COMPANY PROFILE
Prasad Consulting & Research (PCR) enables nonprofit organizations to maximize their income by raising major and capital gifts. The firm has counseled more than 100 charities throughout the country and around the world, with operating budgets ranging from $50,000 to $2.5 billion.
Our services include research and strategy development, audits of research departments and development offices, and staff training.
PCR is a pioneer in helping organizations craft major donor strategies for individuals and groups with differing cultural values and sensitivities. Projects have included campaigns targeted specifically to African-American, Chinese, Dutch-American, Hispanic, Scandinavian, South Asian, Sephardic, gay and lesbian, elderly, and female populations.
In conducting research, PCR uses a host of premium, fee-based, online databases as well as public records and the firm’s proprietary archives. The firm is not affiliated with any database screening service and is truly independent in recommending research resources and products to clients.
POONAM PRASAD
Poonam Prasad is Founder and President of Prasad Consulting & Research. In the face of drastic government funding cuts to nonprofits in the late 1980s, she established the firm in 1989 to help charities attract private philanthropic dollars to make up for the greatly reduced levels of public support. The firm has provided board and staff training, advanced research, audit, major gift, capital campaign, and publication services to more than 100 local, national, and international nonprofits.
Ms. Prasad is on the faculty of New York University's Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising. She also is a sought-after trainer at seminars hosted by such nonprofit and professional organizations as the American Red Cross, Girl Scouts of the USA, NY-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill-Cornell Medical College, the American Association of Museums (AAM), and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
Ms. Prasad is the immediate past President of Women in Development New York (WID-NY), a professional association with over 700 members. She is also a member of the Foundation Center Consultants Network.
Previously, she was a member of the Executive Committee of the Greater New York Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and co-chair of National Philanthropy Day in New York in 2006 and 2007, during which time the net revenue from the event more than doubled. She also initiated the first Research Track at AFP's annual Fundraising Day New York Conference (the largest one-day conference on philanthropy in the country) in 2000 and has coordinated it every year since then. Ms. Prasad also served as a member of the international board of the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA), during which time she launched its Virtual Seminar series.
Ms. Prasad has served on, and led the boards and committees of numerous nonprofits in this country and overseas. In 1987, she was honored by the US Ambassador to Jamaica for "outstanding service, unrelenting dedication and resourcefulness" as President of the American Women's Group. That year, the organization quadrupled the funds raised and created an endowed educational scholarship fund. She was also recognized by the Rotary Club of Calcutta Midwest in India for raising funds for a free cataract surgery project in rural Bengal.
Ms. Prasad began her career as an investigative reporter, and worked for two decades in journalism, advertising and public relations in India, South Korea, Hong Kong, Jamaica and the U.S. before transitioning to fund-raising for nonprofits. She has been published in numerous publications around the world.
