Capacity, Affinity, and Propensity Markers

Finding major donors who are willing to give substantial funding and long-term support for your cause is vital. That’s why nonprofits of all shapes and sizes turn to prospect research—the process of searching for, identifying, and prioritizing potential major donors.

Putting in the effort to carefully identify these donors pays off by helping your organization target donors more effectively and build genuine relationships with them. Ultimately, successful prospect research helps you secure more major gifts, planned gifts, sponsorships, and other significant forms of support.

But how does prospect research work, and how do you know what makes a likely major-giving prospect? In this guide, we’ll break down three key types of indicators to look for in your research: capacity, affinity, and propensity markers.

The Prospect-Research Process

The general prospect-research process involves using a variety of internal and external data sources to search for individuals with indicators that they may be willing and able to donate a major gift. These individuals may be existing donors, lapsed donors, or anyone who has a connection with your nonprofit.

Typically, nonprofits approach prospect research in one of two ways:

• DIY prospect research: The do-it-yourself approach works best for nonprofits that have a dedicated major gifts officer or multiple team members with prospect research experience. You can use both free data sources (like public records and social media) and paid tools (like a wealth screening database). Just make sure you’re working with clean, accurate data to ensure that the information you find is reliable.
• Consultant-led research: If you’re new to prospect research or don’t know where to start, a fundraising consultant can help. These experts are knowledgeable about prospect research best practices and have access to comprehensive databases and tools. A consultant can lead you through the entire prospect-research process, from wealth screening to verification to creating cultivation plans.

Whether you handle research yourself or let a consultant take the lead, the process involves looking for indicators that a donor has the financial means, passion for your cause, and giving habits that signal they may be able to give a major gift. This means scouring your database and other prospect research tools to search for the following markers:

Capacity (Wealth) Markers

Capacity makers indicate that a potential donor may be in a financial position to make significant contributions to your cause. Searching for financial capacity is often the first step in prospect research.

While your research won’t reveal the exact balance of a prospect’s bank account, you can find reliable signs that an individual has considerable wealth. According to DonorSearch, wealth indicators typically include:

• high-income careers;
• real estate ownership;
• stock ownership; and,
• business affiliations.

When looking for capacity markers, make sure to consider your organization’s specific major-gift threshold. If you consider a major gift to be any amount above $20,000, for example, you may need to find more wealth markers for each prospect than a nonprofit with a $5,000 major gift threshold.

Affinity (Warmth) Markers

Affinity markers indicate that a potential donor has a genuine personal interest in your organization’s mission.

Identifying a prospect’s affinity for your cause is critical because it reminds fundraisers that major donors aren’t just blank checks. After all, donors want to make meaningful financial contributions, and prospects will only give major gifts if they truly believe in and trust your organization.

You’ll find warmth markers within prospects’ giving histories, personal interests, and engagement with your nonprofit. These indicators might include:

• political involvement and donations;
• donation history and past involvement with your organization or similar organizations;
• professional and personal connections with board members or other donors in your database; and,
• previous experience with grantseeking or selecting grant recipients.

Affinity markers empower you to look past the numbers and identify prospects you can form real, lasting connections with.

Propensity (Habit) Markers

Propensity markers indicate that a prospect has an established habit of giving to charitable causes and organizations like yours.

Every prospect you decide to cultivate should have propensity markers—after all, donors who have given substantial gifts or time to nonprofits in the past are much more likely to do so again. Look for markers that demonstrate a clear propensity to give, such as:

• donations to other nonprofits;
• board service with your own organization or another nonprofit;
• frequent fundraising event attendance; and,
• a history of sizeable donations like endowments or donor-advised fund grants.

For a major donor prospect to be truly viable, they need to have markers in all three categories. This might look like a former board member who owns multiple real estate properties and donates regularly to a similar nonprofit. Or, a likely prospect may be a loyal mid-level donor who attends events frequently and recently got promoted to a C-suite position at their company. The more prospect-research indicators a prospect has, the more likely they are to give.

How to Use Your Prospect-Research Data

Once you find one or more prospects who have markers in every category, what do you do next? How do you put your prospect-research data into action?

First, use your findings to draw conclusions about each prospect’s likelihood of giving a major gift and prioritize them accordingly. For example, if a prospect named Adrianna has the most markers and seems able to give a larger gift than other prospects, focus on her first. Prioritizing prospects now will help you devote your team’s time and effort to the best opportunities.

Starting at the top of your list, develop personalized plans with each prospect to cultivate those relationships. Donorly’s donor cultivation guide recommends using your prospect research data and insights to tailor cultivation strategies to the interests of each potential donor. For instance, you might invite a prospect who served on another nonprofit’s board to have lunch with your current board members to learn more about your organization.

As you get to know prospects more, you can supplement prospect-research data with what you learn about their personal interests, priorities, and concerns. When it comes time to make your ask, refer back to the capacity data you found to make sure you’re asking for a realistic donation.

Prospect research should be a permanent part of your organization’s fundraising strategy since it helps you identify and get to know those who have the potential to give the most impactful gifts. Let these markers guide your research and decision-making, and you’ll be able to zero in on prospects likely to support your nonprofit for years to come.