by Melissa Bank Stepno, Vice President Data Insight
A colleague and I were recently reflecting on the evolution of our field from being solely engaged with prospect research to now including multiple disciplines. What started as an industry focused on information gathering and long-form written profiles, has blossomed into a much more complex and strategic ecosystem of activities.
In addition to what many would consider our core competencies – prospect research, relationship management and data science – professionals in our industry also dip their toes into broader areas from data management, to annual giving segmentation, to setting organization-wide policies for data governance and due diligence, and so much more.
And, even within those core competencies, our day-to-day activities have changed as we have become more sophisticated as a profession and as technological advancements have allowed us to do our jobs differently. No more trips to the library, or phone calls to the tax assessor’s office, or three-ring binders of wealth screening data. You get the idea.
Did you know that when Apra was initially founded in 1987 it was called the “American Prospect Research Association” and then later the “Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement?” Recognizing its broader focus – and the larger impact we were having – it’s no wonder that Apra changed its name to an acronym in 2017.
Yet, since Helen Brown first proclaimed: “I officially declare that from now on, March is International Prospect Research Pride month” in 2014, it has remained #ResearchPride month.
For this, the 10th anniversary, Apra has changed the moniker to “Prospect Development Pride Month.” I fully support the initiative to broaden the tag line so that it is more representative of our community and skill set.
However, as my musings with my colleague continued, I began to wonder: where did the term “Prospect Development” come from anyway?
The earliest reference I can find is from Apra’s 2013 annual conference, which was called “Prospect Development 2013.” My assumption is that even back then, there was an acknowledgement that the “Prospect Research Conference” just wasn’t going to cut it anymore. And, Apra’s annual conference is still called the “Prospect Development” today.
If you think about it, what does “prospect development” mean anyway? We aren’t developing any prospects. We aren’t even the people who are developing a relationship with prospects – that’s what our front-line partners are responsible for. And, when you ask them, most of them wouldn’t be able to define “prospect development” on their own without having us explain it to them first.
After giving it some thought, I came to the conclusion that I do not think it is a term that fully articulates our impact, particularly as we continued to evolve as a profession.
This might be a controversial comment but here it is: If it doesn’t truly explain what we do and if it isn’t translatable to our near-adjacent colleagues, why do we use it?
So, I started ideating on a new tagline that better reflects our work.
Here is what I came up with: “Prospect Strategy and Fundraising Intelligence.” For all the science fiction fans out there (and I know there are many of you even if I am not one!), we can even use #PSyFI for short!
When you boil it all down, we are the strategic intelligence arm of the philanthropy industry. We should own our seat at the table and use terminology that can be interpreted across our organizations.
It’s even a riff on Apra’s official mission: “Apra is the premier organization for professionals who strategically harness information and data to drive fundraising for philanthropic institutions.”
Now, I am not a marketer, and I am not really suggesting that this blog post should spark a movement to change #ResearchPride month or even the current usage of “Prospect Development.” But, I do hope that if you have made it this far through my musings, you will also take a moment to consider how we (how YOU!) can best celebrate pride in our profession. After all, Helen did preface her proclamation stating that we should “stand up, advocate for ourselves and voice our pride in what we do.”
Contact Melissa Bank Stepno at melissa@helenbrowngroup.com
