Tips and Tricks for Confirming Data in ResearchPoint™

General tips:

It is always helpful to have a prospect’s middle initial or middle name in ResearchPoint. This can help to confirm (or reject) listings in a variety of fields. It is also helpful to know how the prospect prefers to be addressed; for example, does William prefer to be addressed as William, or does he prefer to be addressed as Bill or Billy? Knowing a prospect’s preferred name can also be helpful in confirming or rejecting a listing. For example, if you know that William absolutey hates being called Billy, then you could confidently reject listings for Billy.

Real estate:

If the unconfirmed real estate is held in an LLC or in a trust, check the name. It will often be something similar to the prospect’s name. For example, Gary Grant may own property in the G2 LLC. It is also common to see these vehicles named with a series of family initials (i.e, John and Sara Smith might be listed as the JSS Trust), or names of other family members.

Another way to gain confidence in confirming real estate held by a trust or an LLC is to look at the mailing address for the vehicle. If it is the prospect’s home address, this indicates a very high likelihood that it belongs to the prospect. For further insight on LLC, you can also visit the business registration site of the state in which the LLC is located, to see who is listed on the LLC’s registration.

Giving:

In Giving, it can be especially important to know the prospect’s spouse name (if applicable) and title (if applicable). A listing with both spouses can be confirmed with more confidence than a listing with just one. (Sorting gifts by name is helpful here, if there is a large number of gifts to confirm.) Titles can also be valuable, especially if the prospect has a title such as Dr. or Rev. Knowing information on the prospect’s educational background and age can also be important in confirming giving to higher education, when the gifts are designated as coming from alumni or parents of particular class years.

Foundation Affiliations:

In Foundation Affiliations, as well as in Giving, it is valuable to know the name of the prospect’s spouse (if applicable), as well as other family members. It is not uncommon for multiple family members to have affiliations to the same foundation. If both spouse names have listings for the same foundation affiliation, it is easy to confirm these listings.

With these tips and tricks in mind, you can more confidently approach the process of confirming prospect data and get a fuller picture of your prospect’s wealth and philanthropic interests.