Prospect Research Recommendations

Robin Evans 3 · April 2017

We are considering doing some prospect research with a non-Blackbaud company in the next fiscal year. We are looking at Lexisnexis. Has anyone here used them? If yes, would you share your experiences, both pros and cons. Also open to recommendations for other possible prospect research companies.

Thanks.

Cindy Avery · April 2017

I used Lexis Nexis with a previous employer. At the time, since I hadn't been exposed to other options, I thought it was good. Now that I use ResearchPoint (a Blackbaud product that syncs the research to your existing record in Raiser's Edge) or WealthEngine (a stand-alone subscription), I realize that L/N was not too user-friendly. That said, this was 10 years ago and I have no clue what updates and tweaks may have been made to the product since then.

shani traum · April 2017

I find each service has it's strength and weaknesses, especially in terms of the data found.

ResearchPoint is better than Lexis at finding philanthropy, political giving, non-profit affiliations, and Real Estate (and in general presents data clearer)

Lexis is better at finding potential relatives, employment (current and past), news, birthdates, address (current and past). It also allows you to easily move from the original person's report to a "relative's" report, which makes digging into THEM easier.

We're just starting to add DonorScape into the mix, so we'll see how that goes.

But from what I've seen, LN definitely has it best when it comes to the family and biographical info.

Brian Davies · April 2017

After evaluating WealthEngine, Total Analytics and iWave:Pro, I switched from WealthEngine to iWave: PRO. It has been almost a year, and I am still not totally sold on a few of the quirky features. There are some nice features and there is a lot of bang for the buck as they have added RelSy to their suite of tools. I also use LexisNexis, it is mainly a tool for finding current addresses, phone numbers and birthdates.

Kelly Sauter · April 2017

Robin Evans:

We are considering doing some prospect research with a non-Blackbaud company in the next fiscal year. We are looking at Lexisnexis. Has anyone here used them? If yes, would you share your experiences, both pros and cons. Also open to recommendations for other possible prospect research companies.

Thanks.

We have used just every product out there, and I would agree each has their good points and bad points. We are currently using ResearchPoint and we are not impressed with the results found. WealthEngine and DonorSearch seem to be more accurate and provide more information in the output spreadsheet. One suggestion, make sure that you have a "trial" period before getting locked into a contract. We are locked in a three year contract and are not happy with the product.

Tatianna Peck · June 2017

Brian Davies:

After evaluating WealthEngine, Total Analytics and iWave:Pro, I switched from WealthEngine to iWave: PRO. It has been almost a year, and I am still not totally sold on a few of the quirky features. There are some nice features and there is a lot of bang for the buck as they have added RelSy to their suite of tools. I also use LexisNexis, it is mainly a tool for finding current addresses, phone numbers and birthdates.

Brian, I'm curious - do you have any experiences to share about migrating data from iWave into Raiser's Edge? Our new CDO just subscribed us to iWave: Pro. I know iWave includes a field for constituent ID, which is a start, but I'm interested in insights from folks who have actually imported findings from iWave into RE.

Darrel Spacone · June 2017

Robin Evans:

We are considering doing some prospect research with a non-Blackbaud company in the next fiscal year. We are looking at Lexisnexis. Has anyone here used them? If yes, would you share your experiences, both pros and cons. Also open to recommendations for other possible prospect research companies.

Thanks.

Jennifer Filla
CEO | Prospect Research Institute
President | Aspire Research Group LLC
jen@aspireresearchgroup.com
Office: (727) 202 3405 x700

ANITRA HOVELSON 2 · June 2017

Brian & Tatianna,

Interested about your experiences here... we are being "courted" by iWave now (currently with Wealth Engine) and not sure it's worth it. Doesn't look "integrated." (I hate when companies use that term without validating it.)

Anitra

Edgewood College

Madison, WI

ANITRA HOVELSON 2 · June 2017

Robin et al,

Found this comparison chart of prospect research vendors the other day - might be useful in your search:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/59mai301dv5o1xr/VendorComparisonChart.pdf?dl=0

Molly Umberger 2 · July 2017

Tatianna Peck:

Brian Davies:

After evaluating WealthEngine, Total Analytics and iWave:Pro, I switched from WealthEngine to iWave: PRO. It has been almost a year, and I am still not totally sold on a few of the quirky features. There are some nice features and there is a lot of bang for the buck as they have added RelSy to their suite of tools. I also use LexisNexis, it is mainly a tool for finding current addresses, phone numbers and birthdates.

Brian, I'm curious - do you have any experiences to share about migrating data from iWave into Raiser's Edge? Our new CDO just subscribed us to iWave: Pro. I know iWave includes a field for constituent ID, which is a start, but I'm interested in insights from folks who have actually imported findings from iWave into RE.

I would also love to hear about uploading iWave data into Raiser's Edge, as I am struggling to find an easy way to upload batch screenings, especially with things like Giving to Other Organizations and Property data. Thanks in advance!

ANITRA HOVELSON 2 · July 2017

Yes, please share your experiences, iWave folks!

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