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Fund raisers who are responsible for identifying potential big donors need to think about their pool of prospective givers like an investment portfolio and seek out people in different industries, Augie Freda, director of development research at the University of Notre Dame, told participants here at APRA’s annual conference.

APRA is a membership organization for fund raisers who focus on researching prospective donors and managing information about contributors.

Right now, he said, if an organization’s prospect portfolio is too heavily weighted toward people who work in financial services, that group is in “a fair bit of trouble.”

But as tough as the current economy is, some industries, such as energy, entertainment, and hospitality, are holding their own — or at least haven’t suffered as severe a blow.

“If you have prospects in the industries that are doing well, it...

Boston

Wealth-screening services take a charity’s donors and check them against databases of publicly available information on real-estate holdings, stock ownership, charitable contributions, and other data. The information that the searches uncover can help an organization identify donors who have sufficient assets to make a large contribution.

But one of the challenges is that “even a moderately successful screening” is likely to identify more potential donors than the organization’s fund raisers can get to right away, Troy Smith, associate director of prospect research at Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, N.C., told participants here at APRA’s annual conference.

APRA is a membership organization for fund raisers who focus on researching prospective donors and managing information about contributors.

“It’s a good problem to have,” said Mr. Smith. But the question the...

The Chronicle has received several letters from fund raisers who want help designing direct-mail appeals following our recent post about the quality of fund-raising prose.

Most of the submissions are traditional appeal letters.

But Sharon Mather, the annual-fund coordinator at William Woods University in Fulton, Mo., is looking for your advice on a different type of appeal.

Ms. Mather says her institution is experimenting with a postcard mailing to everybody who has graduated since 2000. The effort is an attempt to encourage alumni to go to the university’s Web site.

Below are images of the postcard. To offer ideas to Ms. Mather, please post your comments or suggestions in the comments area. As always, we hope the feedback will be constructive.

Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments space below. To submit your organization’s letter for a critique,...

Boston

Globalization, the changing balance of economic power among nations, and increased levels of giving in emerging markets are all reasons why universities and other large nonprofit organizations should consider looking for potential donors overseas, experts told participants gathered here for APRA’s annual conference.

APRA is a membership organization for fund raisers who focus on researching prospective donors and managing information about contributors.

The number of people capable of making a substantial gift is growing in many parts of the world, said Deborah Miller, an assistant vice president at Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

She told the audience that the World Wealth Report 2009 predicted that by 2013 the number of millionaires in Asia and the total value of their wealth will exceed that of millionaires in the United States.

Reaching out to people...

Which brings in more money: an image of a sad child or a happy one? It depends, says Jeff Brooks on the Donor Power Blog.

Mr. Brooks criticizes a recent study in the Journal of Marketing Research, which says that people are particularly sympathetic and likely to donate when viewing sad expressions.

“These findings straddle the line between blindingly obvious and just plain wrong,” he says.

Obvious, Mr. Brooks says, because people who have done research on fund-raising results know that sad images are often more effective.

But wrong because “the research didn’t look at actual fund-raising results,” he says. Mr. Brooks says that sorrowful expressions aren’t always more effective.

“Sometimes a happy image just kicks butt over a sad one,” he says.

And some children furrow their brows when they are sad, which may be misinterpreted as a scowl and draw little sympathy,...

The Chronicle has received several letters from fund raisers who are looking for input on their direct-mail appeals following our recent post about the quality of fund-raising prose.

Today, we offer a 2008 letter from TROSA, a nonprofit group that helps people with substance-abuse problems in Durham, N.C. It was submitted by Michelle Kucerak, TROSA’s director of development.

To offer feedback to Ms. Kucerak, please post your comments or suggestions in the comments area. As always, we hope the feedback will be constructive.

We also invite readers to critique a recent letter submitted by the environmental group Conservation Minnesota, in Minneapolis.

Today’s letter follows:

Dear ________,

It’s that time of year again. The holidays are upon us, and 2008 is coming to a close. It’s been a hard year for everyone, but around all of us are stories of hope that remind...

A New York law firm is taking the “Casual Friday” idea and applying a charitable angle.

Lawyers and staff members at Anderson Kill & Olick are allowed to wear jeans on Fridays, if they make a small contribution to the firm’s ongoing fund-raising drive. Lawyers are charged $10 for the privilege each time they take advantage of it, other staff members $5, and interns $1.

Since starting the program in July 2008, the firm has raised more than $15,000 for three organizations: the American Cancer Society, City Harvest, and the National Parkinson Foundation.

“‘Doing Good Deeds With Denim’ adds a lovely twist to the bit of relaxation that comes with wearing comfortable clothes at week’s end,” says Ronni Meltzer, the firm’s director of human resources.

Simon Frank, a consultant to charities who works in London, was at a meeting with a group of fund raisers the other day when he was struck by the titles they used to describe their work: “head of supporter relationship marketing,” for example, and leader of “supporter acquisition.”

Mr. Frank, who works at a company called Beautiful World, began to wonder why there seems to be a “rash of obscure job titles” in the fund-raising world.

“Are charities (at least some of them) becoming embarrassed at the idea of asking for money?” he asks. “Could part of the reason be the proliferation of ‘social-media experts’ flooding into the sector offering charities advice?”

“These self-proclaimed gurus, many of whom have little or no fund-raising experience, sell a beguiling dream of online social communities coalescing around charities and good causes in a beatific haze of generosity,” Mr....

The Chronicle has received several letters from fund raisers who are looking for input on their direct-mail appeals following our recent post about the quality of fund-raising prose.

In the coming days, we’ll post some of these letters, with the hope that Prospecting readers will offer critiques.

Please post your comments or suggestions in the comments area. As always, we hope the feedback will be constructive.

Today, we’ll offer a recent appeal from the environmental group Conservation Minnesota, in Minneapolis. It was submitted by Julia VanAvery, the organization’s development officer.

Here’s the letter:

Dear _______________

We’ve all heard about water pollution. But most of us don’t think it will actually impact our own lives. My family learned the hard way. And it happened right here in Minnesota.

We love to camp. Each year my wife Susan an...

Fund raisers might want to send a note of apology to Frank Dickerson.

Mr. Dickerson, as part of his doctoral studies at Claremont Graduate University, in California, recently analyzed more than 1.5 million words of online and printed fund-raising texts to determine how effectively fund raisers communicate with their audiences.

While his findings were enough to fuel the creation of a 350-page dissertation, his thesis can be boiled down to a few short words: Most fund-raising copy stinks.

Mr. Dickerson used a computer-based analysis to perform what he calls a “linguistic MRI” on the language in fund-raising materials from 880 nonprofit organizations.

The analysis found that fund raisers typically appeal to potential donors in language that is less engaging than what readers are accustomed to in academic prose and government documents.

“Fund-raising texts sounded cold and...