The Development Team follows a defined process for qualifying any prospect submitted to [email protected]. This process is described below.

e)  Rank prospects

i)  Capacity

Capacity indicates the upper limit of what a prospect could be expected to contribute to any organization (not just Tides Canada) during a typical 5-year period. This is an ideal estimate of potential giving based on the prospect’s giving to other organizations and net assets. It will often differ from and exceed the target ask.

Follow these steps to rate a prospect’s capacity:

Generate several different estimates based on information that you can find about the prospect. Consider the prospect’s giving history (for individuals or organizations) such as the highest known cumulative giving to any organization’s campaign. You can also assess the prospects wealth (for individuals) and calculate 2 to 5 percent of estimated net worth or 10% of their annual income. You can also try to calculate the overall giving of the program and estimate 10% of the total value as their giving capacity.

Weigh the various estimates produced in step 1, while also considering qualitative factors, such as the prospect’s life stage, overall willingness to give, and degree of financial liquidity. Use your judgement to determine a final, holistic estimate of the prospect’s capacity to give. Using the final capacity estimate determined in the previous step, assign the prospect a capacity rating within the following brackets:

• $5,000,000+
• $1,000,000-$4,999,999
• $250,000-$999,999
• $100,000-$249,999
• $25,000-$99,999
• $5,000-$24,999
• >$5,000

ii)  Connection

Connection indicates the degree of a prospect’s engagement with Tides Canada, its Board of Directors, and/or staff. It is determined by considering a range of factors, including their affiliations to Tides Canada, relationship with a Tides Canada employee or Board director, history of giving to Tides Canada, and past attendance at Tides Canada events.

Follow these steps to rate a prospect’s connection:

• The prospect is an Insider if they are
  • a current Tides Canada Board member;
  • a current donor to Tides Canada (resulting from internally-led TCF fundraising) at the $5,000 level or above (within the current or previous fiscal years);
  • a 5-year consecutive donor to Tides Canada (resulting from internally-led TCF fundraising).
• If not, the prospect is Active if they are:
  • connected to a Tides Canada staff member;
  • connected to a Tides Canada donor or volunteer, who is willing to help us approach the prospect;
  • a current Tides Canada employee or volunteer, for example, a Board committee member; a member of a Strategic Programs fund or program advisory committee; a consultant or advisor to Tides Canada; or a TCI project director or staff member.
  • a current donor to Tides Canada (resulting from internally-led TCF fundraising) under the $5,000 level (within the current or previous fiscal years);
  • a current Tides Canada DAF client who has used their fund in the past two years;
  • a user of Tides Canada’s international giving program in the past two years; or,
  • an attendee at a Tides Canada event in the past 12 months.
• If not, the prospect is Inactive if they are
  • are a former Tides Canada employee or volunteer, for example, a former Board member, Board committee member, member of a Strategic Programs fund or program advisory committee, or TCI project director;
  • a current Tides Canada DAF holder who has not used their fund at Tides Canada within the past two years;
  • a former Tides Canada DAF holder;
  • a lapsed donor to Tides Canada (resulting from internally-led TCF fundraising) whose most recent gift is prior to the previous fiscal year; or,
  • an attendee at a Tides Canada event more than 12 months ago; or
• If not, the prospect is Distant.

Note: Donations to Tides Canada that are externally driven, i.e. not the result of internal TCF fundraising efforts or activities, are not considered when determining a prospect’s current donor status.

iii)  Philanthropic Inclination

Philanthropic inclination describes the willingness of a prospect to contribute to the charitable sector in general (not just Tides Canada) as a donor or volunteer. Use the following criteria to rate the philanthropic inclination of a prospect

iv)  Tides Canada Alignment

Tides Canada alignment describes the interest a prospect may have in issues and places addressed by Tides Canada programs, projects or services. Consult the following matrix to rate a prospect’s Tides Canada alignment:

v)  Final Ranking

The final ranking of the prospect will be generated automatically in the Prospect Ranking field. It consists a holistic numerical ranking (1-5) appended to the prospect’s Capacity rating (A-E), e.g. A1, B3, C5. The holistic numerical ranking is generated from the individual ratings assigned for Connection, Philanthropic Inclination and Tides Canada Alignment according to the following logic:

Considerations :

• Capacity is tracked separately from the numerical ranking, as capacity tells about the financial potential of the prospect, while the numerical ranking tells about their likelihood to make a gift
• Highest rating is reserved for only the most aligned, most philanthropic prospects: best to reserve the top rating for a small number of the best prospects
• Prospects with no TC alignment always receive a rating of 5 (disqualified)
• Distant but moderately to well aligned prospects receive a ranking of 4. This means they are disqualified, but only due to a lack of connection.
• Legend: