Identify High-Net-Worth Donors for Nonprofits

I am seeking a diligent researcher to help identify high-net-worth individual donors and notable businesses for 231 Montana-based nonprofit and community organizations. The primary focus is on accredited investors with a net worth exceeding $1 million.

FREELANCER INSTRUCTIONS
Project: Identify High-Net-Worth Donors to 231 Montana Community Organizations

Objective
Your task is to identify high-net-worth individual donors (and businesses, if notable) to each of the 231 Montana-based nonprofit and community organizations that I will provided in a spreadsheet. We are especially interested in accredited investors — people with a net worth of over $1 million.

Deliverables
You will create and maintain a master spreadsheet (Google Sheet or Excel) with the following columns for each confirmed donor:
-Organization Name
-Donor Name (individuals only — no banks or anonymous “community” donors)
-Donor Type (e.g. Individual, Family Foundation, Business Owner)
-Donation Amount (if publicly stated)
-Date or Year of Donation (or approximation if not listed)
-Source Link (press release, article, blog, or report that confirms the donation)
-Context Notes (include any biographical detail on the donor that helps verify they’re likely high-net-worth, e.g., “founder of X company,” “local real estate investor,” “owns multiple businesses”)


Research Process
1. Use These Search Terms
Start with Google or news databases using the following structure:
"[Organization Name]" + donor OR donation OR capital campaign OR major gift OR sponsor OR benefactor site:.org OR site:.gov OR site:.com

Try variants like:
“[Organization Name] major donors”
“[Organization Name] donor list”
“[Organization Name] fundraising gala”
“[Organization Name] annual report PDF”
“[Organization Name] blog site:.org”

Focus on links that might lead to:
Annual reports or donor recognition PDFs
Local newspaper coverage
Nonprofit blog posts or press releases
Charity Navigator or CauseIQ grant reports
Foundation annual reports

2. What Counts as a Valid Donor
We are only interested in:
Individuals (especially repeat donors, board members who give, or those named at events)
Family foundations where the individual donor is identifiable (e.g. Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation)
Business owners
High-profile Montanans or people from philanthropic families


We do not want:
“Anonymous donors”
Banks (e.g., First Interstate Bank Foundation)
National foundations (unless tied to a named Montana family or individual)
Small dollar “community drive” donors unless clearly high-net-worth individuals are named


3. How to Verify a Donor is High Net Worth
You don’t need to confirm net worth explicitly, but you should only include someone if:
They donated a significant amount (>$5,000 preferred, exceptions made if it's recurring or strategic)
They are tied to a known business, real estate portfolio, family office, or private foundation
Media coverage or org documents describe them as a “lead donor,” “key supporter,” or “founding benefactor”
Look them up if unsure:
Google their name + “Montana”
Check Whitepages or ZoomInfo for estimated net worth, business ownership, or real estate holdings


Timeline
One week deadline



Other Notes
Always include the original source link (URL) for every donor entry.
Use multiple sources if needed to confirm the donor is real and high-net-worth.
You may use ChatGPT for brainstorming search terms or verifying biographical details, but do not copy unverified AI guesses into the spreadsheet.



Questions?
If something seems unclear or if donor information feels speculative, make a note in the "Context Notes" column but do not guess. It’s better to have fewer real donors than many hallucinated ones.

Your response should include the word "Upslope" as the first word to be considered.