Get 42 sessions offered at the Prospect Development 2025 Conference, held August 19 - 22, 2025.

• Keynote Presentation: The Recovery Blueprint: Implementing Resets, Personal Data, and Self-Connection to Sustain Success
• A Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiative: A Journey to both diversifying pipelines and portfolios and communicating findings to external stakeholders
• Doing More With Less: Taking Care of Your Team During Turnover
• From Overlooked to Engaged: Capturing Hidden, Forgotten, and Untapped Prospects with a Referral Tracking System That Drives Fundraising Success Transforming Prospect Discovery and Qualification Through Data and Accountability
• From Stagnant to Strategic: Transforming Portfolio Management in Small Shops
• Partner Industry Panel: Generative AI: More Than a Buzzword
• Breaking it Down - A Different Way to Approach Portfolio Pipelines and Movement
• Making the Case for More Staff: A Comprehensive Guide to Demonstrating the Need for Additional Staff to Enhance Productivity, Efficiency, and Employee Well-being
• PROST! PRoactive, STrategic Research - a $1 Billion Tool for Cultural Transformation
• What Makes a Good Fundraiser: Is the Devil in the Details?
• Building the Foundations of a Prospect Development Program in a Solo Shop
• Don't Assume!
• Portfolio Horror Stories! Using Data-Driven Insights to Transform Frightening into Fantastic
• The Journey Unfolds: Choosing a Career Path in Prospect Development
• Apra Talks: Sailing through the Storm: Navigating and Growing from a Challenging Work Environment
• Beyond Buy-In: Driving Lasting Change in Prospect Development & Data Management
• Connection Capital: Activating Ultra High Net Worth Prospects in a New Market
• Designing an Excel-lent Prospect Management Revamp
• Major Gifts, Smarter Research: The AI Advantage Explained
• Ask the Ethicist: When Donor Behavior is an Organizational Risk; How to Protect Your Organization and Your Staff
• Consultant Mastery: Hire Smart, Utilize Wisely
• From Excel to Python - A Journey in Name Matching Techniques
• Partners That Align: Due Diligence Strategies for Corporate and Foundation Relations
• Can ChatGPT Write My Profile?
• Decoding the SEC's Alphabet Soup for Dollars
• Getting Started with R for Data Science: A Non-Expert's Guide
• Enhancing Fundraising Efficiency through Tiered Services
• From 0 to 100: A Newbie's Journey in Power BI
• From Solo to Duo: Designing and Scaling an Effective Prospect Management System for a Growing Team
• Hidden Figures: Identifying High Net Worth Prospects of Color Through Non-Bias Screening Techniques
• Apra Debates: 2025 Edition
• Championing Collective Success: Leadership Through Managing Up, Down, and Across
• From Chaos to Clarity: Change Management Strategies for Prospect Development Teams
• Reeling in Results: Turning Portfolio Reviews into Fundraising Strategy
• Planting the Seeds of Philanthropy: A Stardew Valley Approach to Discovery Management
• Researching Land Investments and LLCs
• She Doesn't Even Go Here!: Researching Outside of the Lines
• What's in a Model? The Inner Workings of LLMs
• An Exploratory Approach to Predictive Modeling
• Navigating Transitions: Effective Change Management and CRM Transformation
• Sailing the Seas of Success: Charting the Course with Prospect Research in Healthcare
• The Prospect Strategy Puzzle

Traditional prospect research often focuses on an organization's most obvious supporters' alumni, patients, patrons, or direct stakeholders. But what about the untapped potential beyond these natural constituencies? In this session, we'll challenge conventional research boundaries and explore strategies to identify, assess, and engage non-traditional prospects who have the capacity and inclination to give despite lacking a direct affiliation with your organization. We will examine case studies from various organizations, highlighting their identification processes and the successes achieved through strategic prospect research. Whether you're in higher education, healthcare, arts & culture, or any nonprofit sector, this session will help you think outside the lines, uncover hidden prospects, and diversify your donor pipeline like never before.

In 2019, Apra experimented with a new format for the popular Apra Talks PD conference session. Lovingly referred to as Apra Debates, the main stage session focused on friendly debates for three different issues in prospect development. Six years later, Apra Debates is back! This session will have three new topics that will explore two sides of common issues in our industry: 

1. Is PD Ready for AI?
2. Top time-wasters for a PD team and
3. Should fundraisers have access to prospect research resources? 

Each issue will be moderated, and questions will be asked to fully understand each side's opinion. But that's not all: Session attendees will also have a role! For each topic, attendees will get to participate in a poll that requests YOUR opinion. Apra Debates will be just the beginning of the conversation! More discussion on these topics will appear in future Apra publications. Don't miss your chance to see history being made and share your opinion!

Despite increasing conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion in philanthropy, many traditional wealth identification methods continue to overlook high-net-worth individuals of color. Bias in artificial intelligence (AI), limitations in publicly available wealth data, and inequities in financial reporting create blind spots that reinforce systemic barriers to inclusive philanthropy. These challenges are particularly evident in healthcare and higher education fundraising, where AI-driven screenings often fail to account for non-traditional indicators of wealth and giving capacity. This session will explore how data modeling, alternative screening techniques, and culturally competent prospecting strategies can be used to uncover high-net-worth prospects of color. Attendees will learn how to critically evaluate wealth screening tools for bias, navigate gaps in data, and implement equity-focused methodologies that surface overlooked major and principal gift prospects. Through real-world case studies, practical frameworks, and an actionable roadmap, this session will provide fundraisers and data professionals with strategies to conduct non-biased wealth screenings and cultivate more inclusive donor engagement efforts.

Decoding the SEC's Alphabet Soup for Dollars In the old days, manually mining critical insider data from SEC filings, then matching that that with stock prices was an arduous, mind-numbing, soul sucking task. Many researchers gave up on SEC research entirely. Why? Here's what they said, 'Not enough time' . . ." not enough people', "I get lost', and 'It's too hard!'. Researchers often ask us, 'What do the numbers mean? What are the filings for? How often do the filings get published? And why should I care, we're just a small shop?' By decoding SEC filings, we can bridge the 'knowledge gap' and plug the 'accuracy gap' of capacity validation . . . if you know where to look. In addition to compensation, SEC filings provide insights about affinity for gifting and patterns of gifting, gifts to donor advised funds (DAFs), corporate philanthropy and matching gift programs. We'll talk about techniques for identifying future vesting dates of stock units and options, as well as provide the shortcut guidelines to make you the local expert in gathering accurate facts and insights to accumulated wealth, present and future liquidity events, helping your team achieve their fundraising goals.

This dynamic topic engages the nearly ...three year-old possibility -- How can ChatGPT and/or other A.I. resources including Perplexity, Google Gemini, and/or Microsoft CoPilot write me a prospect profile? If that's not exactly possible, how close can I get? --What prospect research scenarios best engage A.I.? --What about biographic data *already* in my database? --What are the limitations of using A.I. based narratives? --What are the ethical considerations?

Thorough research plays a critical role in ensuring that corporate and foundation gifts align with institutional values while mitigating reputational, ethical, and financial risks. Without a strong due diligence process, organizations may unknowingly accept funding from sources that pose conflicts of interest, misalign with institutional missions, or create long-term challenges. This session will explore strategies for conducting effective due diligence, identifying potential concerns, and presenting research findings to decision-makers in a meaningful way. Through real-world examples, the discussion will highlight best practices for evaluating funders, recognizing warning signs, and leveraging research to inform fundraising strategy. Participants will gain insights into assessing corporate and foundation reputations, analyzing financial and governance risks, and navigating complex donor relationships. By integrating due diligence into the fundraising process, institutions can strengthen partnerships, uphold ethical standards, and ensure that philanthropic support contributes to long-term success. This session will equip researchers and fundraisers with practical tools and approaches to enhance their impact in securing responsible and mission-aligned funding.

AI is transforming the way nonprofits identify, engage, and retain major donors—helping prospectors move beyond traditional wealth screening and into the world of predictive intelligence. With AI-driven insights, organizations can understand donor behavior on a deeper level, forecast their next major gift, and personalize outreach like never before.

AI is revolutionizing prospect research—empowering researchers to go far beyond traditional wealth screening and into the realm of predictive intelligence. With AI-driven insights, researchers can now uncover hidden major gift potential, track real-time engagement signals, and build smarter, more dynamic portfolios that evolve with donor behavior.

In this session, we’ll explore how AI enhances every stage of prospect development—from identifying top prospects to informing strategy and timing for major gift asks. You’ll learn how to prioritize your research efforts, streamline portfolio management, and deliver the intelligence fundraisers need to convert prospects into major donors.

Key Takeaways – You Will Leave This Session Knowing:

• How to Uncover Hidden Major Gift Prospects
• Move beyond static wealth indicators using AI-powered data signals that reveal real-time donor intent and capacity.
• How Predictive Models Forecast Giving Behavior
• Understand the variables and models that can accurately estimate likelihood to give, giving capacity, and timing.
• How to Support More Strategic Asks
• Equip your gift officers with actionable insights—like ideal ask amounts and personalized donor motivators.
• How to Maintain a High-Quality Portfolio
• Use AI to continuously refresh and optimize prospect lists, ensuring major gift officers are focused on the right leads.
• How to Use AI to Personalize Donor Journeys
• Inform customized outreach strategies that align with donor interests, behaviors, and past engagement.
• How AI is Driving Real Results in Prospect Research
• Learn from case studies of institutions that have elevated their research strategy and fueled major gift growth with DonorSearch AI.

Whether you’re working to surface better leads, streamline your research process, or drive more efficient fundraising collaboration, this session will leave you with practical, AI-powered strategies to elevate your prospecting game.

Join us for an insightful session on innovative strategies in activating UHNWI within wealth markets. This presentation will explore how to gain momentum without an internal network and the effectiveness of the squad concept. We will delve into efficient strategies for clustering wealthy individuals, understanding affinity groups, and organizing impactful engagement opportunities. Real-life case studies will illustrate successful approaches, including private equity firm receptions and global board member networks.

This presentation will explore how to create a prospect development program from scratch when you're a solo shop with limited resources. I will touch on the importance of establishing an SOP process and explore how to think like an architect when designing a blueprint for the desired program state. I'll also touch on how to promote the program to internal stakeholders and ways to determine program effectiveness. This will truly aid those who are new prospect development professionals as well as those struggling to get their program up and running because of limited resources while being an "Army of one".