A global perspective series: prospect research in New Zealand
Dear Diary,
Today, we are going on a quick trip to New Zealand - an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, and neighbor to Australia on its left and South America on its right. Our guide is Julian, a prospect researcher in New Zealand.
Can you describe your research structure to readers? Is it more proactive versus reactive or vice versa? And what type of institution do you work for?
Julian: I work in university advancement and have been for five years, so of course, the research is completely disorganized, haphazard and unfocused! You know, prospect researchers are always the people with their eyes on the horizon saying “Hey, you should put in the groundwork in this area now, if you want to raise some money in 25 years’ time” but in reality, we’re churning out a profile someone demanded on short notice for a meeting the following day. It’s seldom boring and I love it! I do try to encourage pro-active research.
There’s only a handful of full-time prospect researchers in NZ and they are mostly working in the higher education sector. There are about eight universities in NZ and the main three institutions each employ, on average, two or three prospect researchers. Prospect research is a very young profession here. I’d describe development/fundraising in NZ as ten years behind Australia and fifteen years behind the US [insert Kiwi jokes here], but it’s only going to grow.
In this current state of privacy laws, what does due diligence, the need to rate prospects, confirm capacities, and capture affinities mean to you as a prospect researcher in New Zealand?
Julian: I’m lucky (or is it cursed?) in that NZ has some of the broadest privacy laws in the world - something my Australian counterparts in prospect research may be jealous of. Having said that, around the time the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was unfolding most NZ fundraising organizations probably looked very carefully at and overhauled their privacy policies. I’ve been following developments on privacy law in development fundraising with interest – it’s been a major topic at Apra Australia conferences where I’d describe the atmosphere as ‘circumspect.’ My view is the loopholes in privacy law may be subject to future change, so I always use open, annotated sources, check for due diligence, try to uphold myself to some kind of undefined standard and make sure my employer is covered.
The business intelligence component of prospect research – the ratings, capacities and affinities – is our raison d'être, but because we’re not yet an established profession here and people don’t necessarily know what we do it can often feel like we are still very much promoting ourselves, sometimes even within our own organizations. In the US, organizations know that you can’t fundraise effectively without quality prospect research. In NZ, we’re still at the point where we’re explaining what we can do and why it’s important. But when people see the results they’re impressed.
Would you say that prospect research is different in terms of style, methodology and resources because we are in different countries? How so? And how can we stay connected regardless of our differences?
It’s the same in practice, just scaled down in terms of resources invested and the amounts raised. Non-profits in NZ fundraise in the $100,000s or the low millions and that is seen as a good result. There are a couple of NZ organizations, such as the University of Auckland, who have invested in prospect research and are able to fundraise in the hundreds of millions, and in Australia they fundraise on a US scale. Conversely, Kiwis are very generous – in 2018 NZ was listed 3rd on the Charities Aid Foundation World Giving Index. The reason for the low fundraising returns is because NZ’s population is under 5 million people, we are a low wage economy and we simply don’t have the same level of wealth here as in the US, although that is changing. There are now 13 resident billionaires in NZ and in 2019 two home-grown NZ billionaires listed in Forbes. We currently have one of the world’s greatest rich-poor divides, and the rich are certainly getting richer, which is causing some big social and political issues.
We may be more connected than you realize! In recent years we’ve seen a trend of international ultra-high wealth individuals acquiring NZ residency, with billionaires like Alexander Abramov, Julian Robertson, Bill Foley Soichiro Fukutake and James Cameron, all obtaining land and investments here, attracted by Lord of the Rings scenery, and relatively affordable property and untaxed capital gains. There is also another more sinister trend where Silicon Valley billionaires like Peter Theil are preparing for a global apocalypse by buying boltholes in NZ. It seems as if you’re a billionaire and you already have the super-yacht, the golf course and the art collection, owing a property in the Queenstown Lakes region has become the next desirable acquisition (Queenstown is the equivalent of Aspen). So, you might have noticed some of your prospects spending time in NZ lately, or soon.
Many of the resources we use are the same. There are two excellent free resources I always use – the New Zealand Companies Register and the Charities Service Register. These allow me to find the home address of any company director or shareholder, find board members of a charity or see what available funds a local trust holds. It’s very transparent, but in comparison it is much easier for a researcher in the US to find out a person’s salary, net wealth or their donation history.
To qualify for NZ’s National Business Review (NBR) Rich List you need to be worth NZ $50 million (about US $34 million) but I’d be thrilled to find out about anyone with $5 million to spare! That’s hard, because traditionally Kiwis generally don’t flaunt their wealth (although this too is changing). There are still genuinely millionaire farmers in Southland living modestly and driving old beat up Subaru wagons. Identifying property value can be a real headache, because NZ has been in such a sustained property boom for so long that now anyone who owns a house in places, like our biggest city Auckland, is a millionaire by default. The escalated values are almost arbitrary because no one can afford to buy a house. It’s the same situation as the housing market in San Francisco – not so different again!
Being part of organizations like Apra is a great way of staying connected. I follow a lot of US and Canadian researchers on Twitter too, and they are the best at sharing experiences, relevant articles and advice. I get a lot of good value out of Twitter (@ProspectNZ).
What advice, pertaining to prospect development/fundraising, would you give to a new researcher from America who just re-located to New Zealand?
If you’ve come from a university or an organization with a successful development team, be prepared for the “smallness” of the development/fundraising industry here, in terms of numbers of people and the resources available to researchers. I had the opportunity to work alongside a counterpart from a major English university and he was surprised that I write all of my own queries in Raiser’s Edge – of course they have database teams to do that kind of thing. But I can’t imagine not writing my own queries because it ensures I have ultimate quality control over the data! My point is, you’re probably going to be working in a small team so be prepared to apply your skills widely. In addition to prospect research, at various times I’ve also supported the database team, alumni office, stewardship, events and anniversaries. I’ve even written annual appeals and stuff for our social media.
For professional development such as conferences (plus job opportunities and better salaries) Kiwi prospect researchers usually have to travel to Australia. If you live outside Auckland this can mean an expensive full days’ travel. But if you can resist living in Auckland you might possibly be able to combine your prospect research job with a lifestyle and even partake in some of that famous Lord of the Rings scenery.
I’m excited to be part of what feels like a rapidly evolving profession here in New Zealand. Join us!
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Many thanks to you, Julian, for sharing your experiences and a wealth of knowledge with us.
Readers, I hope you all hold onto your passports, our next trip abroad may be soon.
In the meantime, if you are planning your own trip and are unsure of where to go, check out New Zealand.
Until next time, April 15th!
