Inquiries on Prospect Development Deliverables

Dear Diary,

I wish to share some thoughts and questions that I believe we can all relate to when it comes to our deliverables in the field of Prospect Development. But here is my disclaimer - I am asking the questions and not providing any answers; instead, I want my questions to ignite conversations, and provide the answers. I also want to seriously note that these are not just my thoughts, but rather compounded thoughts that I frequently hear from people within the field pertaining to these deliverables.

I think we could really group-think answers and strategies behind everything that is discussed below. So, let the inquiries begin.

Profiles/Briefs/Memos - who invented these and why is it that we, specifically in prospect research, have a deliverable that can be frustrating, lengthy, rigid, or prevent creativity/storytelling. Understandably, we are accustomed to templates and feel as though, “this is just what my role entails”, but when can we change this? Should we not enjoy what we do, and have some control of the output?

Portfolio reviews – “the customer is always right; the customer is always right” … until you tell them that they need a smaller portfolio because they cannot visit everyone and are not managing a third of the people currently in their portfolio. The customer is always right until they are not pleased or satisfied with the list you created for their portfolio.

I wonder if there could ever be a perfect management system? Or has this been set up to be a painstaking task with highs and lows, and no middle ground? And is the middle ground, the best method?

When is the customer wrong? And how can that be effectively and constructively communicated?

Data analysis – the buzz word for the last few years has been data, more data, more analytics, here comes artificial intelligence, and more data. Realistically, how well do we in fundraising understand the role of data? How well are we thinking and implementing data in our organizations?

Again, I am only asking the questions, and I hope we can all begin to think about some answers or strategies.

Until next time, December 15th!