“If it’s not in the system, it didn’t happen.”
Karen Cochran has repeated this mantra throughout her 30+ year career in fundraising, and it’s advice that prospect research professionals need to hear—especially when pursuing transformational gifts.
When Karen presented “Five Ways to Develop Billion Dollar Relationships” at AFP ICON 2025, she revealed a statistic that got everyone’s attention: while one in three transformational gifts comes from current donors, two out of three come from outside the existing donor base. For researchers, this means the prospects you’re looking for may not be in your database yet.
So how do you find them?
Karen’s answer: relationship mapping.
After founding Philanthropy Innovators in 2022, Karen has focused on helping organizations identify prospects through their boards’ and donors’ circles of influence. But she’s quick to point out that this work requires finesse. Start with your volunteer’s comfort level. Ask about their experience helping other organizations. Keep initial requests manageable—maybe three to ten names, not an overwhelming list of 100 people in their zip code.
The key insight for researchers? Your volunteer’s time is often more valuable to them than their financial resources. Tailor your approach so they can be most effective.
Once you’ve identified prospects, the real work begins. Karen advocates for research and prospect management to take an active leadership role during campaigns—not just identifying prospects, but managing the rhythm of reviews, tracking conversations, and keeping the pipeline moving. Campaign data refreshes constantly, and the most important intelligence often comes from conversations that can’t be found in public records.
This is where that mantra comes in: if it’s not in the system, it didn’t happen.
Karen coaches development officers to write contact reports that capture meaningful information while maintaining appropriate boundaries. (Her rule: don’t write anything you wouldn’t want to read on the front page of the New York Times.) For researchers, this means the difference between prepping lists with actionable intelligence versus staring at notes that say “spoke on phone.”
Karen also champions the power of short profiles over lengthy research reports in early outreach and cultivation. A good profile gives development officers enough information to ask the right questions without walking into meetings appearing to know too much. The goal isn’t to demonstrate research prowess—it’s to help build authentic relationships.
Throughout her career—from her start as a paid student caller at West Virginia University to leading major gifts strategy today—Karen has seen one truth play out again and again: transformational gifts don’t happen overnight. Phil Knight’s recent $2 billion cancer research gift? That was a decade-long relationship.
For research professionals, Karen’s message is clear: bring unbiased data to the table. Spot the new gift to the art museum. Notice the family acknowledgment at their children’s school. These clues reveal how donors see themselves and where your organization might fit into their philanthropic vision.
Your research team is uniquely positioned to help development officers overcome their filters and biases, to identify new prospects through relationship mapping, and to maintain the discipline that keeps campaigns moving forward.
Because when it comes to billion-dollar relationships, the research partnership isn’t just helpful—it’s critical to success.
- Connect with Karen: LinkedIn | Philanthropy Innovators Website
- Why Your Major Gifts Program is Falling Short—And How to Fix It | Karen Cochran
- 5 Ways to Develop Billion-Dollar Relationships | Karen Cochran at AFP ICON 2025 | Available for purchase at AFP online