Case Study: Northwestern University achieves scalable prospect identification and major-gift growth with WealthEngine

Northwestern University - Customer Case Study

Northwestern University, a private research university in Illinois, faced an underdeveloped prospect identification program—only about 2,200 alumni had qualification ratings, many of which were unvalidated—just as they prepared to screen 112,000 alumni records. To standardize prospecting they defined two ratings (officer-assigned inclination/readiness and researcher-validated capacity based on wealth screening) and set up a systematic, multi-year screening strategy.

By partnering with a screening provider and running annual reunion-class and targeted screenings, Northwestern identified more than 10,000 actionable prospects and validated the top 1,000 within three months; today their prospect pool covers about 20,000 households (25,000+ individuals). Parent screenings alone helped the Parents’ Fund grow from roughly $500K to nearly $1.9M over six years, and ongoing screenings now support grateful-patient initiatives, youth programs and predictive analytics to further refine donor targeting and portfolio management.

Northwestern University

Jennifer Fry

Director of Development Research and Prospect Management