# IoF publishes new guide on prospect research & major donor fundraising

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/03/13/iof-publishes-new-guide-prospect-research-major-donor-fundraising/
- Published: 2018-03-13T07:04:38+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**A new guide to help fundraisers with their prospect research and major donor fundraising
is now available from the Institute of Fundraising.**

The Institute of Fundraising has published [_Connecting People to Causes: A Practical Guide to Fundraising Research_](https://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/documents/iof-connecting-people-to-causes/)
in partnership with [Bates Wells Braithwaite](https://www.bwbllp.com/) and fundraising
consultancy [More Partnership](http://www.morepartnership.com).

The guide, launched on Monday 12 March at the IoF’s major donor conference, helps
charities understand the lawful bases for processing data and the processes to go
through, and ensure they are treating people fairly and lawfully as they go about
their major donor fundraising and prospect research work.

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It cover key topics and questions raised on major donor fundraising and the processing
of data, including how charities can use publicly available information to help 
them better understand their donors, how and when to provide privacy notices to 
donors, and how to undertake legitimate interest balancing exercises.

Daniel Fluskey, Head of Policy & Research at the Institute of Fundraising, said:

> “We know that all fundraisers want to do the right thing and ensure their work
> is done according to the law and to the highest standard. The issues around major
> donor fundraising and prospect research have been ‘hot topics’ over the last year,
> and we are delighted to have worked with BWB and More Partnership on this new 
> guide which will help support fundraisers go about their work with confidence 
> and success.”

Lawrie Simanowitz, Partner, at Bates Wells Braithwaite, said:

> “This guide addresses in a clear and accessible way, one of the most challenging
> areas of regulation for charity fundraisers – how to comply with data protection
> law when researching donors. It is an area that has recently become fraught with
> uncertainty, and BWB has been delighted to assist the IoF in producing this route
> map through this tricky area.”

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