Professional fundraising has given rise to a new information specialist profession. This career path, which has been known as prospect research or advancement research, should be more accurately characterized as information resources management for advancement. With primary emphasis on value-added information processes that involve analysis and synthesis of a wide variety of data, advancement researchers must function as information resources managers for the fundraising and advancement efforts of nonprofit institutions. This paper describes the current status of the profession through a review of its professional literature and an analysis of the results of a number of membership surveys conducted between 1988 and 1998 by the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA). This analysis seeks to provide the profession with a knowledge base upon which to chart its future. Individuals with graduate degrees in library and information science represent a relatively small minority of the membership. They need to assume a leadership role within the organization and to draw on the literature and professional status of the special library and information science fields to assist the membership of the APRA in gaining professional recognition and parity within the several fund raising careers. Copies of some of the APRA surveys are appended. Bibliographies of related journal articles and Internet sites are included. (Contains 96 references.) (Author/MES)