tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053801082045927212.post2060219095038516860..comments2024-03-28T05:35:18.676-05:00Comments on APRA MidSouth: Full Disclosure of Political GivingAPRA MidSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15567594933874678281noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053801082045927212.post-38333226935094987832014-04-04T08:16:01.468-05:002014-04-04T08:16:01.468-05:00Given how few political donors ever hit the aggreg...Given how few political donors ever hit the aggregate limits, I think the effect of McCutcheon might be more limited than people think. I will also note that the ability to give to anonymously creates a powerful incentive not to give to candidates or parties (which require disclosure) and this incentive is not going away.<br /><br />Regardless of the impact on political donors, I think the impact on prospect research is likely to be somewhat minimal. In nearly 8 years in the business, I have literally never identified a new prospect from a political donation. I also cannot think of time when a prospect's political giving was more than a "nice to have" piece of data when rating them. There certainly is a place for this information in our work - the research is pretty clear on the subject. But other forms of data will remain more important.<br /><br />Regardless, a slight increase in the disclosure of political donations would allow research professionals to know "just a little bit more" about their prospects. The bad news is that the practical utility of knowing "just a little bit more" decreases with every slight improvement in access to data. And the distinction between need to know and nice to know gets lost.<br /><br />In reality, the most important indicators of wealth are income, real estate, and company ownership. Of those three, company ownership is the most important since research also shows that most wealthy people in the US are business owners who have a very significant percentage of their wealth tied up in their business (until they sell it of course).<br /><br />Ultimately, I remain convinced that honing one's skills on researching and analyzing the "big 3" variables will yield the largest improvements in our collective ability to rate prospects and support the needs of our fundraiser clients.Darren Cooperhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenpcooper/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053801082045927212.post-54388991838463350492014-04-04T07:42:53.435-05:002014-04-04T07:42:53.435-05:00My initial thoughts were along the same lines (pro...My initial thoughts were along the same lines (probably a sign that I've been in prospect research A LONG time). Similarly, the changes might also uncover serious political interests in prospects that was unknown before, due to giving solely to Super PAC's. If Prospect X is very politically active with a certain party's candidates (especially a large number of candidates in one party), this gives us additional information on who s/he is and his/her interests/passions. Also, from a pragmatic standpoint, if Prospect X is assigned to Solicitor Y, who has strong opinions against Prospect X's political persuasions, it may be time to change the assignment.Steffanie M. Brownhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/steffaniemelindabrown/noreply@blogger.com