Tuesday, July 31, 2012

APRA MidSouth Meet-Up at the APRA Conference

I will be attending the APRA conference this week and would enjoy briefly meeting with other members who are from the MidSouth area: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Let’s gather at 5.15 p.m. Thursday, August 2nd for a few minutes just to say hello in the hotel restaurant bar area. This appears to be named “Skywater.” It would be a pleasure to meet you. Look for a guy with this nametag!

Geoff Little
President, APRA MidSouth

Friday, July 20, 2012

Reminder: Prospect Research 101 Seminar in Louisville, KY, on July 27

We are excited about our upcoming half-day seminar, Prospect Research 101, to be held in Louisville, KY, on Friday, July 27, 2012 from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. The seminar is free to APRA MidSouth members or $20 for non-members. Membership is $40 per year. For more information or to register, please click here.
 
We look forward to seeing everyone in Louisville!

Friday, July 13, 2012

It’s a Wrap! (But it Never Really Ends)


The last time I wrote for the APRA MidSouth blog, Western Kentucky University was in the final stretch of our second capital campaign. Since we have rolled into July – I am excited to announce – WE ARE OFFICIALLY DONE!

Yes, confetti is flying, cheers are heard all around, and everyone is taking a deep breath.



But the reality is the fundraising never stops. Prospect research never stops. (Thank goodness – that keeps us employed!)

In fact, our prospect research work will definitely ratchet up faster than many areas of the development process.

With that in mind, we want to take the experiences of this campaign and apply them so we can be ahead of the game when it’s time to start the next campaign.

That means we are busy working on a lot of things. Here are just a few of those items:

1. Focus on assessing ourselves, as well as our resources, method,s and procedures.

2. Meet with development officers to discuss their portfolios and make plans for the future.

3. Review and pare down development officers’ portfolios. To keep these portfolios manageable, create reports to help them easily review and manage this process.

4. Implement and test drive a new giving capacity rating tool.

5. Record prospect research standard operating procedures on paper.

6. Create documents and presentations to define prospect research, what we do, how we help in the development process, and what we can do for our development officers.

7. Establish new codes and procedures to better track our work – we will now know when we first touch a prospect record, what we do with the information we find, and how it is passed on.

8. Move research information in the database so it is more easily accessible.

So we are doing some prospect management work along with our prospect research. It seems the two often can’t be separated, especially in a small shop like ours.

And we know there is much more we can and should do. But these are just a few things we are currently working on. If you have any suggestions on what you have done to help you and your team prepare for a great start for the next campaign, I’d love to hear them.

Theresa Clark, Director-At-Large, APRA MidSouth
Senior Research Analyst, Western Kentucky University
at.large@apramidsouth.org

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Prospect Research 101 Half-Day Seminar in Louisville, Kentucky

The local chapter of the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA MidSouth) is happy to announce a half-day seminar on Prospect Research 101. The event will take place in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday, July 27, at Home of the Innocents (1100 East Market Street, Louisville, Kentucky, 40206) from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon. The event is free for APRA MidSouth members and $20 for non-members. Annual membership is $40.

Topics for discussion include how to establish gift capacity, what prospect research means for your organization, and how to use free resources to conduct top-notch research. We look forward to meeting and learning with not-for-profit professionals from across the region!

Please click here to register!