Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Happy Prospect Development Pride Month!

In case you haven’t heard, Helen Brown started this wonderful movement via blog post as a means to advocate for our profession. And, it looks as if the movement is spreading like wildfire.

I take great pride in my role as Director of Prospect Research and Management at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and as the new President of APRA-MidSouth -- mostly because I work with a wonderful team at UAB as well as a dynamic group of APRA-MidSouth board members who are also committed to promoting our profession. But one thing I’ve noticed as I’ve progressed in my career, prospect development is not only a job.  It is ingrained into everything I do and say – and I’m not ashamed at all. For example:

  •    Whenever my prospect research eyes spots a newly mounted for sale sign in my neighborhood, my first impulse is to pull up Zillow and/or my county tax assessor’s database to see how that sale will affect my bottom line.
  •    My relationship management instincts kick in every time my daughter asks for a sizable donation. Usually, the response is for her to qualify a few more prospects before hastily jumping into the solicitation.
  •    And even though I’m not directly involved in data analytics, I have even managed to define the characteristics of our upcoming family reunion attendees that have the strongest potential for causing a ruckus.
So please join me in showing your #ResearchPride and let us know how APRA-MidSouth can advocate for you. We are planning a wonderful calendar of events for this year and will be sharing those dates very soon.

In the meantime, please join our chapter.  We look forward to networking with you.





















Sabrina Latham                                         
Director, Prospect Research and Management
President, APRA-MidSouth