How to unearth the hidden gems in your donor file.
You’ve probably heard this before: “Your next major donor is already in your housefile.” After all, if they weren’t already aligned with your mission they wouldn’t be giving to you, right? But how do you find them? How do you know when your $5 monthly donor, Mrs. Abigail Smith, is secretly wishing you would reach out to her so she could leave your organization a transformational planned gift? You don’t have time to do a donor-by-donor inspection when you are already arranging donor prospect meetings, calling new donors who gave over $250, and inviting Elon Musk to speak at your gala. How could you possibly go through your entire housefile and determine whom to prioritize?
Enter the wealth screen.
A wealth screen is a powerful tool designed to identify the capacity of an individual to give. Using publicly available data, wealth research software identifies an individual’s assets and giving history to help form a picture of their ability and propensity to give.
After inputting an individual’s first name, last name, and address into the system, the algorithm looks for a match in public records. Once matched, it reviews real estate holdings, public investments, and nonprofit affiliations. It then produce a list of key markers, along with a rating that indicates a match confidence, level of capacity, and history of giving for the individual. These searches can be done for your entire housefile.
Where does this get you?
This information on your donor file lets you prioritize your outreach. With the ratings, along with your own internal donation information, you can identify the individuals who have the willingness and ability to partner with you at a deeper level. Additionally, individuals who have known associations with foundations or other nonprofits are often noted, providing a list for potential networking.
Does this work?
Since every donor file is different, your file might not have someone who has a million dollars to spare . . . but it might. One faith-based charitable ministry organization ran a wealth screen on its constituents, including volunteers, and uncovered five individuals with high-capacity ratings. That single insight changed their approach: when leadership made an ask of one of the volunteers, knowing their capacity, they secured a $120,000 gift. Without the wealth screen, those volunteers might never have been seen as major-gift prospects at all.
For a more typical example, another faith-based organization identified a prospect with strong giving capacity through a wealth screen. When the organization called him, he expressed interest in offering support. After making a $5,000 gift himself, he then invited the team to apply to his foundation for an additional $10,000.
As the adage goes, “A bird in your donor file is worth two in the bush.” These are warm leads, people who already know and love your work and want to help your mission succeed. A wealth screen enables you to effectively and systematically prioritize your list.
What kind of investment does this screening require?
There are several wealth-screening options at different price points. Some CRMs include built-in screening tools or allow third-party integrations that add wealth data directly to donor records. These options are often subscription-based, with costs typically around $4,000 to $5,000 per year for a mid-size database. Non-integrated options may offer flat annual fees for unlimited screening or tiered pricing based on database size and the number of records screened. For instance, AmPhil offers wealth screening for $0.25 per record, with projects starting at $450. Click here for more information.
What do I do now?
The donors who will transform your organization may be—or probably are—already in your database. They're the volunteers who show up every week, the $25 monthly donors who never miss a payment, the event attendees who bring friends year after year. They're demonstrating commitment, but without a wealth screen, you're flying blind on their capacity.
You don't need to screen everyone. Start small by screening:
- Volunteers and board members who've never been asked for a major gift;
- Monthly donors giving for two-plus years (loyalty often signals deeper connection);
- Donors/prospects who have been active in the past one, three, or five years;
- Lapsed major donors who might be ready to re-engage; and
- Event attendees who consistently participate but give modestly.
Even screening just 1,000 records can identify five to ten high-capacity prospects you didn’t know you had, an investment that could pay for itself many times over.
Consider this: if the organizations in our examples above hadn't run a wealth screen, those gifts ($120,000 from overlooked volunteers; $15,000 from a prospect who was ready to give) would still be languishing on the table. How many similar opportunities are hiding in your file right now? While a wealth screen can’t predict whether a particular prospect will give or how much, it can help you focus your outreach where it is most likely to pay off. Your next transformational donor is already raising their hand. A wealth screen simply helps you see it.
Ready to uncover the hidden gems in your donor file? Contact us to discuss how wealth screening can fit your budget and priorities.