Many fund raisers seek relationships with estate planners and lawyers on the theory that those experts will influence wealthy clients to make charitable gifts.

However, research by Indiana University and Bank of America has found that, in recent years, wealthy donors have shifted preferences in terms of the experts they rely on for guidance in making gifts, said Tricia Ambler, a manager at WealthEngine, at a session today at the Association of Fundraising Professionals meeting. The Bethesda, Md., company provides online research tools to help charities identify potential donors.

While wealthy donors said that they relied on estate planners and lawyers for charitable advice in a 2006 study, she noted, a later study, in 2008, found them more likely to seek charitable advice from investment bankers, wealth managers, and other experts who help them build assets.

“If you have wealth...

Russell N. James, a researcher at the University of Georgia Institute for Nonprofit Organizations, in Athens, told participants at the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals that he understands why many fund raisers ignore academic research on soliciting gifts.

Too often, he says, such research comes up with conclusions that most fund raisers already know from anecdotal experience, or it’s so specific to a particular institution that other organizations cannot apply it, Mr. James said.

But, he says, some research now under way offer insights fund raisers in many organizations can use.

To expand the amount and quality of research that fund raisers can actually use in their work, Mr. James said that the profession needs a peer-reviewed academic journal that would attract researchers and encourage additional studies.

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Charitable organizations in Great Britain often use executive recruiters to help them find qualified trustees to serve on their boards, said Sheila M. Bailey, a fund raiser at Apostleship for the Sea, a British organization that places chaplains on ships.

Ms. Bailey said that using professional recruiters to find board members is worth the cost, because “recruiting the wrong board member happens more often than we like to admit.”

Such trustees, she added, can upset the working of the board, or they have an agenda that conflicts with the organization’s.

Hiring executive recruiters to search for nonprofit trustees, Ms. Bailey said, “has become common in the U.K., and not just for larger organizations.”

If a charity can afford it, she said, it forces the organization to determine what type of trustee it actually needs. And, she added, “it is better than the old boys’ network.”