Wealth Screening Helps Nonprofit Uncover Top Major Gift Donors
House of Ruth helps women and their families overcome homelessness and abuse by providing safe housing, personalized support, and access to resources that promote long-term independence. Based in the Washington, D.C. area, House of Ruth offers transitional and permanent housing that helps women build a path forward. With the right support, many participants go on to pursue degrees, buy homes, and thrive in their careers.
Challenge
Identify major and planned giving prospects within their donor base
After more than a decade of using DonorPerfect to manage fundraising and donor engagement, the House of Ruth team had a solid base of donor data. However, they lacked the financial and biographical insights needed to determine which constituents might be strong candidates for major gifts or planned giving.
Solution
Wealth screening integration to guide major gift strategy
To prepare for the next stage of their fundraising efforts, the team used DonorPerfect’s integrated prospect research tools to enhance their donor records. By combining existing data with wealth insights, including age, real estate holdings, stock assets, giving history, and estimated capacity, they uncovered high-potential donors and centralized that intelligence inside DonorPerfect.
“With this wealth data in DonorPerfect, our major gift officers can focus directly on those most likely to give.” – Director of Operations
How they used prospect research
- Screened donor base to identify their top 100 prospects
- Accessed real-time insights on wealth and biographical indicators
- Assigned top donor prospects evenly between two major gift officers
- Grew planned giving (Legacy Circle) using age and income indicators
“We certainly believe that we have earned back our investment in prospect research in the first year.” – Director of Operations
Moves Management module to create action plans
With their top prospects identified, the team created structured cultivation plans using DonorPerfect’s Moves Management. Each donor was assigned a sequence of actions like calls, emails, and in-person visits, which were scheduled, tracked, and automatically prompted. This ensured consistent follow-up and helped gift officers guide prospects from interest to donation.
Key results
- Identified top 100 major gift prospects with wealth screening
- Built tailored outreach plans that guided gift officers step by step
- Expanded their planned giving program
- Recovered the cost of wealth screening in the first year
- Improved fundraising focus and return on investment through integrated donor insights
Lasting impact
With powerful prospect research, House of Ruth built stronger donor relationships and increased support. By centralizing insights and streamlining action steps, they’ve set themselves up for long-term fundraising success.
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