December 4th, 2012
With the stock markets constantly in flux, it is increasingly difficult to stay on top of key events that may be dramatically altering your top donor prospects' wealth profiles. A report may tell you that a top prospect currently holds $10 million dollars in her portfolio, but if you do not perform proper due diligence, you may not discover your prospect's stock portfolio declined precipitously over the past 12 months, making her feel much poorer than her $10 million account balance may suggest

Obama's election, Fiscal Cliff fears, and other world events sent the stock market on a wild ride in November. Despite the highs and lows, the Dow Jones ended the month at 13,025, just -0.5% lower than where it started. While these big macro events tend to steer the major indices, many individual stocks are commonly bucking the overall trends. There are more than 8,000 US stocks and, on any given day, a significant portion of these companies are likely outperforming the overall market.

The Dow Jones is currently up by more than 6% year-to-date, making many prospects much wealthier than they were at the beginning year.  The higher stock prices will undoubtedly make many top donor prospects feel more secure and more willing to be generous towards their alma-maters and favored charities.  William R. Berkley is one individual who has to be feeling pretty wealthy this year; not only has his company's stock risen 16.6% year-to-date, but he has also managed to add an additional 900k shares of WR Berkley Corporation (WRB) over the year, according to Donor Watch.  Impressively, Mr. Berkley's stock wealth has jumped from $900M to $1,026M during 2012, which has to be making a number of his favorite non-profits smile.  Mr. Berkley is known for being active in philanthropic affairs.  He also serves as a Trustee of University of Connecticut and New York University.  He received a B.S. from New York University and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

ACI Worldwide (ACIW) has impressively outpaced the major indices during 2012, as its stock has
skyrocketed by more than 50%.  Not surprisingly, the company's boom has greatly benefitted its many executives, including its CEO Philip Heasley.  Mr. Heasley has seen his stock wealth go from under $10M to nearly $14.6M.  During the course of 2012, he also raised cash by selling more than $1.1M in stock, bringing his accumulated stock wealth to $16.1M.  Mr. Heasley has been involved with several civic boards, including the Minnesota Opera, the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce, the Walker Art Center, among others.  Mr. Heasley went to school in New York where he received an M.B.A. from Bernard Baruch Graduate School of Business and a B.A. Degree from Marist College.

While oil giant Chevron Corp (CVX) has underperformed the market YTD with its stock down -2.35%, many of its top executives have managed to see their personal wealth increase.  One such beneficiary is the oil giant's Vice-Chairman George Kirkland, who has seen his stock wealth increase from under $6M to over $8.6M over the past year.  Not only has he accumulated company stock over the past year, he has also managed to raise $5.2M in cash by selling of blocks of CVX's stock.  Mr. Kirkland is a graduate of the University of Florida where he received his bachelors as well as a Masters in Civil Engineering.  He sits on several Boards of Directors, including the Corporate Council on Africa and the Africa-America Institute.

Fortunately for prospect researchers with subscriptions to Donor Watch, they do not have to wade through the myriad of filings where insiders report their stock positions and stock sales.  Donor Watch's prospecting tool has powerful summary and analysis features that provide all of this information at the click of a button.  Donor Watch also provides real-time email alerts so your team will be notified immediately following a major wealth creating event.

 For more information about Donor Watch and its top donor prospect targeting reports, please visit Donor Watch's Website or signup for a free trial today.   Donor Watch provides its reports and analyses to the development offices and prospect research teams at many leading colleges, universities and nonprofits.  Donor Watch's unique and robust set of research tools empower fund raisers to manage their relationships with top and high potential donors.