Japanese-English dictionary by Takako Tominaga
Language barriers often create the impression that prospect information is just not available in a particular country. In reality, the information may be available — just not in English. As I briefly noted in my last post, the ability to explore material in languages other than English is essential for successful international prospect research. This post looks at that idea in a little more depth and highlights some of the language skills and strategies successful international prospect researchers need to have.
Research in other languages
An ability to read languages other than English is very helpful for international prospect researchers. In my case, for instance, I have reading ability in the Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese). I also have studied Chinese and, because my work increasingly involves researching prospects in Russia, have started studying Russian this year. All of these language skills help me scan articles and websites quickly to find the material I need. Any prospect researcher with skills in languages other than English has an advantage when researching prospects outside of English-speaking countries.
That said, researchers can use a set of proven research techniques to find information in languages with which they are not familiar. These techniques include, among other things, conducting keyword searches in local languages, using input tools for typing and translating words in languages that do not use the Latin alphabet, and navigating online materials and electronic reports using certain automated translation tools.
Learning these techniques takes practice. Even a prospect researcher with a lot of domestic (i.e., English-language) research experience will still need time to master these techniques, which are not required for researching prospects in the US or other English-speaking countries. As I mentioned in an earlier post, allowing researchers time to gain these specialized skills is a key part of successful international fundraising.
Do your researchers have these skills already? Will they have enough time to prepare for your next international fundraising trip?
Coming up
The next post in this series will look at the differences in asset allocations from country to country and how those differences can impact your assessment of a prospect’s ability to give.
