By: Marijana Boone, Insightful Senior Product Manager
When resources are limited, fundraise smarter
Economic downturns, shifting priorities, and budget constraints often force organizations to reassess their technology investments. However, cutting the wrong tools can weaken donor engagement, slow fundraising, and result in missed opportunities. Insightful is a budget-conscious solution that delivers real value, supports core fundraising functions, and can even replace or complement more expensive tools.
Why keep Insightful?
Alternative to expensive media monitoring tools
Organizations often spend heavily on tools like Muck Rack, Meltwater, and Cision, which are designed for broad corporate PR and media tracking. Insightful is more affordable and includes flexible PR tracking options through its My Interests feature.
- Budget Tip: Coordinate with your communications team and explore cost-sharing Insightful as a shared subscription.
“Insightful has been beyond helpful to keep track of our organization, organizations like ours and our leadership when we are published in the news and other media sources.”
—Erin Chokr, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Venice
Complement or replace prospect screening tools
Prospect research platforms like iWave, WealthEngine, and RelSci focus on wealth data but can be costly. While Insightful doesn’t replace database screenings, it provides donor intelligence through news content and can identify key relationships, financial and philanthropic milestones that drive engagement.
- Budget Tip: If you are using pricey prospect screening platforms to conduct one-of searches or uncover donor relationships, consider using Insightful’s historical news content to build robust donor profiles.
"Historical news is incredibly helpful in uncovering generational wealth. I was researching a family that had just sold a well-known company, but their last name didn’t match because they were in the sixth generation. An article on their family history provided the missing context. This kind of insight helps us decide whether to assign someone for further engagement, and even if we don’t right away, we’ll have that valuable information in our CRM for the future."
— Prospect Researcher, Major Medical Center
Best-in-class solution for obituary tracking
Your organization’s data management team may have a subscription to a service such as Obitdata.com or Ancestry.com for tracking deceased donors. With access to over 14,000 news sources and over 27,000 funeral homes, Insightful offers the most comprehensive obituary and funeral home notice database, including both historical obituaries and daily deceased alerts.
- Budget Tip: Coordinate with your data management department and explore cost-sharing Insightful as a shared subscription.
“Insightful recently alerted us about the passing of one of our biggest donors. The family had not published an obituary, so we weren’t aware of this important update until we received the funeral home notice from Insightful.”
—Anne Wilson, Associate Director, Relationship Insights, Oregon State University Foundation
A cost-effective alternative to donor engagement platforms
Tools like DonorSearch or EverTrue promise engagement insights but come with a high price tag. While Insightful does not currently recommend next steps, its ability to surface key donor milestones makes it a valuable source of engagement opportunities—at a fraction of the cost.
- Budget Tip: Set up your development officers and assistants with Insightful news alerts and give them a reason to engage with donors at a fraction of the cost.
“Insightful delivered an article about a prospect who received significant new funding for his company. The timing was perfect since it arrived right before a meeting and helped inform the conversation.”
—Madison Eady, Loyola Marymount University
The bottom line
When budgets are strained, Insightful is the tool that saves time, improves fundraising outcomes, and consolidates functions typically spread across multiple platforms. Consider where Insightful can replace, complement, or enhance other investments, all while keeping your fundraising strong.
Are you ready to put Insightful to work for you?
At Insightful, we believe nonprofits that know more raise more.
Ready to access critical donor intelligence from 14,000+ news and information sources?