The Prospect Research Toolkit - Help, it's my first day!

It's your first day. PANIC!

No, just kidding. Relax, baby. What could possibly go wrong? Well, several things actually.

On my first day in a previous research position I had a desk but no computer. A friend of mine on his first day had a computer (still in its box) but no desk. Of course, you may find yourself without either and if you're in that situation, there's not much you can do - right? Wrong. There's plenty to do.

1. Meet and Greet

Pick up the phone (or, if you don't even have a phone, get up and walk) and arrange to meet all the people who you will need to know in your new job. Ideally, your line manager will already have arranged for you to have a proper half hour or hour induction with each of these people, but that doesn't mean that you cannot introduce yourself and have an informal chat. And if nothing has been arranged - arrange it.

Briefly tell them who you are and what you will be doing and explain that you would like a half hour or so of their time to learn more about their work.

This achieves two things.

It allows you to start on the right foot with your future work colleagues. It shows an open, friendly, 'we can work together' attitude that your new colleagues will appreciate and to which they will respond.
It will enable you to begin to get down to the nitty gritty of learning how they operate, what their objectives are, how you can work together to achieve them, and so on. It will lay the groundwork for your future research success. Good research requires a good foundation and this is one of the major supports in that foundation.

Remember that just as they will have to prepare for your meeting, so you should prepare to explain about yourself and your work to them. This is not an opportunity for you to sit back and listen whilst they spout forth about their wonderful contribution to "this great organisation that you now find yourself in." Rather it is an opportunity for you to interact; to raise questions, exchange ideas, learn about their job and just what it is that you can do for them and, of course, vice versa.

If you have a few ideas or questions noted down beforehand, this can prevent the whole process turning into a meandering discussion with no centre. (Save that for the pub later.) And do take notes, unless you have an excellent memory, and few of us do, and do follow up on the conversation.

When the meeting is over, go back and write up your notes whilst they are still fresh in your mind and email the pertinent points of the discussion to your colleague. This will show him/her that you understood and appreciated what was said and also give them the opportunity to add/amend any points as necessary. It is also, of course, a useful written record of the meeting for future reference.

Who should you meet?

Well, this really depends upon the size and makeup of your organisation, but I would recommend the following:

The ~~Obergruppenfuhrer~~ Chief Executive
The Head of Fundraising
The Heads of Database Administration, Appeals, National Events, Legacies, Corporate

The size of your organisation will determine whether it is practical or useful to meet each of these people and you may want to be lead by your line manager or head of department if you are unsure. But remember that as a researcher you will probably need to liaise with each the above at some time or other and so you may as well establish friendly relations early on.

In large organisations it may not be worth your while meeting the Chief Executive, as he or she may have little or nothing to do with the day to day running of the fundraising side of things and little of interest to say to you. But for smaller organisations, especially local organisations, meeting your chief executive is a priority - and he/she should be happy to do so. Even in larger organisations, if your chief executive is known for his/her friendly nature and happy to talk to anyone, then take full advantage of it and arrange a meeting. Even if its only for 5 or 10 minutes, it is most certainly worth being on friendly terms with the head honcho. And if it develops into a longer, more meaningful discussion, so much the better. Ideally, you will be giving your Chief Executive an opportunity to talk about the overall aims and objectives of your organisation - where they have come from, what have they achieved and where are they going - so that you can see how the fundraising operation gels (or does not!) with the rest of the organisation.

Regarding the Head of Fundraising, and heads of fundraising depts, you will want to know about past fundraising efforts and current fundraising strategy (short and long term). What are their fundraising strengths? What are their weaknesses? Have they ever had a capital appeal? Are they planning one? To what extent does regional fundraising take place? In other words, what is their fundraising focus? The answers to these questions will impact upon your own research strategy and so it is never too early to start asking them.

As for the head of database administration, I think that this is a relationship that is overlooked or taken for granted at your peril. It is imperative that you learn about the state of your fundraising database early on, as a database with incomplete or inaccurate data can make your job a nightmare. You will also want to know how the database is supported, and who has permission to add/amend data, run queries, block or delete entries, and so on. (Ideally, of course, you will have permission to do all these things, with the possible exception of deleting entries).

2. Get Reading

Reading? You know, that thing you did before computers. Thaaaat's right.

Annual Reports, etc.

Although sometimes an onerous task, reading past annual reports, annual reviews, newsletters, etc. is a must.

At the very least you will learn about the recent history of your organisation and previous fundraising appeals and events. But you may also discover some long forgotten supporter and perhaps find a prospect or two. Given the high turnover of staff in many fundraising departments, do not assume that past support from a well known celeb or donor will be known to current staff. If the only record of their involvement is some dusty annual report from 1990, and those involved at the charity have moved on, you should not be surprised if their involvement has long been forgotten.

Donor Files

There are very few organisations that do not have paper files (possibly containing newspaper cuttings or photocopies of letters, donations, etc.) on previous major donors to supplement whatever information may be on their database.

It is well worth taking the time to familiarise yourself with these past donors and their relationship with your organisation. Files of this sort tend to have the sort of personal information (home address, phone number, etc.) that is not readily available elsewhere and so can be invaluable, especially if your database is incomplete.

So, plenty to do without a computer. And even if you do have a computer, you can can still do all of those things.

And then, young Grasshopper, you will be ready to take the next step: joining one or more of the many discussion groups and learning the tricks of your new trade through the appropriate books and training courses.