The Accidental Fundraiser Who Never Looked Back
Regina Alhassan didn’t set out to build a career in fundraising. She needed a job.
Fresh out of Ohio State, she was a young single mom when the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences posted an opening for a development program assistant. She didn’t know exactly what it was. But she figured she could develop things, run programs, and assist. So she applied.
Sitting in that office one day, she had a light bulb moment:
“I can make change and really be the change I want to see in fundraising and philanthropy,” she said. “There was no looking back — and that was almost 30 years ago.”
Today, Regina is the CEO of ResearchPRO, eight years into building a consultancy that turns donor data into donor dollars.
The Leap of Faith into Entrepreneurialship
The entrepreneurial spirit, Regina says, was always in her — it just wasn’t always practical. As a young single mom, the message around her was clear: get a good job, get good benefits, stay there, retire. And for a while, she followed that path.
But the knowing that there was more, that she was meant to be living a different kind of day was always there.
One of the motivations that pushed Regina to start ResearchPRO was simple: she felt she was worth more than what any salary could offer. She wanted to pay herself more than the going rate — and she did. She ended up doubling and tripling her income.
Not every day is easy. The grounding in faith, in self-knowledge, and in a clear sense of purpose is what carries her through the harder stretches of running her own business. But the discipline to ask honestly, did I do my best?, and then adjust rather than spiral, has become her toolkit.
Beyond earnings, what she loves most about working for herself is scope. Right now she’s helping a Tennessee-based organization build a history museum in New York, working through $24 million in identified capacity, setting up their CRM, and connecting board relationships. Elsewhere, a prospect she identified for a national early childhood literacy organization resulted in a $300,000 gift — the beginning of what will be a long donor relationship.
“My impact just can expand,” she says. “I get to pick and choose, and the scale of what I can do — that’s what I enjoy most.”
Why This Matters Now
For anyone in research and prospect management who has ever wondered whether going solo is the right move, Regina’s advice is direct: if you have that voice nudging you, try it.
“Not everyone has the entrepreneurial spirit and that’s okay,” she says. “But if you have that inkling, then do it. And when you do, be really clear about the value you bring. Charge what we’re worth.”
Prospect research professionals working on multi-million (and multi-billion) dollar campaigns are responsible for a meaningful share of those goals. That’s the value. Own it.
Listen to the full Chatbytes episode to hear Regina on her favorite kinds of prospect development work, what she’d tell her younger self, and why she hosted a live webinar called “There Will Be Joy” on Inauguration Day instead of watching the ceremony.
Resources Mentioned
- Connect with Regina on LinkedIn
- ResearchPro