May 1st, 2016
During the first Quarter of 2016, 11,000+ executives of US public companies sold $10.5 billion in stock, according to a recent Donor Watch report. This quarter's list of wealthy individuals is led by several renowned tech executives, including Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg, Saleforce.com's Marc Benioff, Microsoft's Bill Gates, Oracle's Safra Catz, and Dell's Michael Dell. The Q1 stock sales for these five executives totaled $770 million, or 7.3% of all sales.

In addition to renowned philanthropists, the list also includes many lesser known millionaires who are often more discreet about their wealth and their philanthropy efforts. Timing can be everything for non-profits seeking major gifts, so identifying prospects and alums who have recently come across large amounts of cash can be critical to a gift officer's targeting efforts.

The top undergraduate schools with the most alumni on the list include the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan and Cornell University. Combined the three top universities' alumni sold more than $540M in stock during Q1. Rounding out the top ten are the University of Texas at Austin, Harvard College, Yale University, Stanford University, University of Southern California, University of Connecticut and Rutgers University.

Notably, several smaller schools also cracked this quarter's top prospect

list with impressive alumni stock sales. All of these schools are located in the northeastern US, including Colgate University, the U.S. Military Academy, Hamilton College, Wesleyan University, St. Lawrence University, Bowdoin College, and Providence College.

Donor Watch provides its powerful software platform and real-time analyses to the development offices and prospect research teams at leading colleges, universities and non-profits. Donor Watch's unique and robust set of research tools empower fund raisers and prospect researchers to manage their relationships with top and high potential donors. For more information and access, please sign-up for free Donor Watch trial today.