Derry Deringer didn’t set out to become one of the most trusted names in capital campaigns and major gift fundraising. His path started in technology sales, a career he walked away from in his early 30s to travel and volunteer across Spain and South America. It was on long bus rides through the Andes, watching people face economic hardship with resilience, that Derry found the pull toward public service that would define the rest of his career.

Twenty years later, Derry is the Principal of Deringer Consulting, where he helps human services nonprofits raise bigger gifts through capital campaigns, major gift programs, and legacy giving. He has helped clients close everything from first-time gifts to $1 million transformational commitments.

Prospect research has always been part of that work. We sat down with Derry to talk about why he outsourced it for years, what changed when he found DonorAtlas, and the story behind a university client who discovered major donors they didn’t know they had.

I specialize in capital campaigns, major gift programs, and legacy giving, so prospect research is an important element of my client work. It made sense to outsource that work to specialists, and it still makes sense for certain needs. But I invested in DonorAtlas as well because I love the speed, flexibility, and end product it delivers for my clients. The ability to produce profiles and research strategies on the fly—during, between, and after client meetings—aligns well with my coaching and facilitative approach with clients.

It was a one-two-three punch that got me. Jen Filla at Aspire and I collaborate on projects, and she mentioned testing DonorAtlas early on. Then Will, DonorAtlas’s CEO, presented at a few professional associations I belong to. Between the two, it was hard to ignore.

I’ve been working on a funding initiative with a department in a large public university. They know their alumni, but not much about their philanthropy, so it was very helpful to run a DonorAtlas query to see which high-net-worth individuals who attended the university and studied in the department the team would already know.

It turned out there were about 15 individuals they knew personally but didn’t know had the kind of wealth DonorAtlas surfaced. That saved them tons of time—instead of trying to find a needle in the haystack with limited staff time, they had a clear, prioritized list to work from.

Their success rate is pretty strong once they start engaging with each alumnus, and gifts from new donors have ranged from $1,000 to $100,000. I imagine this research will generate $10,000 to $25,000 in first-gift acquisition revenue over the next six months—and honestly, that’s a conservative estimate.

I like DonorAtlas’s networks and strong connections features for mapping relationships for my frontline fundraiser clients. Being able to produce a detailed profile as quickly as a Google search is also very nice.

I’m always encouraging nonprofits to get out there and talk to their donors directly to get answers. Organizations can get bogged down with too much analysis. The misconception is that you have to invest all kinds of time in prospect research before a person is ready to be engaged. DonorAtlas frees nonprofits and consultants to invest more in getting in front of donors—faster.

Do the demo. Bring three actual donors, run profiles on them, and ask DonorAtlas to connect you with a current user similar to you to chat with. Seeing it work on real names, and hearing from someone in your shoes, tells you everything you need to know.