Best Donor Prospect Research Software for Major Gifts Teams
/4 min read
The best donor prospect research software depends on the size of your file and the size of your gifts. For screening a large database, iWave, DonorSearch, WealthEngine and Windfall are the established choices, and all of them sell through quotes or per-user contracts. For a major gifts or principal gifts office whose top prospects are worth $1 billion or more, a sourced billionaire list such as BillionaireList costs far less and gives a citable figure for each person, with Pro at $49 a month or $24 a month billed yearly.
Build a sourced billionaire list
Most offices end up with two layers. A screening tool sorts the whole file by capacity, and a research source gives the gift officer a briefing on the handful of people who decide the campaign. This guide compares the tools on that basis.
What prospect research software has to do
Before comparing vendors, decide which of three jobs you are buying for. They are priced and built differently.
- Screening. Append wealth, giving and affinity scores to thousands of records so you know who to call first.
- Profiles. Give a researcher a readable page on one person with assets, board seats, philanthropy and connections.
- Top of the pyramid research. Track the few dozen people who could write a seven or eight figure gift, with sourced and dated figures.
Combined ranked wealth by industry
- Technology $5.51T
- Finance and investments $2.97T
- Diversified $2.79T
- Manufacturing and industry $2.14T
- Retail $1.81T
Donor prospect research software compared
The table lists what each vendor publishes. Where a price is not public, it says so.
| Tool | Best for | Coverage | Public pricing | Where it wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iWave (Kindsight) | Nonprofit screening plus profiles | Wealth, capacity, affinity and giving records | Around $4,150 per user per year listed on G2; vendor pricing not published | Bulk screening with readable research profiles in one product |
| DonorSearch | Philanthropic history | Giving to other causes, wealth markers, screening scores | Not published; quote after a demo | Past giving elsewhere, a strong predictor of future gifts |
| WealthEngine (Altrata) | Large files | Modeled wealth for US households | Quote only | Sorting a very large file by modeled capacity |
| Windfall | Household wealth across a file | Modeled net worth and wealth events | Not published; quote after a demo | Appending net worth to a large donor or member file with CRM sync |
| BillionaireList | Principal gift prospects at $1B or more | Every living person with a dated public estimate of $1B or more | Pro $49 a month or $24 a month billed yearly; Data $199 a month | A source link and an estimate date on every figure, with filters and exports |
Best donor prospect research software by situation
A small shop screening a few thousand records
Start with a quote from iWave and DonorSearch, using the same sample of your own records, and compare the hit rate on people you already know. Do not buy on the demo file.
A university or hospital foundation in a campaign
Run a broad screening tool for the annual cycle and add a billionaire list for the lead gift prospects. Campaign cases are decided by a short list of people, and a gift officer briefing needs the source of each number. Our billionaire prospecting tool shows how territory filters, exports and alerts work for that list.
A national organization with a very large file
Windfall and WealthEngine are built for volume. Ask what you pay per record and whether you can screen the top tier only.
How much does donor prospect research software cost?
Prices vary widely and few are published. G2 lists iWave at about $4,150 per user per year. TrustRadius shows a general category range of roughly $1,500 to $5,000 a year, but that range is not specific to any one vendor. DonorSearch, WealthEngine and Windfall quote after a demo. BillionaireList publishes $49 a month on Pro, or $24 a month billed yearly, and $199 a month on Data with three seats and API access.
Ask every vendor for the price at your real record count and your real number of users, and ask what renewal looks like in year two.
What is the best prospect research tool for major gifts?
For major gifts the best tool is the one that gives the officer a figure they can cite. Screening scores help you rank a file, but a briefing for a seven figure ask needs the source of the wealth, the date of the estimate and the company behind it. Researchers who work from annual reports and foundation filings can ask questions of the PDF filings directly to pull those facts faster. Pair a screening product with a source that shows those fields. If you are reviewing individual vendors, our comparisons cover each one in detail: the iWave alternative, the DonorSearch alternative, the Windfall alternative and the WealthEngine alternative.
Questions to ask before you buy
- What is the price at my record count? Get it in writing, with renewal terms.
- Can I test my own top 20 names? Check whether each figure has a date and a source.
- Does it export into my CRM? Confirm the file maps into Raiser's Edge, Salesforce or HubSpot without losing columns.
- How many of my gifts come from the top tier? If most of your campaign value sits with a few billionaires, you do not need to pay to screen everyone.
- Who owns the data policy? Wealth data is research, not consent to contact. Follow CAN-SPAM, TCPA and your organization's data policy.
Where BillionaireList fits
BillionaireList ranks every living person with a dated public net worth estimate of $1 billion or more. Each record keeps the estimate date, the publisher, the source URL, the industry, the source of wealth and the residence. Filter by country, city, industry and minimum net worth, then export 14 columns to XLSX or CSV, or download the full billionaires list in Excel and CSV. It sells no contact details and does not screen households below the billion line, so it complements a screening tool rather than replacing one. A confirmed account gets one 25-row sample export, and the pricing page lists every limit.
Gift officers also look at how the largest donors give. The billionaire philanthropy giving guide shows the patterns behind major gifts.