ABSTRACT
Prospect researchers generally start off by looking at their own country. However as business becomes increasingly international and fund-raisers compete more aggressively researchers suddenly find themselves tackling a new region. In the absence of any other guidance they naturally fall back on past experience. This can be seriously misleading. No matter how similar the countries appear there are inevitably differences in the amount of information available, attitudes towards the disclosure of information, and cultural responses to approaches. Unfortunately little has been written on prospect research techniques and sources, other than in the US. However unless you understand the kind of differences that can exist you might easily overestimate what can be achieved and find yourself totally bemused by the unexpected.
