Strategic Prospect Research to Identify Deeply Aligned Funders

Fundraising is a resource-intensive process. Every nonprofit organization aims to have funding partners that align with their missions and values, and provide the type of support needed to fuel their impact. A strong foundation for this process is solid prospect research that enables you to identify the best prospective partnerships and be strategic about how you use your time and resources.

This blog post is the second in a two-part series following the “Tools for Identifying Potential Donors” webinar hosted on January 22, 2025 by Black Fox Global as part of the Catalyst Now Fundraising Toolkit Masterclass series. Part 1, “Tools for Identifying Potential Donors” provides information on how to prepare for prospect research and establish your research criteria, general guidance around the prospect research process, and what tools and resources you can use to find and keep information. 

This second blog aims to dive deeper into how to conduct effective prospect research to determine when funders are deeply aligned with your work and goals, and lay the foundation for your application, outreach, and relationship building efforts.

Developing your criteria for fit and deep alignment

Just as funders can have their own criteria for how they evaluate potential grantees, we believe it is important for organizations to set their own criteria for evaluating potential funders given the amount of time and resources that can go into the fundraising process. We think that “fit” and “alignment” go two ways – how well does a funder and funding opportunity fit your work and goals, and how well does your organization or program fit their work and goals? This allows your prospect research to be strategic and efficient, and set yourself up for success.

In the first blog of this series, we shared a few things that go into establishing your own criteria for funder fit in preparation for research: your organization’s “why”, conducting an organizational assessment, identifying your research priorities, and identifying your primary and secondary issue areas and demographics. To further facilitate your prospect research and get a full profile of a prospective funder, one consideration is to divide your criteria into two categories:

1. Criteria for basic fit
   What are the minimum criteria that need to be met before you will consider looking into and investing time on a funder? Often this entails:
   • Aligned mission
   • Aligned issue area(s) 
   • Same geographic focus
   • Available type of funding matches preferred funding type (e.g. general operating support, program funding, project funding, etc.)
   • Meets your minimum grant size
   • Match the funder’s eligibility requirements (e.g. budget size, organization status and registration)
   • No ethical red flags (e.g. industry, practices, or values you do not align with)

2. Criteria for deep alignment
   What are the indicators that a funder is deeply aligned with your work and your funding goals, and is worth investing a good amount of your time and resources in? These can be:
   • Aligned values and approaches to addressing the problem
   • Aligned vision of impact or change
   • Grant history shows evidence of giving to similar programs or organizations
   • Matches your target grant size and type
   • Offers the type of partnership that suits your organization

With these criteria, you can create a checklist for yourself and a template for donor research that will help you keep track of the information for reference. Beyond information that tells you about fit and alignment, you will also want information that allows you to build your funder strategy and next steps. If you need a sample template for your donor research, here is one we use at BFG.

Research to identify basic fit

Once you have set your research priorities, your criteria for fit and alignment, and your donor research template, you can dive into the research. The first blog in the series offers information on some tools you can start with to surface names of funders and find funder information. When you have a funder to look into, you can start by checking pieces of information that are part of your basic fit criteria so you can assess if the prospect has potential. The main things to look at include:

• Mission and issue areas of interest
• Geographic focus
• Eligibility requirements & what is not funded
  

Need more guidance on what exactly to look for and where you should look? Check the “Basic Research” section of our Prospect Research Guide.

After looking into these main areas and any other information that you think is valuable to assess basic fit, decide first whether you deem the prospect a fit on a basic level and whether you think they are worth looking into further and investing time on. Keep in mind it is equally important to know when a prospect is not a good fit, so you can focus your time on opportunities with strong potential rather than those where you are not set up for success.

Research to determine depth of alignment and build your strategy

Once you have determined that the funder meets your basic fit criteria, you can invest more time and brainpower into understanding how deep the alignment is, where your synergies are, and what you should consider to build your strategy for the funder. This includes assessing the following, and anything else you have set out as part of your criteria for deep alignment:

• Programs, Funding Strategies & Funding Motivations or Rationale
• Recent, relevant grants
• Giving capacity
• Application process
• Contact information 

Refer to the “Advanced Research” section of our Prospect Research Guide for more tips and guidance around what to look for, what to keep in mind, and where to find needed information relating to these topics.

Putting it all together

After looking into and compiling all of this information about the prospective funder onto your donor research template or donor profile, we recommend summarizing in one paragraph or a few lines why the funder is a fit and how deeply aligned they are. This step not only helps you clarify your assessment of how good the prospect may be for your organization, but also provides something you can share with others in your team or even your board members that want an overview of the opportunity. 

Beyond this, you can also create another summary or a few bullet points on what your recommended next steps for pursuing the prospect may be. You can consider:

• Is there an application window you can submit an LOI or proposal for or is the process invitation only, which would require some conversation and relationship building before you can get that invitation to apply? 
• If you need to build your relationship, what are the best ways to get in touch, and who are key contacts you should get in touch with? (If you need help figuring out your next steps and strategy from here, we have an array of resources related to relationship advancement on our website)
• Is there anything that should be highlighted or asked when speaking with a key contact or writing an application? 

For more information on how Black Fox Global can help you develop a pipeline of deeply aligned funders through solid prospect research, visit the Solutions page of our website.