Hiring a Research Consultant

Whether your organization has never before considered the need for prospect research or you have dedicated research staff, there may come a time when you begin to think about hiring someone to help you get a handle on research. Here are a few reasons why you might ready to take the leap.

• You and your colleagues can no longer handle researching donors and prospects along with soliciting them. Your organization is growing and so must your fundraising plan, goals and budget. Hiring a researcher can free up those precious hours spent mining the database, reviewing background information and discovering connections and allow you the freedom and flexibility to cultivate, solicit and steward your donors (while still having the data and information to back up your asks!).
• You want to ramp up your foundation and corporate giving relationships. Yes, researchers can also help you find new prospects and connections with foundations and corporations that you would like to target. They can also guide your ask amount and strategy!
• Your organization is in the middle of a campaign and your researcher took another position! Yes, you plan to rehire for the position; but wouldn’t it be great to keep your momentum going while you search for your new, rock star researcher? A consultant can step in at a moment’s notice and fill in the gaps until you make your hire.
• Changing leadership in your organization is another critical time to ramp up research. Whether it’s a new president, department head or director, it can be extremely helpful for the newcomer to have background on your trustees and major donors. Hiring a researcher to compile this information for you can get things off to a great start with your new leader.
• Do you have an important fundraising event or golf tournament on the horizon? Now is the perfect time to enlist the help of a researcher to provide short profiles of your attendees. Wouldn’t it be great to have a list of bios and photos of your attendees to review before your big event?
• You recently invested in a wealth screening! This is a great first step – but now what? A researcher can help you sort through the mountains of data to show you your best prospects and also complete in-depth research on that group. Think about how much time you will save on analysis!
• Maybe you’ve considered research from time to time but are unsure where to start? Do you have the right tools and expertise in place? A researcher can help you decide what you need that will fit in your budget and can teach you how to use it! Easy-peasy!
• You’ve been waiting for just the right moment to start research but never have the time or resources to do it consistently. Take the leap and talk to a researcher. Their work can fit within any budget!

Does your organization fit into any of these scenarios? If so, now is a great time to get the ball rolling! I would love to hear about your plans and goals and help you reach them! Contact me at brittany@hillcrestadvancement.com.