Researchers in Fundraising Annual Conference 2019

It was great to attend my first RiF Conference yesterday and to meet lots of other prospect researchers. The theme was EVOLUTION: BREAKING BARRIERS.

Some key take home messages: 

- Prospect researcher as fundraising conductor and driver of change

- Qualities of a prospect researcher: good listener, asking the right questions (what are your opinions on the world? How did you come to them? What is important to you?, curiosity, attention to detail, investigative

- Prospect sharing occurs in 2 ways (from NSPCC pilot project):

- Fundraiser from one team passes a prospect to a fundraiser in another team across the directorate (ownership of relationship)

- Fundraiser from one team shares a prospect (retaining ownership) to be jointly managed

- Systematic prospectingand understanding and expanding how we view prospects as not only potential donors but also potential people who can introduce us to a network of potential donors