100% of survey complete.
You are invited to participate in the inaugural Prospect Research Benchmark Study, designed to establish operational benchmarks for prospect research investment, productivity, and pipeline efficiency across advancement organizations.

The survey focuses on how prospect research functions are structured, how prospects move through the pipeline, and how research contributes to fundraising outcomes.

Estimated completion time: 10–12 minutes.

All responses will be reported in aggregate only. No individual organization will be identified. Email information is requested for deduplication purposes only.

Participants will receive early access to the benchmark findings, including a summary designed to support internal conversations about research investment, portfolio health, and pipeline performance.

Your participation will help establish the first cross-sector benchmark for prospect research practices across higher education, healthcare philanthropy, and nonprofit organizations.

Thank you for contributing to this important industry study!
Definitions Used in This Survey

Researched Prospect: A prospect with a research deliverable, such as a profile or wealth assessment in the last 12 months.
Qualified Prospect: A prospect confirmed as assignment-ready based on your organization’s criteria.
Assigned Prospect: A qualified prospect placed in a gift officer’s portfolio.
Solicited Prospect: A prospect who received a formal ask.
Major Gift: Defined according to your organization’s threshold.
Revenue Influenced: Revenue where prospect research meaningfully contributed to identifying, qualifying, prioritizing, or preparing the prospect.
SECTION 1: Organization Profile

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* 1. Are you answering on behalf of your organization’s prospect research function?

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* 2. Are you the best person to answer these questions?

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* 3. Work email (for deduplication only; not published)

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* 4. Organization type

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* 5. Country

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* 6. Annual fundraising revenue (last fiscal year)

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* 7. Total major gift revenue last fiscal year

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* 8. Total fundraising staff (FTE)

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* 9. Number of active major gift officers

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* 10. Your role

SECTION 2: Data Confidence

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* 11. How confident are you in your answers?

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* 12. What sources are you referencing? (Select all)

SECTION 3: Investment & Structure

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* 13. Does your institution have dedicated prospect research staff?

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* 14. How many prospect research staff does your institution have (FTE)? Full Time Employees (FTEs) represented on the Prospect Development (includes Prospect Research, Relationship Management and Analytics) and Front-line Fundraising teams of respondents

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* 15. What prospect research model does your institution use?

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* 16. What is your estimated annual prospect research spend (staff + tools + consultants)

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* 17. What is your annual tools/data spend only?

SECTION 4: Workflow Volume

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* 18. How many prospects were formally researched in last 12 months

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* 19. How many prospects were formally qualified in last 12 months?

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* 20. How much time effort is typical per qualification?

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* 21. What is the typical time from qualification to assignment?

SECTION 5: Screening Practices

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* 22. How often do you batch or conduct portfolio screening (50+ records at once)?

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* 23. How often do you conduct individual lookups?

SECTION 6: Portfolio & Pipeline Movement

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* 24. What is the typical major gift officer portfolio size?

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* 25. What is the percentage of qualified prospects assigned within 12 months?

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* 26. What is the percentage of qualified prospects NOT assigned within 12 months?

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* 27. What is the percentage of assigned prospects solicited within 12 months?

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* 28. What is the percentage of solicited prospects closing within 12–18 months?

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* 29. What is the major gift threshold at your institution?

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* 30. What is the percentage of prospects in portfolios considered inactive/unresponsive?

SECTION 7: Qualification Standards

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* 31. Which criteria are required for qualification? (Select all)

SECTION 8: Prospect Research Maturity Index Scale: 1 = Not true | 5 = Completely true

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* 32. Research outputs are consistently logged in CRM.

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* 33. Gift officers act on research recommendations.

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* 34. We track movement from qualified → assigned → solicited.

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* 35. We regularly remove low-quality prospects from portfolios.

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* 36. We can demonstrate research improves pipeline efficiency.

SECTION 9: Revenue Influence

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* 37. What is the estimated major gift revenue influenced by prospect research in last 12 months

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* 38. What is the approximate percentage of major gift revenue that involved researched prospects?

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* 39. Compared to non-researched prospects, researched prospects typically:

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* 40. Compared to non-researched prospects, researched prospects typically:

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* 41. If research investment increased 25%, expected revenue change:

SECTION 10: Follow-Up

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* 42. Would you be open to participating in a follow-up interview?

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* 43. Name

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