Wealth Screening
Wealth screening is the process of analyzing donor databases against external data sources to estimate donors' financial capacity to give.
Wealth screening is an analytical process that matches your donor database against external data sources — real estate records, SEC filings, business ownership data, philanthropic databases, and other public records — to estimate each donor's financial capacity to give. It helps identify hidden major gift prospects in your existing base.
Why It Matters for Fundraising
Many nonprofits have major gift prospects hiding in their database without knowing it. A $50 annual donor who owns a $3 million home and has given $100,000 to other charities has significantly more capacity than their giving history suggests. Wealth screening surfaces these opportunities so your team can prioritize cultivation efforts on prospects with the greatest potential.
How It Works
Organizations typically run wealth screening through specialized services or AI-powered tools that analyze property ownership, stock holdings, business affiliations, philanthropic gifts to other organizations, political contributions, and other public financial indicators. The output is a scored list of prospects ranked by estimated capacity and likelihood to give. This data is most valuable when combined with relationship data and affinity indicators.