This year’s Emerging Philanthropy Conference, co-hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Western Pennsylvania Chapter and Pittsburgh Planned Giving Council, was buzzing with energy. From the keynote address to the last session of the day, a common theme emerged: How fundraisers spend their time matters. Who they spend it with matters even more.
Sector veterans Kevin McMahon, Sylvia Fields, and Kate Dewey encouraged us to do our homework before approaching potential supporters. Advancement Advisors’ consultants and partners shared stories of success in capital campaigns, board engagement, and individual donor programs. Other speakers highlighted the importance of thoughtful stewardship, legacy giving, and building stronger corporate partnerships.
Each session offered valuable insights, but together, they reinforced an important question: How can fundraisers focus their time and resources on the relationships most likely to advance their missions?
One tool that can help answer that question is wealth screening. By providing insight into potential donors’ financial capacity, philanthropic interests, and giving history, wealth screening can help organizations identify promising prospects and make more informed decisions about where to focus their fundraising efforts.
At the end of an uplifting day, I was left wondering not how to do more, but how to do better.
The Need to Focus
In at least one session, a presenter referenced statistics about charitable giving that provide a powerful motivation to focus fundraising efforts on individuals. For years, the Giving USA annual report has emphasized just how much charitable giving comes from individuals rather than corporations or foundations. According to its 2026 report, 64% of giving comes from individuals, rising to 74% when gifts from bequests are included.
Yet it can be difficult to spend our time where we can make the greatest difference for our missions. There are as many myths as reasons. The deadline-driven work of corporate and foundation giving is easy to prioritize, not to mention the reality that foundations exist to give money away.
Of course, institutional giving deserves attention. But with the majority of charitable giving, totaling more than $450 billion nationally, coming from individuals, building meaningful relationships with individual donors is essential to growing support.
As shared in Maureen’s blog post, Fundraising Trends of 2026, more money is also coming from fewer donors.
How do you find and understand individuals who might be interested in supporting your mission? How do you identify your potential top 10 donors? Whether you have a nascent (or not-quite-there-yet) individual giving program or are preparing to launch a major fundraising campaign, wealth screening for nonprofits can help you identify promising prospects and focus your efforts.
What Is Wealth Screening?
Wealth screening is more than what it sounds like, and it isn’t an invasion of privacy when conducted using appropriate public information. It uses publicly available data to assess a person’s financial capacity, philanthropic interests, and giving history.
Having wealth does not automatically mean that a person is charitable. Likewise, a person’s high-profile commitment to another mission does not guarantee, or even necessarily signal, an interest in supporting yours.
Wealth screening can provide a useful snapshot of a person’s philanthropic affinity, financial capacity, and history of giving. When combined with your organization’s donor records and knowledge of existing relationships, these insights can help you identify and prioritize potential supporters.
When and Why Is Wealth Screening Right for Your Nonprofit?
Nonprofits use wealth screening to identify potential major gift donors, tailor donation requests to a prospect’s capacity, and improve fundraising efficiency. It can be useful at different stages of an organization’s fundraising program.
- If you are just beginning to engage individual donors: Screening newsletter subscribers or members can help identify potential supporters and inform your year-end appeal.
- If you have an established annual giving program: Screening existing donors, while considering their giving history to your organization, can help identify high-net-worth individuals who may have the capacity to give more. Segmenting your year-end appeal and tailoring suggested donation amounts based on screening results can help improve returns and identify potential corporate matching opportunities.
- If you have an established major gifts program: Screening can uncover additional information about existing and prospective donors, helping you personalize outreach and improve the timing of stewardship activities and gift requests.
Wealth screening is most effective when it informs a broader prospect research and relationship-building strategy. The results should guide conversations and next steps, not replace personal knowledge of donors or their interests.
RELATED: Learn about qualified charitable distributions.
What Are Your Options for Wealth Screening?
There are reputable fee-based wealth screening companies, such as DonorSearch, that can be effective solutions if you have the budget and staff time to manage the process. Services are typically available through annual subscriptions or one-time, pay-per-record screenings.
Hiring a fundraising consultant or professional prospect research firm to conduct wealth screening offers advantages beyond software alone. Fundraising consultants, such as those at Advancement Advisors, can help interpret screening results and develop actionable strategies to turn donor insights into meaningful relationships and fundraising opportunities.
For small and midsized nonprofits, outsourcing wealth screening can also free internal teams to focus on building personal relationships and soliciting gifts while a consultant applies the technical expertise needed to manage and interpret the data.
How Can Wealth Screening Help Your Nonprofit?
Wealth screening can help nonprofits identify potential major donors, prioritize fundraising outreach, personalize gift requests, and make better use of limited staff time. Its greatest value comes when screening results are combined with donor history, personal relationships, and a clear fundraising strategy.
Have questions about wealth screening for nonprofits and how it could strengthen your fundraising efforts? Connect with Traci Weatherford-Brown at traci@advancementadvisorsgroup.com.
—
Traci Weatherford-Brown, Consultant at Advancement Advisors, helps clients strengthen donor relationships, build fundraising capacity, and advance their organizational goals.