Media monitoring is one way for organizations with a fundraising department to learn about their constituents.  Information to be learned from media monitoring includes:

• Who has joined a Board
• Who has opened a new business
• Whose business is in the news
• Who has received an award (e.g. Order of Canada or Order of Manitoba)
• Who has passed away or had a close family member pass away

There are countless news and obituary sites out there, however for many organizations going through numerous sources can be too time consuming.  Reading your local paper daily, especially the business and obituary sections and setting up a Google Alert for the name of your organization are great places to start.  You would be surprised with how much you can learn about your constituents just by incorporating a little bit of media monitoring. It can be extremely beneficial to your organization in the long run.