Apra is excited to bring you Apra Fundamentals: Prospect Research! Join us for online networking opportunities and learning exercises combined with additional learning in the weeks leading up to the event. You will not only have access to the online community of attendees and faculty experts, but also the opportunity to attend a virtual program taking place this Winter 2025: February 24, 26, and 28.  
 
The program focuses on the four key areas of prospect development: Campaigns, Prospect Research, Prospect Management, and Data Science. It also explores fundraising terms and technologies as well as techniques and resources for finding and analyzing biographical, background, and financial information; introduces participants to corporate and foundation research, and delves into how available data can be used to formulate gift capacities and inform fundraising operations. In addition, the program covers guiding concepts related to prospect research, such as navigating ethical considerations in conducting research, best practices for managing and reporting prospect data and creating quality research products.

All times are in the Central Time Zone. 

Monday, February 24, 2025

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Friday, February 28, 2025

Portfolio review can be a stressful time for both prospect developers (researchers, managers, etc.) and frontline fundraisers. While their goals intertwine, the methods and information required to meet these goals aren't always in line. In this session, we will explore the differences between what makes a great prospect developers versus a great fundraiser in an attempt to bridge the gap between the two groups and make the portfolio review process less stressful.*

*Full participation is applicable for 1.0 points in Category 1.B -Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification. 

How should you prioritize and segment your wealth data? What are the best practices for data analysis? And how can you save time with automation and CRM imports? When you properly organize and analyze your constituent wealth data, you can empower your team to make data-driven decisions and increase the efficiency of your development efforts. Proper data segmentation allows you to reduce manual calculation and data entry, uncover hidden prospect and donor insights, and ensure your team is allocating resources to the highest-value prospects and donors. Join us for an interactive, step-by-step overview of how to prioritize and segment your wealth data like a pro.*

In this webinar we will explore: 
- How to make data-driven decisions 
- New ideas for segmenting donors and prospects 
- How to use wealth data alongside your CRM 
- How to make your segmentation process more efficient

*Full participation is applicable for 1.0 points in Category 1.B -Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification. 

Are you using gift capacity in your wealth screening? Does it rely too much on real estate? Are you finding issues with assigning the right assets to the right individual? Knowing which constituents have the most potential is essential for nonprofits to focus their fundraising efforts. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to get a full understanding of an individual’s wealth profile, especially in today's volatile economic climate. In this webinar we will explore: - Historical approaches to data and why some screenings tend to be inaccurate - The "four Vs" of data and why it is challenging to maintain accuracy - Examples of data sources that are tough to analyze or incorporate in screenings - Newer approaches to Wealth Screening and how to supercharge your fundraising efforts - Bonus: Discover the benefits of incorporating career intelligence into your fundraising strategy, as well as leveraging Windfall’s Wealth Analytics Report to better identify, understand, and engage your donors.*

*Full participation is applicable for 1.0 points in Category 1.B -Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification. 

Data-driven strategies are essential for identifying the best legacy prospects. One key takeaway is the importance of avoiding assumptions about donor behavior based on surface-level data, such as age or income. Instead, fundraisers should use deeper insights—like donor engagement history, past giving patterns, and survey data on donor motivations—to create tailored approaches.

By integrating analytics tools to segment donors and track trends over time, nonprofits can pinpoint those most likely to leave a legacy gift and build stronger, trust-based relationships that resonate long-term. This session will explore data points that can help you uncover those legacy gems.*

*Full participation is applicable for 1.0 points in Category 1.B -Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification. 

Using wealth screening to identify major gift prospects among new student families is an indispensable part of the back-to-school prospecting process. Beyond that, though, there is opportunity to leverage internal data, relationships, and early outreach to further clarify your prospect list. In fact, sometimes these other inputs provide insights that wealth screening cannot.  Join us to hear from a group of institutions representing elementary, secondary, and higher education on their tips for a holistic approach to this busy and vital season in a smaller-sized shop.*

*Full participation is applicable for 1.0 points in Category 1.B -Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification. 

Want to win more funding for your nonprofit? The first step to success is being able to find good fit funders. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to get “in” with institutional funders and double the number of funding opportunities in your pipeline.

By the end of this webinar, you will:

• Gain insights into funder perspectives and how to align proposals with funder priorities to increase success rates
• Learn effective best practices for prospecting, both in research and evaluation of prospective funders
• Hear 7 strategies for initiating and maintaining communication with funders throughout the grant lifecycle.
• See how Instrumentl can help you save up to 15 hours per week on finding & tracking new funding opportunities

Plus, all of our live attendees get special perks:

• Earn 1.0 CFRE point
• Personalized funder recommendations for your nonprofit
• Access to freebies & resources connected to course content
• Win exciting raffle prizes
• Build community with like-minded peers in your field

All registrants will receive a recording and copy of the presentation slides after the workshop.

*Full participation is applicable for 1.0 points in Category 1.B -Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification. 

Get 39 sessions offered at the Prospect Development 2024 Conference, held August 21 - 23, 2024. 

• A KPI Journey - Creating Metrics and Changing Culture with Institutional Fundraisers
• AI and PD – How All Areas Can Ensure Ethical Practices for AI (Ask the Ethicist Live)
• Apra Talks: We're All Data Scientists
• Bridging Eras: Integrating AI with Tried and True Screening Methods
• Building a Career Pathway Program: A Roadmap to Growing Opportunities for our Teams
• Building a Prospect Management System as a Team of One
• Designing Your Own Crystal Ball: From Revenue Forecasting to a Long-Term Growth Model
• Finding Your (Donor’s) Roots: Practical Applications for Genealogy in Development
• From Service Provider to Strategic Partner: The Trusted Advisor Journey
• General Session - Partner Industry Panel
• How to turn your Database into an Asset
• Identifying the Next Generation of Principal Gift Prospects
• In My Teaching Era: Training and Learning in a Small Shop
• In my Wellness Era: How a Wellness Skeptic Became a Convert
• It Takes a Village: Expanding the Donor Pipeline through Strategic Partnerships
• It's Not Just the Numbers! - Income, Psychology, and Giving Behavior  
• Keynote Presentation: Humanity in Fundraising: Revolutionizing Donor Engagement
• Lighting Your Own Way – Using Vision to Find Professional Growth Opportunities in Challenging Times
• Microdata:  Your Key to the Prospects Hidden in Plain Sight
• Moving from the Cubicle to the Kitchen Table: Pivoting to Remote Work
• Navigating Inclusive Philanthropy: Addressing Historical and System Biases in Prospect Development and Data Tracking and Reporting
• Oh the Places You’ll Go: Using Data and Reporting to Inform A Holistic Travel Strategy
• Optimizing Fundraising Success: A Deep Dive into Performance Metrics
• Partners in Fundraising: Facilitating an Effective and Collaborative Portfolio Review Meeting
• Portfolio Health: Your Portfolio Fitness Tracker
• Prospect Management as the Keystone for Radical Change in Portfolio Management and Fundraiser Performance Management
• Protecting Our Institutions: Due Diligence and Risk Management Trends and Insights
• Revolutionize Your Database: Fix Messy Data and Build a Strong Foundation
• Sailing Through Stock Research
• Small and Mighty-- Leveraging the Unique Strengths and Challenges of Smaller Shops
• The (Hidden) Wealth of Nations: Perils, Pitfalls and Opportunities in Using Data to Estimate Gift Capacity
• The ABCs and 123s of DAFs
• The Wheels on the Bus: Using Data & Process to Drive a Public-Phase Campaign Prospect Pipeline
• Unlocking Fundraising Success: Powering Discovery and Referrals with Goal Motivation
• Unlocking Hidden Potential: How Indiana University Health Foundation's Mid-Level Giving Program Generated Over $93,000 in Six Months
• Using Analytics to Drive Dynamic Major and Principal Giving Pipeline Development
• What to Expect When You’re Expecting (a Salesforce CRM)!
• What's Your Red Flag? Reputational Risk and Philanthropic Due Diligence Best Practices
• You CAN Have It All:  Building a Proactive Lead Program That Works for Everyone

We often hear of the potential and promise of data to boost major gifts, and the need to be data-led in all we do. But published reports, research and datasets used for gift capacity ratings are often based on (very) small samples (and so underestimate the scale of HNW populations), contain important omissions and gaps, or use broadly journalistic methods. Added to this, net-worth figures are often revised significantly (up or down) using undisclosed sources, overlook key asset holdings such as diversified investments, and vary hugely across publications, with figures in Forbes, Bloomberg, Hurun etc., differing by multiple billions of dollars. On top of all this, data on philanthropic giving is extremely limited, or absent, in many global jurisdictions, hampering efforts to scope market potential, benchmark effectively or to create solid business-plans. 

In this session, Ben lays out some of these challenges and suggest practical ways to address them so your team can understand the scale of the potential in your current or prospective major donor audiences. He describes strategies for prospect research teams to make realistic and ambitious gift capacity numbers for their teams, and draws on his fifteen-year career with European and global nonprofits (big and small!) to suggest innovative solutions to strengthen our ability to aim higher, more consistently in our major and principal gifts work, and ultimately to raise more funds, more often, from high-value constituencies.

Learning Objectives:

• Attendees will gain confidence and competence in constructing data-led gift capacity estimates for their teams across the value range - at mid-, major and principal-gift levels.
• Attendees will learn of the global context for data-led philanthropy and take away specific, actionable strategies to access/analyse data to build more consistent/ambitious gift ratings.

Is your organization concerned about reputational or legal risk in engaging or accepting gifts from potential donors? Is your organization looking to establish philanthropic due diligence processes and procedures? This session will discuss the fundamentals of philanthropic due diligence, outline industry best practices, discuss various case studies, and highlight available resources for prospect development professionals.

Learning Objectives: 

• Attendees will receive an overview of philanthropic due diligence strategies and learn about emerging best practices.
• Attendees will have an opportunity to discuss various case studies relating to philanthropic due diligence that can be applied at their organization.