Given the fact that their resources are often limited, we encourage development professionals and planned giving officers to recognize that their time may be better spent on prospecting rather than on traditional marketing.

Marketing, by its very nature, is a wide-net process whose primary goal is lead generation. Prospecting, on the other hand, is a more targeted form of marketing. It involves working with your existing database to identify who your most likely planned gift prospects are and conducting targeted strategies to reach them. While the focus of prospecting is more narrow, its results are often more dramatic. In fact, the approach we are advocating costs less, moves more quickly, and very often ultimately leads to larger gifts.