Prospect Research
- Foundation Center or Guidestar: These two websites are should be your first stop for major philanthropists. Both have a free directory of available 990 forms for charitable foundations. Professional operations can upgrade for Foundation Centers premium version, which will conduct queries for you.
- Million Dollar List: This is probably the hidden gem of the internet. Part of UI Center on Philanthropy, it has assembled a database of every charitable donation over 1 million dollars. It's simply amazing, and you can search by funder and recipient. One of my favorite ways to use it is to search donations for comparable organizations. The search function is a cumbersome, so I like to search the site with Google e.g. Professional Jew site: milliondollarlist.org.
- Zillow: This is a great website for finding the cost of someone's home, if you know their address.
- Manta: This is a great directory of small businesses, including their adresses and contact information
- Blackbaud, the company that designed Raiser's Edge, offers two free guides that are very useful in beginning your research. Prospect Research for the Non-Researcher is a white paper with the basics of conducting prospect research. The free pdf book Building Your Giving Programs Through Prospect Research, is part of the Blackbaud Desktop Reference Series, a terrific free resource that you should check out.
Jewish Philanthropy
- eJewishPhilan