Customer success story
Prospect research reports in under 20 minutes at the YMCA
Background
The YMCA (the Y) in the U.S. is the nation’s leading nonprofit. Committed to strengthening the community by connecting all people to their potential, purpose and each other, the Y serves over 11 million people in over 10,000 communities across the country.
YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) is the Y’s national support office for the federated Y network. The fundraising team continually looks for ways to identify potential corporate donors and foundations that align with the YMCA's mission, protect the brand, and support local and national relationships, sub-granting funds raised to YMCAs for work in their individual communities.
In recent years, Y-USA has implemented various tools to enhance prospect research and due diligence but needed a solution that could quickly perform in-depth research and due diligence efficiently, including reputational and ethical checks, ensuring that potential partners' and donors' objectives align with the Ys mission and values.
The challenge
Due to staffing losses during pandemic shut-downs, the Y-USA team required a more efficient approach to prospect research. While remaining committed to comprehensive due diligence, the fundraising team needed a solution that would uphold research quality, meet tighter decision-making timelines, and protect the brand, all with a single-person research team supporting a now fully remote staff.
Where Xapien steps in
By integrating Xapien into its prospect research workflow, Y-USA was able to significantly improve efficiency. Xapien streamlined the research process while maintaining the depth of analysis required.
- Ease of use and speed: Y-USA’s fundraising team can now generate comprehensive reports in under 20 minutes by simply entering a name and context. This efficiency allows the organisation to obtain valuable insights quickly, supporting timely decisions.
- Reputational and ethical checks: Xapien ensures that prospective partners and donors align with the Y’s mission and values. By identifying potential reputational risks early, the Y can safeguard its brand integrity.
- Empowering teams without researchers: While Y-USA previously relied on a dedicated research team, Xapien enables a single researcher to conduct in-depth research efficiently and any staff with a report-access link to review reports from anywhere. The first ensures that research remains a core function without the need for additional personnel. The second directly supports a work-from-anywhere workforce.
- Legal and governance checks: The platform provides thorough assessments of legal status, ownership structure, and management capacity, ensuring well-informed partnership decisions.
- Adverse media screening: Xapien scans for negative media coverage, allowing Y-USA to proactively mitigate reputational risks associated with potential partners or donors.
- Sanctions, High-risk entities, and PEP screening: With Xapien’s global screening capabilities, Y-USA can identify and assess individuals or entities classified as sanctioned, high-risk, or politically exposed, strengthening risk management efforts.
The impact
By leveraging Xapien, the national resource office of the YMCA has successfully maintained the integrity and depth of its prospect research while significantly reducing the time and effort required.
The organisation can now conduct rigorous due diligence at scale, ensuring informed and strategic decision-making without compromising quality.
With Xapien, the Y continues to uphold its commitment to ethical partnerships, risk mitigation, and mission-driven decision-making, whilst adapting to the evolving research landscape.
"Xapien allows our researcher to conduct in-depth research efficiently while enabling staff to review reports from anywhere."
The national resource office of the YMCA
Xapien streamlines due diligence
Xapien's AI-powered research and due diligence tool goes faster than manual research and beyond traditional database checks. Fill in the form to the right to book in a 30 minute live demonstration.