The Four Components of Campaign Screening and Research

* Attachment scores ranking from one to five, with one being the most attached and five the least.

* Echelon scores (E1 through E18, with E1 being the highest ranking and E18 the lowest).

* Establish fields for “internal” ratings and “external” ratings.

3. Selection. Some sample criteria for selection if you choose to not screen your entire database are:

* By age (e.g., if planned giving is not a primary focus for this campaign, perhaps focus on people ages of 33 to 68).

* By cumulative giving to your organization (the rationale being that those who have already given have already “bought” into your organization).

* By high title/position.

* By private company ownership.

* By ZIP codes.

4. Roll out. Prioritize names by starting with the high-capacity/high-attachment and high-capacity/medium-attachment codes. Immediately roll out those names that have high to medium match scores. Start verifying the names with low match scores.

Encourage your front-line fundraisers to make cold calls to the newly discovered prospects with high capacity ratings.

Come up with a strategy and energize your campaign screening and research efforts by being a presence at the prospect-management team meetings. Be sure to segment prospects by constituency/geographic area/profession/high title and measure which names are viable prospects for cultivation and which should be “de-listed” from portfolios. Monitor the list regularly to maintain focus on the process, and work to ensure that the names are kept moving through the cycle by developing a pipeline report.

Miriam Wazeter is director of prospect research at Pace University in New York. She can be reached via www.pace.edu