What is Wealth Screening?
Wealth screening is a powerful tool that nonprofits can use to help determine donors’ capacities to give.
As a subset of prospect research, wealth screening looks at top indicators of wealth like real estate ownership, business affiliations, and stock holdings in public companies.
These screenings use data to unveil an accurate estimate of a potential donor’s wealth. The process helps fundraisers locate major gift prospects hidden among the crowd.
Wealth screening can help determine:
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Why do you use wealth screenings for fundraising?
What data should you have in a wealth screening?
Philanthropic Indicators
Philanthropic indicators speak to a prospect’s affinity for charitable work and your organization. Logically, a donor who has given in the past and who has been involved with your nonprofit recently and frequently is a strong candidate for becoming a major gift donor.
Wealth Markers
These indicators are what typically comes to mind when people think about wealth screening. Above all else, wealth markers are simply signals of someone’s financial capacity to give — just as philanthropic markers are a good indication of a prospect’s willingness to donate to charity.
What wealth screening tools do you recommend?

Zillow
Real estate ownership is a quick and easy indicator of wealth — but it also points to an individual’s propensity to give.
Simply enter a prospect’s address into Zillow’s search field and learn the value of the property.

SEC.gov
SEC.gov has a searchable database to investigate a prospect’s stock holdings.
This is a tool that can provide valuable insights into an individual’s wealth.
Note, however, that this database only shows public stock holdings. Ownership of private companies will not be visible here.

FEC.gov
FEC.gov is another government database that allows you to discover the political giving history of your prospects.
Their gift amounts can teach you how much they are capable of giving.
In fact, just the act of contributing to political campaigns demonstrates a propensity to give in general: donors who have given over $2,500 in FEC contributions are 14 times more likely to give philanthropically.

DonorSearch Giving Search
Currently in its beta version, DonorSearch Giving Search is a free, online prospect research tool that gives its users access to a condensed version of DonorSearch’s philanthropic data.
Simply enter a prospect’s information and the Giving Search tool will display their past giving history.
What are wealth screening best practices?
How can DonorSearch help?

Can I see DonorSearch in action?

Go to DSgiving.com, where you can type in identifying information about any donor.

View biographical information about your donor.

View your donor’s giving history.
Additional Wealth Screening Resources

Prospect Research: The Ultimate Guide
One of the most important tools you have at your disposal when designing successful fundraising efforts is prospect research.
Need a refresher?
Brush up on everything there is to know with our newly-updated Prospect Research Ultimate Guide!

Major Gifts and Major Gift Officers: The Basics
One of the biggest reasons organizations turn to prospect research is to help them identify potential major gift donors.
Major gifts play a vital role in the financial health of any organization.
Discover more about major gifts and how you can successfully solicit them!

22+ Actionable Annual Fund Strategies (That Donors Love)
Looking for more information on how to plan out and implement a successful annual fund campaign?
We’ve got you covered!
Read up on effective and easily implemented annual fund strategies your donors love.

Top 7 Wealth Screening Solutions
Ready to automate your wealth screening process with the best software out there?
Look no further for the perfect software!
Check out Double the Donation’s ranking of the top 7 wealth screening software for nonprofits.