Overview

Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. works with community foundations to help them better understand the awareness and perception concerns for prospective donors. Prospective donors are community members who have a household income large enough to donate to charity, are actively involved in the community through volunteering, and who currently contribute $500 or more annually to local nonprofit organizations. We provide information for community foundations that will assist in a better understanding of how your organization is perceived according to your prospective donors. Our studies allow you to identify areas you would like to improve and provide valuable information for understanding future donation plans for your community foundation. 

Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. has worked with community foundations conducting telephone surveys of prospective donors to meet the following objectives:

• Identify awareness and perceptions about your community foundation
• Understand the value of the work of your community foundation
• Understand what would motivate prospective donors to contribute to your community foundation
• Identify the opportunities and challenges that must be addressed by your community foundation, including issues of endowment and wills
• Discover the level of participation prospective donors would have in programs if offered
• Obtain basic demographic information about community foundation prospective donors

Since the information needs are different for every community foundation, Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. focuses on identifying and providing relevant information for each community foundation using a customized research process.  Our research process includes: developing a customized survey, telephoning community members who fit into the prospective donor criteria, and analyzing the results by prospective donor demographics to help your community foundation make effective and efficient decisions.

Prospective Donor Surveys

Although the information collected for each community foundation is unique, generally, prospective donor surveys examine four areas:

• Awareness and Perceptions – How much prospective donors know about community foundations and their purpose
• Charitable Giving – Prospective donor's support of charities and the potential to support your community foundation
• Potential Programs – Involvement in programs if they were offered by community foundations
• Prospective Donor Demographics – General information on prospective donors used for statistical purposes

The survey process begins by meeting with the community foundation to identify the issues of concern and survey objectives.  The survey is then developed to address those objectives and meet generally accepted survey practices. Most prospective donor surveys are conducted by telephone because this method provides the most statistically accurate sample. Surveys average about five minutes in length, and are completed over a three week period. Once the report is completed, the staff of Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. will present the survey results to the community foundation.  Typically, a prospective donor survey takes approximately four months to complete.

Prospective Donor Surveys Outline

The following outline lists information provided in a typical community foundation prospective donor survey:

Awareness and Perceptions

• Knowledge of community foundation and the programs it funds in the community
• Knowledge of community foundation's mission
• Overall opinion of community foundation
• Understanding of donation impact in the community

Charitable Giving

• Approximate amount donated to nonprofit organizations
• Community foundation response to social issues of concern to the prospective donor
• Reasons and motivations for donating to nonprofit organizations

Potential Programs

• Support for an endowment
• Support for planned giving program
• Provide information about programs and services

Prospective Donor Demographics

• Age
• Location
• Employment status
• Gender
• Household income
• Amount annually donated to nonprofit organizations