Risky Business: Creating a due diligence policy for your organization and how it differs from prospect research
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2020
1:00 PM-2:30PM EDT
Online
Due diligence research has become a hot topic in philanthropy over the last few years. The Epstein and Sackler scandals are only a few recent and well-known controversies to highlight the need for risk assessment within development organizations. Some prospect research shops are outsourcing their due diligence research to consultants or to firms whose specialty is this type of research. Other organizations are hiring researchers specifically for the task or including it as a part of their prospect research protocol for all researchers. The one thing all development research professionals have in common is commitment to their organization’s mission and the Apra code of ethics.
The goal of prospect research is to asses a prospect’s potential for giving, but the goal of due diligence is to protect the organization from potential harm. When to complete this type of research in the solicitation or gift acceptance process is going to be determined by the needs of the organization and the type of prospect. Helen Brown recently stated, “Prospect research asks if they can give, and due diligence asks what their giving says about them.”
In this presentation, Michele Borucki of the Helen Brown Group will provide attendees with tips and tools to create their own due diligence policy for their organization and talk about helpful resources (some they may already be using!). She will also discuss the major differences between prospect research and due diligence and the ethics and possible risks associated with doing this type of research.
Learning outcomes:
1) Attendees will feel empowered to draft a due diligence policy for their specific organization and identify the best resources to complete this type of research.
2) Attendees will understand the differences between prospect research and due diligence research.
3) Attendees will know the ethics and possible risks associated with completing due diligence research.
PRESENTER:
Michele Borucki began her career in development in 2012 as a Development Analyst with the University of California, Berkeley Corporate and Foundation Relations team. Before joining the Helen Brown Group, she served as a Prospect Analyst at University of California, Davis and a Senior Prospect Analyst at the George Washington University. Michele is a member of NEDRA, Apra Florida, and Apra International and previously served as the Social Media Chair for Apra Metro DC. She received her B.A. in creative writing from Florida State University and studied higher education leadership at California State University, Sacramento. She currently lives in Tampa, FL with her husband and two children. Michele joined the Helen Brown Group in July 2018.
COST:
$50 Members
$100 Non-Members
LOCATION:
Attendees will receive a Zoom link a day before the event; this meeting will be held as a Zoom meeting and a recording will not be available.
DEADLINES:
Registration closes on Thursday, October 22nd at 9:00AM.
Creative Collaboration: Taking the Path from Reaction to Relationship
TUESDAY, OCTOBER, 27, 2020
1:00 PM --- 2:30PM
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
Communication is a key element of keeping the fundraiser-researcher relationship a happy one. It can be difficult to balance timely deliverables with the dynamic, creative interactions needed to develop a true partnership. Join Kiran Tahir, Research Analyst, and Bryan Mullin, Associate Director of Prospect Management at Yale University Office of Development for a retrospective on how the transition from Yale Prospect Research to Yale Prospect Development also transformed the research analysis staff into strategic partners with the frontline team.
Kiran and Bryan will discuss points including:
• Team structure
• What led to this shift
• Organizational considerations and planning
• Scalable application to teams of various sizes
PRESENTERS:
Kiran Tahir: Kiran joined the Prospect Development team at Yale University in 2018. Since then, she has taken the lead on a number of projects, such as running training sessions, leading conversations on annual group goals, and working with our vendors to maximize user experience and establish important group best practices. Prior to joining Yale, Kiran was a grant-writing consultant for Connecticut and New York nonprofits, helping to raise millions in grant dollars for organizations that support women’s rights, affordable housing, social emotional learning programs for underachieving children, and advocacy for victims of human trafficking. Kiran holds a Master of Science in Library and Information Science. In her spare time, she enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, hiking, and spending time with her family.
Bryan Mullin: The past decade has seen Bryan transition from elementary school teacher to various higher ed development roles including technical training, database user support, and prospect management. As the inaugural Associate Director of Prospect Management at Yale he works with stakeholders across the university to develop processes that support both frontline team business goals and optimal donor experience. When he’s not refining processes at Yale you’ll likely find Bryan watching movies or playing the guitar with his wife and 3 children at their home in central Connecticut.
Attendees will receive a Zoom link a day before the event.
Think Tank: “Is That a Major Gift Sequence in Your Constituent’s Genes or….”: Brainstorming a Novel Approach for Donor/Prospect History Presentation
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2020
10:00 AM --- 11:00 AM
This ThinkTank session aims to explore a new concept for presenting the histories of a nonprofit’s constituents as stored within the institution’s database, followed by a group discussion about the methodology, the possible analytics, and any other ways to present, visualize and analyze constituent histories. The idea for this approach borrows from the biological process for storing genetic information to produce “Donor/Prospect DNA.” Having the constituents’ historical data transformed this way will hopefully yield the most successful donor DNA sequences that precede a gift being made – and conversely, the patterns that do not result in giving. Open to all levels of analytics experience, the concept introduction and subsequent group discussion will last roughly 60 minutes.
FACILITATOR:
James Cheng currently holds the position of Senior Associate Director for Analytics, Prospect Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund’s Division of Philanthropy. Other than fundraising, he has made intellectual and professional forays into cell and development biology, high school teaching, academic research in education, as well as healthcare market research. While finishing up a doctorate degree in applied statistics in education at Boston College, James' interest in philanthropy was piqued when he took on the role of Prospect Data Mining and Modeling Specialist at MIT. After spending time in the corporate world as a healthcare market researcher, James left the Dark Side and returned to the Light in computational philanthropy, first at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as Associate Director and then at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as Development Data Analytics Specialist and Senior Data Scientist.
$0 Members
$25 Non-Members
Registration for this event closes on November 3, 2020 at 9:00AM.
Prospect Management Workshop
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Prospect Management. Everyone loves the idea of having a prospect management system in place at their organization, but it is not always easy to move from an idea to an actual implemented system. There are many pieces involved in creating a prospect management system and simply knowing where to begin and how to proceed can be a daunting task. There may be internal obstacles that you need to navigate, such as: lack of time to work on creating a system, lack of staff (you may be a solo shop, or on a small team), lack of buy-in from the top, and/or a lack of understanding as to why a system is needed by your fund raising team.
There is no “one size fits all” prospect management system. Each system needs to be tailored to the needs, nuances, and existing processes of your organization. Ruthie has created prospect management systems from the ground up, both with and without initial buy-in from leadership. They will help guide you through the process of how to create a system for your organization.
Attendees will leave with the following:
Ruthie Giles is the Associate Director of Advancement Services at Westfield State University. Ruthie is considered to be a thought leader in the field of prospect management, having created prospect management systems for a number of organizations and spoken at a number of conferences on the topic. Previously she has worked at Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Harold Grinspoon Foundation, The Loomis Chaffee School, and the Williston Northampton School.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2020 – FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2020
CLASS SCHEDULE
Friday, November 6, 10 AM – 12 PM Friday, November 13, 10 AM – 12 PM Friday, November 20, 10 AM – 12 PM NO CLASS Friday November 27 (Thanksgiving week)Friday, December 4, 10 AM – 12 PM Friday, December 11, 10 AM – 12 PM
Welcome to the world of High Finance, where business transactions involve large amounts of money, a high degree of risk, or assets other than stock, bonds or cash ("alternatives").
This is the world that creates, maintains, and perpetuates a disproportionate number of personal fortunes in the US. Its activities touch virtually every affluent major prospect on the donor and prospect lists of every nonprofit organization.
It can also present an intimidating challenge for prospect researchers stymied by artful industry jargon, organization and fee structures, and eye-popping deal figures. Still, the better researchers understand this world, the more opportunities they can bring to light for the organizations they serve.
NEDRA is proud to invite you to join two of the field’s leading experts for a comprehensive survey of the financial services industry, curated for advancement researchers*.
The five two-hour long classes will include:
Class Descriptions
Class 1
Class 2
Class 3
Class 4
Class 5
*minimum 2 years in Prospect Research required
Valerie Anastasio has served as Director of Prospect Development at Boston Children’s Hospital Trust since August 2013. Her development experience spans more than two decades, including positions at the Broad Institute, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Harvard University, Brandeis University, Boston Lyric Opera, WGBH, and as a consultant with The Helen Brown Group. She is a past board member of NEDRA and a recipient of NEDRA’s Ann Castle Award. She is a graduate of Williams College.
Richard Horne leads a team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital which is merging into Beth Israel Lahey Health to become the second-largest health system in Massachusetts, to promote fundraising research insights and prospect management support for a rapidly-growing development office. He previously worked in development/advancement at Yale, where he studied Ethics, Politics, and Economics. Richard is a co-founder of the Yale Economic Review and a member of NEDRA's Board of Directors for which he co-chairs the Diversity & Inclusion and Sponsorship Committeew.
$225 Members
$275 Non-Members
Attendees will receive a Zoom link before the day before each class.
Think Tank: Reputational Risk and Philanthropic Due Diligence
Thursday, November 12, 2020
9:30AM - 10:45AM
Join your colleagues to discuss reputational risk and philanthropic due diligence. Vicki Law and Courtney Cutler from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will start the Think Tank by sharing their firsthand experiences creating a philanthropic due diligence program and lessons learned. Afterwards, they will facilitate a group discussion, so bring your best practices, website suggestions, questions, successes, etc. to share with your colleagues.
FACILITATORS:
Vicki Law is currently Director of Philanthropic Due Diligence at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Vicki joined MIT in 2007 as a Senior Research Analyst focusing on international research and principal giving. She most recently served as Director of Prospect Research. Prior to joining MIT, Vicki was a corporate business librarian and manager, working with strategy consulting and technology firms. In her spare time, she enjoys crafts such as crocheting and embroidery, and is learning how to play Für Elise on the ukulele.
Courtney Cutler is currently a Philanthropic Due Diligence Analyst at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She joined MIT in 2015 as a Sr. Research Analyst, initially working with the schools and later focusing on principal giving. She left in 2019 to travel the country and rock climb, but returned to MIT earlier this year (right before the pandemic!) to work on philanthropic due diligence. Before MIT, Courtney worked in various development roles and in prospect research at the Appalachian Mountain Club. When she’s not working, she can be found climbing up rocks or hiking with her blue heeler puppy, Stanley.
Free for Members
Attendees will receive a Zoom link a day before the event; this meeting will be held as a Zoom meeting and a recording will not be available to attendees.
Registration for this event closes on November 11, 2020 at 9:00AM.
Score Trek Discovery: Employing Test Construction Methods to Measure Donor/Prospect Inclination
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER, 19, 2020
Inspired by the first iteration of the “Discovery Score” (DSCO) to measure donor/donor prospect inclination built by Prospect Research Analytics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 2016, this session details how “DSCO 2.0” is constructed based on concepts, theories, and methods related to test/inventory/assessment construction. The first half of this session concentrates on defining DSCO specifically, the relationship between inclination, engagement and affinity as they relate to philanthropy, as well as the concepts of validity and reliability as they relate to test construction. The second half of the session focuses more towards the technical in terms of the algorithms and statistics used, as well as the methodological in terms of how content-, criterion-, and construct-related evidence are gathered for the validity of “DSCO 2.0” in measuring inclination. No matter the level of analytics expertise, this 90-minute presentation will hopefully provide some guidance towards building an inclination score both conceptually and methodologically.
Registration for this event closes on November 18, 2020 at 9:00AM.
Diversifying Donor Bases: An Action Plan
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2020
1:00PM - 2:30PM
Our institutions are serving increasingly diverse constituents, yet this diversity is infrequently represented in our donor bases. In an age of "mega gifts", our most invested donors are serving as co-visionaries in creating the future of nonprofit work. To truly serve diverse communities and position our organizations as promoters of social equity and justice, our philanthropic work must represent and elevate diverse voices. This session will explore how to identify donor diversification goals and measurements, and how to create a diverse pipeline of prospective donors. We will also explore how diversifying donor bases relies upon the diversification of other areas of our institutions.
Roslyn Clarke is the Director of Prospect Research Services on the BWF Insight team. She manages all outsourced research projects, leads a team of researchers, conducts trainings, and provides prospect research counsel. Before joining BWF Insight, Roslyn served as director of prospect research at Morehouse College and assistant director at Harvard University. Prior to Harvard, Roslyn worked at Brown University and Hebrew SeniorLife. Roslyn is a seasoned conference speaker, frequent conference faculty member, and has conducted countless prospect research bootcamps. Over the years, she has presented for Apra, CASE, NEDRA, and AFP.
Milagro “Misa” Lobatois the Director of Prospect Management and Analytics at the Rhode Island School of Design. She is also the President of Apra. She has served on the Apra board since 2016 and held leadership roles in governance, conference planning, and membership. Previously, Misa was the Assistant Vice President of Advancement Strategy and Annual Giving at the University of Colorado, where she worked in Advancement for over 13 years. She has a degree in Ethnic Studies and English Literature from the University of Colorado.
Registration for this event closes on December 2, 2020 at 9:00AM.
Think Tank: Raiser's Edge
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
1:00PM - 2:00PM
Registration for this event closes on December 8, 2020 at 9:00AM.
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