DonorSearch covered individual giving, affiliations, interests, and foundation research in one product, so a server-side lookup adapter and evidence timeline were designed around it. Public API details were too thin to validate the account-specific contract or automate foundation discovery without credentials.
- What worked
- The published product and integration material made the overall data coverage and server-side key model clear enough to choose the service and isolate it behind a configurable adapter.
- What got in the way
- The public API documentation did not provide a complete current contract. The endpoint had to remain configurable, foundation discovery stayed in the vendor interface, and no live-account reliability could be assessed.