DonorSearch.net
Minnesota Family Trees
American Family Trees
Biographical Profiles
Prospect Research Training
New: 2013 Seminar
Prospect Research Tips
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Philanthropy Index
Updated Jan. 2002. A Waltman Associates exclusive -- a time-saving index to donors and recipients. (856K file -- will take several minutes to display over slow connections).Note: This index has 4200 entries of gifts. For a more extensive search of 2.1 million gifts, search the Donor Series as described below.
The Donor Series on the Web
The Donor Series, developed by Waltman Associates, now DonorSearch.net, lets you search a database of four million gifts to nonprofits to see who is philanthropic in the U.S.
Political Money Line
The Political Money Line site offers a searchable database of contributors to candidates in Federal elections by election year.
SEC EDGAR Database
The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering and Retrieval) database contains the full text of corporate disclosure filings made under the SEC full-disclosure program. It is the world's most important and valuable database of financial information.EDGAR includes proxy statements, listed as form DEF, type 14A. To search for a proxy statement for a company, enter search keywords exactly (note all caps for operators) as shown in this example for Dayton Hudson Corporation:
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Dayton AND Hudson AND DEF ADJ 14A
Your search results are displayed. Click on the company name for the year of the proxy you wish to view.
When the proxy form is displayed, search for SUMMARY COMPENSATION TABLE using your browser's search facility. You will usually find a table listing salary, bonuses, and stock options for officers and directors of the company.
10k Wizard
Free real-time online access and full-text search of the EDGAR system. 10K Wizard enables users to search current and historical filings, from the start date of each company's existence, by full or partial names, symbol, phrases or keywords.
CBS MarketWatch
Current stock quotes and other up to the minute financial news.
Dow Jones Interactive
Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, offers customizable business news and research. This subscription-only site integrates content from top national newspapers, Dow Jones & Reuters newswires, business journals, market research reports, analyst reports and Web sites. Articles can be downloaded for $2.95 per article.
NewsLibrary
A collection of Knight Ridder newspapers searchable on line.
LEXIS-NEXIS
Newspapers and financial data on line.
Dun & Bradstreet Company Reports
You can now order Dun & Bradstreet company reports over the World Wide Web for $20 apiece. The reports are displayed immediately and are billed to your credit card -- American Express Visa, and MasterCard are accepted. (Netscape secure mode is used to encrypt your credit card information, so you shouldn't have to worry about it being intercepted.)The first time you access this service, your phone number and address is verified. After that, you can order reports directly.
Go to Dun & Bradstreet Information Services
KnowX Public Records Searches
KnowX databases contain millions of public records compiled from official sources. Most searches are $0.50 during peak hours and free the rest of the day, with an average retrieval fee of $4.95.KnowX is the Web version of Information America, one of the world's largest services addressing the relationships between corporations and people and their assets. The company's information products and services are used to obtain background data about businesses, locate assets and people, and retrieve government records.
Go to KnowX Public Records Searches
Tax Assessor Database
A handy resource from Northwestern University that provides ratios of assessed value to market value by state and county, as well as contact information and links to local assessors' Web sites.
Realtor.com Home Price Check
A useful resource that provides estimates of home values by neighborhood or block.Go to Realtor.com Home Price Check
Hoover's Company Capsules Database
A great free resource. Directory information on thousands of companies. Information includes top execs, address & phone, and more. Contains links to news reports and SEC records through the 10K Wizard.Go to Hoover's Company Capsules Database
ResourceShelf
Valuable resources and current news for information professionals from Gary Price.
Legacy.com
A 30-day obituary file combining online obituary sections of newspapers nationwide.
FindLaw (West Legal Directory Lawyer Profiles)
Looking for information about a member of the legal profession? FindLaw, a division of Thomson/West, North America's leading legal publisher, provides West Legal Directory (WLD) at no charge over the Web at its FindLaw site. FindLaw contains searchable listings for more than 1 million attorneys.To do a simple search, enter the attorney's last name, select his or her state of residence from the drop-down box, and click Search!
For more complex searches, click on the Advanced Search link.
Search West Legal Directory at FindLaw
AMA Health Insight
Looking for information about a member of the medical profession? The American Medical Association (AMA) provides a searchable database of more than 650,000 physicians through AMA Health Insight.Choose the link below to go to the AMA Health Insight starting page. Then choose the link to AMA Physician Select. From the AMA Physician Select page, choose the Physician Name link to display the search form.
Note: The AMA site uses Shockwave animations. If your browser is not configured with a Shockwave plug-in, you may receive an error message when you attempt to view the pages. AMA Health Insight
Other Prospect Research Sources
Here are some other compilations of information and links useful in prospect research. Many of these sites contain links to other valuable sites. Explore!APRA Home Page
- The home page for the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (formerly the American Prospect Research Association). Includes an Internet-based job search.
Northwestern University Development Research
- Another good collection of pointers, including access to Northwestern's Tax Assessor Database.
prspct-l Archive
- prspct-l is an Internet mailing list for prospect researchers to share
information. The above-linked site archives postings to prspct-l, but archives
can now be viewed only by subscribers to the list.
To subscribe to the list, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PRSPCT-L/.
Foundation Sites
GuideStar
- A handy online guide to more than 700,000 nonprofits and foundations in the U.S.
The Foundation Center
- A new online service at The Foundation Center site allows you to search the PF990's that were formerly on microfiche in The Foundation Center library.
General References
The Web contains a wealth of general reference sources. Here is a selection of those we find useful in prospect research.IPL Reference Center
- The Internet Public Library, at the University of Michigan. If you can't find what you're looking for, you can query a research librarian.
ZIP Code+4 Lookup
- Check the quality of an address and find the ZIP+4, from the U.S. Postal Service.
Switchboard
- Find the address and phone number of any individual or business in the
U.S.
Note: Eight names are displayed at a time. Click on "Next Page" to see more names. Yahoo! People Search
- Search for the address and phone number of an individual, or, enter a phone number to find the person the number is listed under. Very fast.
