If you're already an amazing prospect researcher, we apologize. Because we're about to spill one of your secrets: creating profiles that aren't just insightful, but truly actionable.

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You already know that net worth, giving history, and board memberships are just table stakes. The secret is shifting focus from 'how much can they give?' and 'will they give?' to 'how do we cultivate them?'

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Here are five important data points that separate the best major donor prospect profiles from the average.

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Recent Life Events

While it might be tempting to look back decades to see someone’s giving behavior, what’s really going to drive a major donor prospect to give to your organization is most likely something that changed in their life that connects them to your cause. A recent retirement, a new grandchild, or a business sale creates both capacity and motivation that historical giving data can't predict. When looking at sources, look for signals around timing: LinkedIn job changes, social media posts about milestones, property records showing moves, or even gaps in their usual public activities that might signal personal transitions.

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Family Interests

While a prospect’s own interests are one way to connect with them, just as important are the interests of their spouses or children - these are often the backdoors to their heart. A finance executive who shows no personal interest in environmental causes might become your biggest sustainability champion when you discover his teenage son is passionate about climate activism.

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Giving Patterns

As you prepare to make your pitch, understanding how your prospect perceives it is key. Do you pitch your effort as grassroots or regional or national? Do you focus on the present reality or the future dream? Do you tap into their broad interests or something they are hyper focused on? Understanding these giving patterns will give your team a leg up when making your ask. 

To do this, look at gift sizes across their portfolio: Do they give $1,000 to 20 different causes or $20,000 to just one?

Check the geographic spread of their giving: Are most gifts trying to affect change within 50 miles of their home or nationally?

Dive deep into who they’ve given to: Are these established institutions or tiny non-profits? This pattern reveals whether to position your ask as a game-changing gift for a local nonprofit trying to improve the neighborhood, or one of many gifts they might give to a national effort that they already care about.

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Crowdfunding Donations

While the big gifts are what everyone focuses on, sometimes it is the smaller ones that are golden. After all, what better signal of real affinity than someone going through the hassle of taking out their credit card to leave a $25 donation on a GoFundMe campaign? These gems are hiding in plain sight on GoFundMe, Kickstarter, and other peer-to-peer fundraising pages.

A $50 donation to a colleague's marathon fundraiser might reveal more passion than a $5,000 gala table purchase; what someone funds personally vs. professionally tells different stories. Beware: It might not always be easy to verify that the name on the fundraising website refers to the same person as your prospect. 

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Due Dilligence / PR Risks

Before you reach out to a new potential major donor, it’s vital that you make sure that he or she doesn’t carry any organizational risks. And after, as you build a relationship with them, it’s equally important that you know how to walk the tightrope between building a deeper connection while respecting their personal views.

Beyond obvious red flags like criminal records, dig into business controversies, regulatory issues, or social media statements that could create unwanted associations. But also research how they handle disagreements - do they engage constructively or create public battles? 

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Great prospect profiles lead naturally to a great cultivation strategy, and these five datapoints will help you create a great profile. So, for the next profile in your current pipeline, try adding just one or more of these data points. Or, you can use ProspectAI to help you do that automatically.

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