What to Know About Wealth Screening Tools
For nonprofits serious about growing their fundraising programs, wealth screening tools often come up in conversation. They promise to identify which donors and prospects have the financial capacity to make larger gifts, saving time and helping focus efforts where they matter most. But how do these tools actually work, and how much can you really rely on them? Here is our breakdown for everything you need to know about wealth screening tools.
Where the Information Comes From
Wealth screening tools pull data from a wide range of publicly available sources. This typically includes real estate holdings, SEC filings, political contributions, business affiliations, and charitable giving records. Some platforms also use proprietary databases and integrate with CRMs to build a more complete picture of a prospect’s financial profile.
It’s important to remember that these are estimates taken from several different data sources. It is not a forensic audit of someone’s net worth or complete financial situation. Data can be incomplete, out of date, or missing altogether if someone’s assets are held privately or they live well below their means.
Accuracy: The 60% Rule
Most professionals estimate the accuracy of wealth screenings at around 60%. In other words, the results can point you in the right direction but are not going to tell you the full story. These tools are generally reliable at flagging people who do have capacity, but they frequently miss prospects who actually could give more.
This makes false negatives (people who look less wealthy than they are) much more common than false positives. In practice, that means you’re unlikely to waste time chasing someone who cannot give, but you may overlook someone who can.
How Wealth Screening Can Help
Despite limitations, wealth screening tools can certainly be useful if approached the right way. They can:
Prioritize portfolios: Focus staff time on the donors most likely to give at higher levels.
Provide context for cultivation: If a donor owns multiple properties or has business holdings, that can guide more informed and better conversations.
Uncover hidden potential: Sometimes a mid-level donor has much more capacity than their current giving history alone suggests.
Think of wealth screening not as simply a powerful filter. It helps narrow the field and give you information on who might be worth a deeper exploration.
How to Use Screening Effectively
The best results come when wealth screening is used in combination with other resources and human insight. Consider these best practices:
Layer with qualitative knowledge: Combine screening data with what you learn from conversations, board members, and volunteers. Peer-to-peer information is still going to be the most accurate and current information we can get.
Validate before asking: Don’t assume a capacity score means inclination to give. The relationship piece is still valuable even if we know a little bit more about someone’s financial situation.
Use for segmentation: Screening is especially effective for grouping donors into tiers for targeted strategies like major gifts, mid-level, or planned giving.
Re-screen periodically: Capacity changes over time; refreshing your data every few years keeps it more relevant.
What Wealth Screening Won’t Do
It’s equally important to be clear about what these tools can’t do. They don’t measure willingness or interest—only capacity. A donor prospect may have millions but no desire to give to your mission, while another with more modest means may be your most loyal donor. Screening doesn’t replace the relational side of fundraising. The human element is still what closes gifts.
Wealth screening tools are valuable allies for fundraisers, but they aren’t crystal balls. Like any tool, it works best in the hands of fundraisers who know how to combine data with the human element of relationship building.
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