TLDR
Prospect research tools tell you what a donor can give - real estate holdings, business ownership, stock transactions, prior charitable gifts. They do not tell you why a donor would give to your organization specifically. The combination of capacity data and relationship context is what produces major gift results; neither alone is sufficient.
Best overall
GrantPipe
Donor CRM with giving history and relationship analytics that provides internal prospect intelligence - complementing external research tools.
Pros
- ✓ Complete donor relationship history including giving trends, fund preferences, and retention risk
- ✓ Donor segmentation surfaces warm prospects and at-risk donors automatically
- ✓ Internal context for prospect calls without additional tool cost
Cons
- × Does not provide external wealth estimates or philanthropic giving data outside your organization
- × External prospect research requires a dedicated research tool alongside GrantPipe
Pricing: starting at $199/month
Verdict: Best as the internal data foundation - GrantPipe tells you what the donor has done with you; research tools tell you their capacity.
iWave
Prospect research platform with wealth screening, philanthropic giving data, and donor scoring for mid-sized and large nonprofits.
Pros
- ✓ Comprehensive wealth screening including real estate, SEC filings, and business interests
- ✓ Philanthropic giving data from 990s and giving records across organizations
- ✓ Integrates with major CRMs including Bloomerang, DonorPerfect, and Salesforce
Cons
- × Annual cost may not be justified for organizations with under 100 major gift prospects
- × Requires staff time to interpret and act on screening results
Pricing: Custom pricing; typically $2,000-$10,000/year
Verdict: Best for major gift programs at organizations $3M+ with a dedicated prospect researcher or development operations staff member.
DonorSearch
Prospect research platform emphasizing philanthropic giving history and nonprofit giving patterns for major gift identification.
Pros
- ✓ Strong philanthropic giving database cross-referencing 990s across nonprofits
- ✓ RFM-based scoring models adapted for nonprofit major gift identification
- ✓ Integration with common nonprofit CRMs
Cons
- × Wealth screening less comprehensive than iWave for non-philanthropic wealth indicators
- × Database coverage varies by region and sector
Pricing: Custom pricing; typically starts around $1,500-$3,000/year
Verdict: Best for organizations prioritizing philanthropic track record over general wealth indicators in major gift prospect identification.
WealthEngine
Wealth intelligence platform with detailed financial data models and propensity scores for major gift fundraising.
Pros
- ✓ Detailed wealth modeling including estimated investable assets and real estate
- ✓ Propensity scores for philanthropic giving and planned giving likelihood
- ✓ API integration for bulk screening of large donor files
Cons
- × Higher price point suited for large development operations
- × Technical implementation requires staff capability
Pricing: Custom pricing (enterprise)
Verdict: Best for large development operations with planned giving programs and budget for enterprise-level wealth intelligence.
Double the Donation
Corporate matching gift platform that identifies matching gift eligibility and automates outreach - a specific type of prospect intelligence.
Pros
- ✓ Identifies matching gift eligible donors from over 26,000 companies
- ✓ Automated matching gift outreach emails to eligible donors
- ✓ Can increase revenue from existing donors without new acquisition
Cons
- × Not a wealth screening tool - specific to corporate matching gift identification
- × Value depends on the employment profile of your donor base
Pricing: $499-$1,999/year depending on plan
Verdict: Best for organizations with significant corporate employee donor bases not yet capturing available matching gift revenue.
Prospect research is the practice of gathering and analyzing information about potential donors to inform major gift strategy. The tools in this category help you answer one question efficiently: does this person have the financial capacity to make a significant gift?
That is a useful question. It is not the only question. Organizations that treat wealth screening as a substitute for relationship building end up with ranked lists they do not know what to do with.
This guide covers five tools - four commercial and one free - with honest assessments of what the data includes, how accurate it is, who each tool is built for, and what it cannot tell you.
1. GrantPipe - Prospect Data in Donor Context
GrantPipe is a donor CRM and grant compliance platform, not a dedicated prospect research tool. It appears first because the most valuable use of prospect research data is informed by donor relationship context - and that context lives in your CRM.
How GrantPipe works with prospect research data
Wealth screening results from iWave, DonorSearch, or WealthEngine are most useful when they sit next to:
- The donor’s full giving history with your organization
- Their engagement record (events attended, emails opened, volunteer activity)
- Notes from meetings and calls with development staff
- Any restricted fund interests they have expressed
GrantPipe stores all of this in a single donor record. When you import prospect research results - which most tools export as CSV or provide via API - you can enrich donor profiles with capacity ratings alongside relationship data. The combination lets you prioritize cultivation based on both capacity and engagement, not just one or the other.
See donor segmentation for how to build prospect-focused segments in GrantPipe, and donor retention reporting to understand which existing donors are upgrade candidates before running a new wealth screen.
Pricing
GrantPipe Starter lists at $199/month. Start a free trial.
2. iWave
iWave is a wealth screening and prospect research platform that focuses specifically on the charitable sector. Its data model prioritizes philanthropic history - what a person has given publicly to other organizations - alongside traditional wealth indicators.
What the data includes
- Charitable giving history from public records (foundation grants, political donations, public gift announcements)
- Real estate holdings
- Business affiliations and ownership
- Board memberships at other nonprofits
- SEC filings for executives with public company stock holdings
- A proprietary scoring model (the iWave Score) that combines wealth, affinity, and propensity
The philanthropic history data is iWave’s differentiator. Knowing that a prospect gave $50,000 to a peer organization in your sector is more predictive than knowing their home value.
Data accuracy considerations
No wealth screening tool is fully accurate. Real estate data can be months behind actual transactions. Business valuations for private companies are estimates. Philanthropic history depends on public records - significant giving through donor-advised funds or private foundations may not appear. Treat all screening data as directional, not definitive.
Who it’s for
Mid-sized nonprofits ($1M-$10M) running structured major gift programs with a development director or major gift officer who will use the data actively. iWave is best when you have a process for acting on screening results, not just running them.
Pricing
iWave pricing is subscription-based and varies by organization size and screening volume. Contact iWave for current pricing - public pricing is not listed.
What it does not do
iWave tells you about financial capacity and philanthropic behavior. It cannot assess emotional alignment with your mission, the quality of your existing relationship, or whether a prospect has competing priorities (family illness, business stress, other giving commitments) that affect their giving readiness.
3. DonorSearch
DonorSearch is built on a similar model to iWave with some differences in data sourcing and a stronger emphasis on philanthropic affinity as a predictor of giving.
What the data includes
- Charitable giving history from over 2 billion gift records (public records, foundation directories, political giving)
- Real estate and business holdings
- SEC insider stock transactions
- Biographical data (education, professional affiliations)
- DonorSearch Score - a rating from 1-5 based on philanthropic behavior, with their research suggesting it is more predictive than wealth-based ratings alone
DonorSearch’s argument is that prior giving to any cause is a better predictor of giving to your organization than net worth - someone who gives frequently at lower amounts is a better cultivation prospect than someone with high net worth and no giving history.
Integration options
DonorSearch integrates with a wide range of CRMs including Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge, Salesforce NPSP, Bloomerang, and others. This is practically important - screening data is only useful if it gets into the system your team actually uses.
Who it’s for
Organizations that want philanthropic behavior data as the primary signal, with wealth as a secondary indicator. DonorSearch’s philosophy is particularly useful for organizations where relationship and affinity matter more than pure wealth capacity.
Pricing
Pricing varies based on organization size and screening volume. Contact DonorSearch for current rates.
What it does not do
Same fundamental limitation as all screening tools: the data tells you about capacity and prior behavior, not current relationship or intent. DonorSearch also requires your team to act on results - bulk screening lists without a cultivation process are not productive.
4. WealthEngine
WealthEngine is an enterprise-focused wealth intelligence platform owned by Ideanomics. It serves nonprofits but also financial services firms, luxury brands, and other sectors that want high-net-worth audience data - which shapes its data model.
What the data includes
- Net worth estimates derived from real estate, investments, business ownership, and lifestyle data
- WealthEngine’s P2G score (Propensity to Give), a predictive model
- Consumer behavior and lifestyle data (purchases, travel patterns, luxury brand affiliations)
- Business ownership and executive positions
- AI-driven capacity models
WealthEngine’s broader data sourcing (including consumer data beyond charitable records) gives it richer profiles for ultra-high-net-worth prospects. This is more useful for organizations with major gift programs focused on donors at the $500K+ gift level.
Who it’s for
Larger nonprofits ($5M+) with professional major gift programs, planned giving officers, and capacity to manage enterprise contracts. WealthEngine is overpowered for organizations running a small-scale major gift program.
Pricing
WealthEngine is enterprise-priced. Expect four-figure or five-figure annual contracts. Contact WealthEngine for current pricing.
What it does not do
WealthEngine’s consumer data model can produce false positives - someone with lifestyle indicators of wealth who does not have the liquidity or the inclination to make a major gift. The enterprise pricing makes it inaccessible for most mid-sized nonprofits.
5. Double the Donation
Double the Donation is different from the wealth screening tools above. Rather than identifying high-capacity prospects, it helps nonprofits identify donors whose employers offer matching gift programs - which can double or triple the value of a donation without requiring any additional ask.
What the data includes
- Database of 20,000+ companies with matching gift programs
- Employer name matching from donor records
- Automated matching gift follow-up emails to donors
- Integration with donation forms to prompt matching gift identification at the point of giving
What it does for nonprofits
Matching gift revenue is consistently underclaimed by nonprofits. Most donors who work for matching-eligible employers do not know their employer matches, or they know and do not bother to submit the paperwork. Double the Donation automates the prompting and follow-up to capture this revenue.
Who it’s for
Any nonprofit with a significant base of corporate employees as donors. The tool pays for itself quickly if your donor base includes employees of large companies with generous matching programs. Useful alongside other prospect research - see grant research databases for the foundation funding side of the picture.
Pricing
360MatchPro (Double the Donation’s premium product) starts at $499/year. Basic features are available at lower price points.
What it does not do
Double the Donation does not screen for wealth or identify new major gift prospects. It is purely a matching gift tool. It does not replace wealth screening for major gift programs.
Free Options: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer and IRS Tools
Before paying for a prospect research subscription, several free tools provide meaningful data:
ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (projects.propublica.org/nonprofits) - searchable database of IRS Form 990 data for all US nonprofits. You can look up any nonprofit’s revenue, program expenses, executive compensation, and large grants received or awarded. Foundation 990-PF filings show which organizations received grants and in what amounts.
IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search (apps.irs.gov/app/eos) - official IRS database for verifying nonprofit status and finding 990 filings.
Foundation Directory Express (free version) - Candid offers limited free access to its foundation database. The full Foundation Directory requires a subscription (covered separately in the grant research databases guide).
What free tools tell you
For prospect research purposes, free tools are most useful for:
- Researching a specific foundation’s giving history before approaching them
- Verifying that a corporate foundation exists and looking at recent grants
- Understanding a potential major donor’s other nonprofit board affiliations
For broad donor screening, free tools do not scale - you cannot run your full donor list against public records manually.
What Prospect Research Cannot Tell You
Capacity is not intent. The most common mistake in major gift fundraising is treating a high wealth score as permission to solicit. A prospect can have $10M in real estate holdings and zero interest in your mission.
What matters alongside capacity:
- Affinity: has this person demonstrated interest in your cause area, either through prior giving, volunteer work, or professional activity?
- Relationship: do you have a genuine connection, or is this a cold approach based on a data match?
- Timing: is this person in a life stage where charitable giving is a priority (business sale, inheritance, retirement)?
The how to choose a nonprofit CRM guide covers how to structure donor relationship management alongside prospect research. The most productive major gift programs combine good data with disciplined relationship tracking - which is exactly what a CRM like GrantPipe is built for.
Free resource
Get the Nonprofit CRM Evaluation Scorecard
A weighted scoring framework for comparing nonprofit CRMs across the 8 categories that matter most to mid-sized organizations: donor management, grant tracking, reporting, integrations, and total cost. Delivered by email.