A press release from the U.S. Department of Education would not usually climb onto my “above the fold” radar, but one in April caught my eye: Victories for Higher Education: Eliminating DEI. The cultural war being waged by the Trump Administration against anything and all things “DEI” is not news, but the collapse of visible diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives inside higher education is striking. The Chronicle of Higher Education has recorded higher education’s dismantling of DEI, following along as 300+ colleges and universities alter or remove offices, messaging and policies.  And it isn’t just higher education; anti-DEI politics has spread to healthcare as well, as outlined in 2024 by Hoag Levins at the Penn Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics: How a Rising Wave of Anti-DEI Politics Harms Patients and Health Care Workers. 

All of this pushed me to revisit the Apra Diversity and Inclusion Statement of Principles. Two lines in particular stood out. First, Apra believes “that the wide array of perspectives resulting from diversity, equity and inclusion allows all organizations to be more effective.” And second, that “the responsibility for excellence, diversity and inclusion lies with all of us, the board, Apra staff, volunteers and members.” Regardless of what is happening on the political stage or in our own institutions, prospect development professionals should still work to embody the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. 

So, when we face institutional silence, avoidance or even organizational hostility to diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, justice and accessibility, how do we respond? Consider starting in ways that will matter both now and to the long-term stewardship of your institution, in small direct actions directly tied to the day-to-day work of prospect development. 

Actively promote diverse prospects: 

• The most straightforward activity to promote diverse prospects is to proactively advocate for and support discovery work by fundraisers. This might look like a prospect identification project driven by research to ensure capacity ratings are up to date (or even exist) for a particular affinity group, providing prospect management guidance for a fundraising team’s discovery project, or speaking up at strategy meetings in support of fundraisers spending more time on discovery.  

A more concrete example: when you can, set aside research time for a narrow project that looks at a very specific group.  This might be a subset of highly active volunteers that haven’t traditionally been targeted by fundraising, the leaders and board members of a regionally important industry who would have capacity, but the ties to your institution might not be known, or, if you’re in higher education, maybe an alumni club or affinity group. Be specific in the scope of the project, don’t try to rate your entire database, and bring those prospects not traditionally identified to the fore. 

• Help your colleagues find a balance in relationship-based prospect discovery efforts that develop access to constituent groups outside your fundraisers' prospect pool, while not excluding potential donors and volunteers that might not have ties to existing prospect relationships. Ask a fundraiser how much easier an introduction is when a peer has introduced them to a prospect, and you’ll see the value of relationship-based discovery.  

Let’s say a fundraiser has an incredible volunteer who “knows everybody” and has been actively connecting them with new prospects. Fantastic - what a boon! But no matter how “connected” they might be, there are going to be good prospects outside of their social/professional network. Just make sure not to limit activity to that incredible volunteer (or alumnae or trustee). 

To diversify your prospect pool, leveraging these kinds of relationships can be key. A single donor or volunteer might be the key to unlocking a whole cohort of prospects. But the danger here becomes that the same donor or volunteer may limit the scope of your discovery work to only a certain segment of your constituents; they might have wonderful connections to their friends, colleagues or neighbors, but what about the people they don’t know? 

Be inclusive in your ratings :

• Real estate ownership is a strong indicator of wealth for prospect researchers.  It is straightforward, market values are readily available, ownership is (mostly) publicly accessible (in the United States), third-party wealth screening often relies on it and it is usually tied to data already in our systems (addresses). However, if prospect researchers take real estate ownership at face value, we inadvertently miss entire segments of prospects due to biases in real estate ownership data. 

Segregation and insidious practices such as redlining may not be foremost in your thoughts when looking at the market value of a donor’s residence, but this is an area where we as prospect researchers have a duty to educate ourselves and gain a better understanding of the context around real estate.  If you’re wondering where to start, try reading The Intersection of Redlining and Prospect Research by Maia McGill of the Inclusive Philanthropy Institute. Maia succinctly outlines the pitfalls for prospect researchers created by redlining and offers a few paths forward.  The bottom line is that you are better off building contextual understanding for regional residential choices made by prospects when using real estate as a wealth indicator than having an over-reliance on scoring systems heavily weighted with real estate. 

• Wealth screenings, especially those focused on capacity ratings, have an inherent weakness in that they typically rely on “hard” assets: real estate, stock holdings, foundation assets, past philanthropic gifts, etc. This means that prospects without those particular forms of wealth are simply not identified, and this is why it is important to refresh your own understanding of compensation estimation as a form of capacity research.   

Get comfortable digging into a profession’s compensation patterns/structure. Delve into resources that will give you a better picture of both current levels of compensation and the path forward for the prospect.  (A great place to start is the Helen Brown Group’s Compensation Resources.)   Compensation exploration pairs exceptionally well with proactive prospect identification projects.  Are there major healthcare providers regionally adjacent to your institution? It might be a time for a physician-focused constituent review.  Do alumni from your institution often end up in management consulting? Time to better understand the career trajectory in that field.  Is the legal sector tied to the mission of your nonprofit?  Brushing up on the differences for compensation across corporate law, independent attorneys and lawyers at the AmLaw 100/200 could help you identify pockets of prospects just waiting to be discovered. 

(I fully acknowledge there are major limitations when it comes to compensation data, and the complexities and context around compensation could be its own write-up. But ignoring it will only engrain the limitations of “hard” asset-based screenings into your data.) 

Strengthen equitable engagement:

• Donor engagement policies aren’t necessarily written out, and this impacts prospect development. For example, if your institution holds events, there may be arbitrary rules holding back some constituents from receiving an invitation. Are local volunteers considered, or is there a giving threshold being implemented? Is it exclusive based on capacity ratings from your database? Is the dissemination of the invitation through extant relationships, or is there an effort to bring in new prospects? These questions can help inform how you take on projects in prospect development. Identify “left-out” constituencies and add them to your proactive research projects - don’t let lack of a rating be the reason someone isn’t invited to an event, called by a fundraiser or tapped for an advisory role. 

These ideas are not going to be a cure-all, nor will they fix systemic biases and halt the marching dismantlement of DEI in higher education or other nonprofit institutions.  But there are straightforward ways that we can make a positive difference in our day-to-day work.  

How can prospect development professionals manifest the Apra Diversity and Inclusion Statement of Principles? Start with discrete, concrete actions. Start today! 

Additional Apra DEIJBA Resources 

• Apra Diversity and Inclusion Statement of Principles 
• Apra Ethics and Compliance Committee Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Data Guide (2023) 
• Apra Connections Searchable Archive 
• Apra University Webinar Catalog