Feb 13th, 2017
After a wild 2016, executives at US public companies are feeling good, as the Dow Jones ended the year up 13.4%. Executives consistently reduced their holdings in the stocks of their own companies throughout 2016, with cash-raising stocks sales that totaled more than $43 Billion.

Not too surprisingly, stock sales peaked during the tumultuous month of November. While Americans were consumed with the election and its aftermath, many executives were busy cashing out, raising $6.6 Billion over the course of the month.

Topping Donor Watch's 2016 Prospect List are executives who received their undergraduate degrees from schools in the states of Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York. Combined, alumni from the top three states accounted for nearly 23% of stocks sales in 2016. Rounding out the top ten states are alumni of schools located in California, New Jersey, Texas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.

The top undergraduate school with the most alumni stock sales during all of 2016 was the University of Chicago. While 5 of the other top 10 spots were held by schools from the Ivy League, the non-Ivies at the top of the list included stalwart Stanford University, as well as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan and Pennsylvania State University.

The markets in 2016 favored several schools that did not make 2015's top 50 list, including Ball State University, St. Cloud State University, Colby College, University of Houston, Union College, St. John's University and University of California, Santa Barbara.

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. Donor Watch provides its real-time insights and powerful software platform to the development offices and prospect research teams at leading colleges, universities and non-profits. For more information and access, please sign-up for a free Donor Watch trial today.