It’s almost always more cost effective to increase the contributions from a long standing donor, as opposed to trying to acquire a new one.

Some donors sit in a non-profit's donor database giving at a relatively low level for years on end. Many a planned gift officer loses sleep wondering if any low level donors could be childless and own Berkshire Hathaway stock. With the notable exceptions of universities and health care settings, which often have solid demographic data, prospect research tends not to serve planned gifts well. Planned giving is a relatively discreet business where the best research is self identified from the prospects themselves.

Still other donors may support a non-profit at a relatively low level and give larger amounts elsewhere. Why? And which, if any, of these lower level donors should be targeted for research and solicitation? The search for appropriate donor upgrades is about patterns.

Here's a quick example. Say a non-profit offers cancer related services. In that non-profit’s donor database there are several lower level donors that might capable of giving more. Take this challenge to if you can wisely invest an organization's limited research budget. Choose which of the following deserves additional research by clicking on an option below. See if the pros agree with you:

Prospect	Mr. and Mrs. John T. Smith, III	Oscar Garcia	Marie Wang
Last five years of giving	$ 750 in 2009	$2,500 in 2009	$ 200 in 2009
	$ 400 in 2008	$2,500 in 2008	$ 150 in 2008
	$ 250 in 2007	$2,500 in 2007	$ 150 in 2007
	$ 150 in 2006	$2,500 in 2006	$ 50 in 2006
Total Giving 2000-2009	$2,250	$1 million +	$ 1,175
Major gift to another non-profit	$25,000 one time gift		$100,000 pledged in the last five years
Known by a member of your organization's board or staff	Yes	Yes	No
Age	55	64	80
	Research further Don't research further	Research further Don't research further	Research further Don't research further

In this case, one name would probably pay off and the others would not. But if you've got 5000 names to evaluate, CPR is equipped to do what many non-profits can't: systematically handle large volumes of names and evaluate which are the most likely prospects that will give more. CPR has defined the tried and true patterns that can help you develop lower level donors into major gifts prospects.