The Reading Warehouse

The authors have geared Fundraising Research Made Easy for those who do frontline fundraising but do not have dedicated researchers or other support staff to find information they need about prospective donors. Most often, the entire development staff is composed of just a handful of people or sometimes even one person who wears all the hats.

Sometimes fundraisers who actually do have dedicated researchers on staff simply need to better understand what these researchers do or what information they can be asked for.

Either way, this book is for you.

Hancks and Rosson help you find a way to make research a routine part of your fundraising process. You will experience greater success in your fundraising when you learn more about your prospects and how to be strategic in building relationships with them.

Fundraising Research Made Easy will show you how to

• Research your top donors and prospects
• Build a set of research skills
• Expand your Internet resource list
• Set goals to fit research into your fundraising plan

About the Authors

Meredith Hancks, EdD
Meredith is the director of Prospect Research and Management for Western Illinois University in Macomb, where she's been employed since 2007. Prior to her research career, she worked in annual giving at private liberal arts colleges in Minneapolis and Chicago. The part of this profession she enjoys most is the search for information and the subsequent ability to help frontline fundraisers be more successful in their work.

She currently serves as chair of the Best Practices in Prospect Development Subcommittee for the Association of Advancement Services Professionals. This team of professionals is committed to identifying and articulating best practices in all areas of prospect research and prospect management, using many of the principles included in this book. Meredith recently joined the board of Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA)-Illinois and was appointed vice president in January 2013. As a member of CharityChannel, she has contributed several book reviews as a We Review panelist, authored one book for the In The Trenches series titled Getting Started in Prospect Research, and worked with Cara to write a companion manual, Prospect Research Is a Verb.

Cara Rosson
Cara spent almost ten years in prospect research for universities large and small. She started working for Lori Lawson at Florida State University and staffed Bradley University's one-person research office for seven great years.