From the Nominator

With limited resources, how can prospect management and research help focus fundraiser attention, clear distractions, and present only the most promising prospects at a given time, while not losing out on future opportunities? California Institute of Technology addressed this challenge recently through a series of prospect “parking lot” dashboards which make it simple and easy to keep tabs on the unassigned pool for indications of donor readiness. Because these unassigned individuals are tracked, fundraisers can concentrate instead on smaller portfolios tailored to current relationship building. And because these tools so effectively surface great prospects, new major gifts have come in from donors first identified through the dashboards’ use. The original parking lot dashboard tracks donations each month by wealth rating level, making it effortless to see recent gift activity from highly rated prospects. Likewise, the event prospect parking lot tracks event attendance each month by wealth rating, spotlighting the new or continued engagement of potential high-level donors. Lastly, using a similar grid format, the over $1 million parking lot highlights the recency, frequency, and monetary value components of principal gift prospects to explore opportunities within this especially important population. Collectively, these dashboards ensure the visibility of warm prospects with the capacity to make major gifts, allowing fundraisers to let go of prospects who don’t currently, but may later fit that criteria. Fundraisers can rest assured knowing that prospect management and research is monitoring the pool through these tools, and that our gems are surfaced not hidden.

From the Judges

We were impressed by the smart, strategic use of data to maximize limited resources. The dashboards are a simple yet powerful innovation that ensures top prospects remain visible without overwhelming fundraisers. This approach directly contributed to new major gifts and demonstrates a strong alignment between prospect research and frontline fundraising. It's a scalable solution that other institutions could adapt with great success.