Bethesda's WealthEngine digs deep into data to find potential donors

A Bethesda company called WealthEngine scours public records in search of rich people who might give money to WealthEngine's extensive client list of nonprofit organizations. Everybody knows the big names. Think Lerner, Leonsis. Rales and Rubenstein. Kimsey, Bradley, Snyder and Smith. WealthEngine digs deeper.

Full text article by Thomas Heath is available via The Washington Post, 3/1/10.

Best Practices for Prospect Research in Higher Education Fundraising

WealthEngine recently released Best Practices for Prospect Research in Higher Education Fundraising, the latest in their series on best practices reports. This 60+ page 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.

You may download a free copy of the report at http://www.wealthengine.com/pub/bpEDUorder.jsp.

Community Colleges Begin $1-Million Project to Improve Graduation Rates

With money from two foundations, eight two-year colleges are starting a pilot project to produce more graduates at a lower cost per student. The project will begin by identifying a set of common data that community colleges need to collect to determine their effectiveness. The project's goal is to have a voluntary accountability system in 20 community colleges by 2011.

Full-text post by Eric Kelderman is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/6/09.

Recession Means Fund Raisers Have to Re-Assess Each Donor's Wealth

The recession is keeping the fund raisers who conduct research on potential donors busy. Profiles are based on information about potential donors, such as the value of their homes, their stock holdings, and their charitable giving, all of which are likely to be down.

Full text article by Nicole Wallace is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 8.18.09.

The Problem of Too Many Potential Donors

Wealth-screening services can leave fund raisers with a welcome but still challenging task of how to prioritize a list of too many potential donors, speakers told participants in Boston at APRA’s annual conference.

Full text article by Nicole Wallace is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 7.31.09.

In American Cities, Ranks of Wealthy Donors to Solicit Thin

The number of millionaires in the biggest 10 cities in the United States declined by more than 15 percent last year, a discouraging sign for fund raisers.

Full-text blog post by Caroline Preston is available via the Chronicle's Prospecting Blog, 7.17.09.

Are Holiday Gift Guides Worthwhile?

Newspapers and magazines will soon start preparing holiday gift guides, and not all nonprofit groups think it is worth the time and energy it takes to participate.

Full-text article by Brennen Jensen is available via the Chronicle's Prospecting Blog, 7.5.09.

Changing Demographics Could Be More of a Challenge to Charities Than the Recession

Fund raisers might want to be more concerned about shifting demographics than economic swings, Judith E. Nichols, deputy director for external affairs at the Brooklyn Public Library, told fund raisers recently.

Full-text blog post is available via The Chronicle's Prospecting Blog, 6.14.09.

Donors Grow More Optimistic on the Economy

Battered by the recession, few donors plan to increase their giving anytime soon. But their confidence in the economy is now showing some signs of improvement — which could bode well for longer-term fund-raising efforts — according to a new survey cited by Prospecting, The Chronicle’s fund-raising column.

Full-text blog post by Holly Hall is available via Prospecting, 5.21.09.

The World's Billionaires

The richest people in the world have gotten poorer, just like the rest of us. This year the world's billionaires have an average net worth of $3 billion, down 23% in 12 months. The world now has 793 billionaires, down from 1,125 a year ago.

Full-text article and complete list is available via Forbes, 3.11.09.

Where the Money Is: America’s Top Wealth Centers

A new study by Bizjournals identified 10 wealth centers — communities that manage to blend substantial size (populations above 100,000) with considerable affluence.

Full-text article by G. Scott Thomas is available via San Antonio Business Journal, 8.22.08.

The 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate

Article listing the top 100 most powerful people in New York real estate.

Full-text article published by The New York Observer, 5.13.08.

British Philanthropists Giving More

The very rich in Great Britain are giving more and more to causes in developing countries.

Full-text article by Maurice Chittenden is available via The Sunday Times, 4.20.08.

2007 Windfall Report: America’s 50 Richest Paydays

You won’t find Oprah Winfrey on the list. Nor will you find the legion of hedge-fund managers who routinely collect hundreds of millions in any given year. That’s because they’re all just getting paid to do their day jobs. This is a list of people who enjoyed windfalls thanks to large transactions: stock cash-outs, I.P.O.’s, sales of companies, real-estate deals—even inheritances. Peter Newcomb's list of the 50 players (and one lucky canine) whose bottom lines got the biggest boost last year is available via Vanity Fair, 3.2008.

China's top philanthropists donate $1.8b in 5 years

China's top 100 philanthropists have given away 12.9 billion ($1.8 billion) since 2003, with education, social welfare and poverty reduction attracting the most donors, the Hurun Philanthropy List reports.

Full-text article by Wang Ying is available via China Daily, 4.3.08.

Inc. Magazine/Inc.com's 2008 Executive Compsensation Guide

The Executive Compensation Guide is a comprehensive database of salaries across a variety of categories.

America's Richest Counties

Forbes recently published a list of America's richest counties based on median household income data from the 2006 census. Fairfax County, Va., Loudoun County, Va., and Howard County, Md., top the list.

Full-text article by Matt Woolsey is available via Forbes.com, 1.22.08.

Philanthropy in 2007

The Philanthropy 50: Americans Who Gave the Most in 2007. Twenty donors made gifts of $100-million or more last year, just shy of a record of 21 such gifts in 2006.

Donors Increasingly Make Their Big Gifts Anonymously, Chronicle Analysis Finds (article by Sam Kean). Anonymous giving hasn't had a year like 2007 in recent memory, according to a Chronicle analysis of donations of $1-million or more. Unnamed donors made at least 87 such donations.

Search The Chonicle's database to learn more about all the donors on the Philanthropy 50, plus gain access to information on all the gifts of $1-million or more listed in the Chronicle in the past year.

Published via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 2008. [Subscription required/]

Prospect Research Resource Recommendations

The Rich 100: Canada's Wealthiest People [Canadian Business Journal, 1.14.08]
Best & Brightest of 2007 [Esquire, 11.01.07]
The 2007 Silicon Alley 100 [Silicon Alley Insider, 2008]

Millionaire Corner: How Much Does One Need to be Rich?

Spectrem's Millionaire Corner: Wealth Insight & Action is a website focused on the wealthy. Resources include: millionaire profiles, millionaire indices (includes investment preferences, perception of issues, affluent outlook), affluent investing, millionaire lifestyles, real estate cornerstone, innovative enterprise, and philanthropy.

How Much Does One Need to be Rich? The wealthy say at least $5 million.

A New Breed of Billionaire

A growing number of wealthy people in countries that have long been marred by poverty - such as India, Mexico, Turkey, and Russia - are turning to philanthropy.

Full-text article by Landon Thomas Jr. is available via The New York Times, 12.14.07.

Best Young Entrepreneurs of 2007

25 smart new businesses from some of the brightest entrepreneurs in the U.S. age 25 and under.

Full-text article by Nick Leiber and Stacy Perman is available via BusinessWeek, 2007.

Wealth Report: Mukesh Ambani Becomes World's Richest Man

India's Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, has become the world's richest man.

Read this 10.29.07 article about Mr. Ambani and view a list of the five richest people in the world on the Stock Market Views website.

Address Verification Databases

Perhaps helpful tools for prospect research.

MelissaData Address Verification You can verify any U.S. address and get information on the county, time zone, house of representative member, latitude, longitude, income, home prices and more. Canadian information is available and includes direct links to Google and Yahoo! maps.

Zip code demographics are available via MelissaData.

A list of all MelissaData free look-ups available here.

FedEx Address Checker will verify addresses. Enter as much information as possible. The database is available for U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Federated States of Mirconesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, U.S. Virgin Islands.

U.S. Postal Service Zip Code Lookup. You can search by address, zip code, company.

Resource Recommendations for Prospect Research

Directorship magazine has compiled a list of the 100 most influential players in corporate governance. The list includes brief biographies of directors, officers, professors, writers, lawyers, networkers, etc.

Full-text article by the editors of Directorship available here, 9.2007.


Treasury & Risk magazine has compiled the 2007 list of the 100 most influential people in finance.

Complete list available via Treasury & Risk, 6.2007.

How the Rich Hide Their Wealth

Scott Mayerwitz, ABC News Business Unit, investigates the ways in which wealthy individuals hide their assets.

Full-text article available via ABC News, 9.21.07.