to work in your overall fundraising strategy.

Upcoming Fall Workshops include:

• The Art and Science of Attracting New Prospects,
  Sept. 17, 2009 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
• Harnessing Special Events for Prospect Identification,
  Oct. 15, 2009 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
• Identify, Focus, Promote: 3 Planned Giving Strategies to Enact Right Now,
  Nov. 19, 2009 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
• Building your Prospect Base in a Changed Environment,
  Dec. 17, 2009 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT

Gain CFRE credit for your attendance: Most workshops offer CFRE credit. Full participation in the program is applicable for 1 point in Category 1.B—Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification.

You can register for any of these workshops thru:

1. FindWealth Online - by going into the Help Section
2. Client Service - on the front page of WealthEngine
3. Send an email to training@wealthengine.com