DonorSearch

DonorSearch combines philanthropic and wealth data with AI to find the best prospects for major gifts.

Overview

DonorSearch is a fixture in prospect research: its databases of charitable giving, wealth indicators and affiliations feed machine-learning models — including its AiRGOS engine — that score donor capacity and affinity. Development teams use it to build and prioritize major gift portfolios.

Serving universities, hospitals, cultural institutions and charities, DonorSearch layers analytics over data assets built over decades. For prospect research professionals, the value is defensible prioritization: knowing whom to visit first and why.

Major gift fundraising depends on research quality: knowing which prospects have both capacity and affinity determines where limited cultivation time goes. DonorSearch’s databases combine philanthropic giving history, wealth indicators and affiliations, and its machine-learning scoring ranks prospects for the organization in question. Prospect research professionals use screening to surface hidden capacity in existing files and to qualify event attendees and acquisition lists. The research profiles give gift officers context before first contact — giving history, board connections, known interests. For institutions running principal gift programs, this is foundational infrastructure: defensible prioritization that concentrates effort where transformational gifts are actually possible.

The screening discipline also keeps portfolios honest: capacity and affinity are reassessed as files change, so cultivation effort stays focused on prospects whose circumstances genuinely support major giving.

Marketing and engagement tools in this category prove themselves on outcomes — response rates, retention, dollars raised — and on fitting the workflows of lean teams who cannot afford complex administration.

Key Features

• Wealth and philanthropic screening databases
• AI prospect scoring for capacity and affinity
• Major gift portfolio building and prioritization
• Screening of entire donor files and event lists
• Research profiles with giving history and connections
• Integrations with nonprofit CRMs

Pricing

DonorSearch sells annual subscriptions and screening packages scoped to database size and features.

Who Is It For

Prospect research and major gift teams at nonprofits, universities and healthcare foundations. Also fits campaign teams qualifying prospects and building cases for support around major initiatives, and to researchers maintaining living prospect portfolios as donor circumstances change.

FAQ

Is DonorSearch free to use?

No free tier; pricing follows institutional subscription agreements.

Does DonorSearch offer an API?

Yes — DonorSearch integrates with major nonprofit CRMs and offers data export.

How does DonorSearch compare to alternatives?

Compared with wealth screening alone, DonorSearch adds philanthropic behavior and AI scoring, trading lower cost tools for stronger prospect research depth.