The Four Components of Campaign Screening and Research

Mention the word “campaign” and it virtually becomes synonymous with “database screening.” Once your organization has decided to embark on a campaign -- be it a capital campaign, an endowment campaign or a campaign for a very specific project -- a database screening is on the horizon.

Screening helps identify new prospects in your database; provides clearer, more concise information on your known prospects; helps organizations prioritize prospects; and enables segmentation of prospects.

Campaign screening and research is a four-part process that involves timing; compatibility and capability; selection; and roll out.

1. Timing. In an ideal world, a screening would be done before the campaign begins to help the feasibility consultants target your top prospects to take part in the study. These are the people you’re going to look to for your start-up gifts, and it’s important to be asking the right people before you start the campaign.

Once your organization decides to go ahead with the campaign, you’ll need to identify existing and new prospects to support the campaign. Screening will provide wealth and inclination information for a large pool of names and will release a rush of information.

Depending on the campaign’s time frame, it’s a good idea to get a screening done once you’ve established your lead gift and have roughly 50 percent to 75 percent of your major gifts in. You’ll need a fresh influx of names to flesh out the rest of the gift pyramid.

2. Compatibility and capability. You need to make sure the information being returned is compatible with your database. Decide beforehand as to what information you’re going to upload into your database to ensure a seamless integration. Decide on codings to ensure consistent reporting. For example:

* Giving capacity (A through J, with A signifying a giving capacity of $25,000 and up, and J being a capacity of $0 to $5,000).