Finding the hidden millionaires by Kerry Rock, Director of Research

£2.38 billion was given away by 30 of the richest Britons in the last year . You will find them listed in the Sunday Times Rich List, but what about all those hidden millionaires? How do you find them?

Fundraisers have a fairly good idea who the big hitters are - the high profile millionaires renowned for their acts of philanthropy. These are often the main focus for relationship building and competition for their support is intense, but there are plenty of other millionaires on our doorsteps. We just have to stop neglecting them and instead build strategies to court them.

So, who are these people and how do we find them? We are talking about people who quietly live their lives, give moderate gifts to charity, but do not draw attention to themselves. They work in all fields and live all across the UK. So how do we draw them out of anonymity and into our major donor strategies?

The answer may be sitting in your database right now. Most charities have a database of supporters, individuals who make small annual donations, gifts-in-kind and even volunteers – and this is where the search begins. A simple first step is to screen your database against a known list of wealthy individuals.

A wealth screening database, such as Action Planning’s Wealth Intelligence, includes a raft of information, which, when matched against your own database, is likely to bring to light new avenues of possibilities. Good databases can throw up one or two prospects per hundred names and these are the ‘Millionaires next door’. But they are not just next door; they are already supporters of your charity. This is how you find the hidden wealth within!

Many charities have successfully used the information gathered through screening and then profiling their high net worth individuals hidden in their databases to help carry out major gift campaigns or capital appeals. This technique has a further benefit in that it allows you to bypass the costly route of trying to engage with new high value donors, instead focusing your attention on developing deeper and more profitable relationships with a selection of your current supporters.

Once you know which people on your database have the ability to give a larger gift, you need to spend some time building up a picture of their interests and history of involvement with your charity so that you are able to approach them in an appropriate way. Much of this information can be gleaned from the profiles provided by screening services, but you should not neglect your own sources of information: does one of your trustees or volunteers, for instance, live nearby or work in a similar field? If they do, they may be able to provide you with more detailed information as well as provide an avenue to getting to know them better.

Once you feel confident that you have a well rounded picture of an individual and you have decided on the best way to approach them, it only remains to put all your preparation into practice. Remember – the main reason why people give is that they are asked. But finding the right people to ask and using the right approach based on a good understanding of your existing relationship first step, goes a long way towards ensuring you are successful at major gift fundraising.

to read more articles from this briefing click on the links below..
Kerry Rock   Robin Thomas   Virginia Fisher   John Studzinski   Michael Hintze