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Donor moves management plan template for major gift officers
A donor moves management plan is a written schedule of planned, purposeful contacts, called moves. It takes each prospect in your portfolio from identification through solicitation and stewardship. To build one, tier your portfolio and set a contact cadence for each tier. Name the next move and its due date for every prospect. Log every move the day it happens, and review stage changes with your director each month.
Most major gift officers do not lack prospects. They lack a clear next step for each one. A moves management program fixes that by making every visit, call, and note part of a strategy that ends in a well-timed ask.
This playbook gives you portfolio tiers, a quarterly calendar, messages you can send today, and a short weekly routine. Set it up in your CRM or a simple spreadsheet this week, then let the routine carry it.
On this page
Who to contact and how often
| Tier | Who | How often | Channel | What to send |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1: Solicitation ready | Qualified major donors and prospects you plan to ask within the next six months, with a known interest area and an ask amount drafted. | A meaningful move every two to four weeks. | In person visits first, then phone calls; email only for scheduling and follow up. | Visit requests, personalized proposals, site tours with program staff, a meeting with your CEO or a board member, and a prompt thank you after every conversation. |
| Tier 2: Cultivation | Qualified prospects with capacity and growing affinity who are not yet ready for an ask. | A move every four to six weeks. | Mix of visits, calls, handwritten notes, and personal emails. | Program updates tied to their stated interest, invitations to small events, a question asking for their advice, and introductions to staff doing the work. |
| Tier 3: Qualification and discovery | Newly identified prospects from wealth screening, event lists, board referrals, or upgraded annual fund donors. | Two or three attempts over six to eight weeks, then qualify or disqualify. | Email and phone to secure a discovery visit or call. | A short, warm request for a conversation that explains why you are reaching out and asks what drew them to the organization. |
| Tier 4: Stewardship | Major donors who gave in the last 18 months and are not in an active ask cycle. | A personal touch every six to eight weeks, plus a formal impact report once a year. | Handwritten notes, calls, impact reports, and stewardship visits. | Specific impact stories tied to their gift, thank you calls from program staff or beneficiaries, and early news before it goes public. |
| Tier 5: Lapsed major donors | Donors who gave at the major gift level before but have not given in two or more years. | One reconnect attempt per quarter until you get a response or a clear no. | Personal email or a phone call, then a visit if they respond. | A no-ask reconnect note that references their past gift, shares what it made possible, and asks how they are doing. |
The 12-month plan
| When | Focus | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter 1 (first three months of your fiscal year) | Portfolio cleanup and planning | Review every prospect with your director. Confirm stage and tier. Disqualify prospects with no response after repeated attempts. Write a strategy and next move for each Tier 1 and Tier 2 prospect. Set ask targets and timelines for the year. Book first visits with Tier 1 prospects. |
| Quarter 2 | Discovery and cultivation | Run discovery visits with Tier 3 prospects and move qualified ones into cultivation. Host a small site tour or behind the scenes event for Tier 2. Send impact updates to Tier 4 donors. Make reconnect calls to lapsed major donors. Present your first proposals to Tier 1 prospects who are ready. |
| Quarter 3 | Solicitation | Make the planned asks for Tier 1 prospects. Bring in your CEO or a board member where it helps. Follow up on pending proposals within a week. Move donors who said yes into stewardship with a thank you call within 48 hours. Refresh Tier 3 with new names from screening and event lists. |
| Quarter 4 (last three months of your fiscal year) | Closing, stewardship, and reflection | Close pending proposals before year end. Send annual impact reports to every Tier 4 donor. Thank donors with handwritten notes and calls. Review which moves led to gifts and which stalled. Draft next year's portfolio and strategies. |
Messages to send
One message is easy. Hundreds of people, all year, is the hard part. Capstone Outreach puts everyone you know on a rhythm you pick, from weekly to every three months. When someone is due, a message like these is already written in your voice from your history with them. You approve it, and it goes from your own email or phone. See the CRM for fundraisers and nonprofits.
Start 14 days free, then $25/mo
Everyone on a rhythm. Who is due, and when. Recorded in the app on a demo account.
1. Discovery visit request
Subject: A quick conversation about [Organization]
Why it works: It asks for a conversation, not money, which makes a first yes much easier.
2. Thank you after a visit
Subject: Thank you for this morning
Why it works: Repeating a detail they shared shows you listened and sets up the next move.
3. Cultivation update
Subject: Something I thought you would want to see
Why it works: It ties a real update to their stated interest and invites them closer to the work.
4. Request for an ask meeting
Subject: Time to talk about [Project]
Why it works: It signals that a conversation about giving is coming, so the ask feels expected rather than sudden.
5. Stewardship note after a gift
Why it works: A handwritten note with one concrete outcome is the kind of thanks donors remember.
6. Lapsed major donor reconnect
Subject: Thinking of you and [Program]
Why it works: It reopens the relationship with gratitude and a real result, with no ask attached.
7. Text after a phone call
Why it works: A short text confirms the promise you made and keeps you top of mind until you deliver.
Write yours in 20 seconds
Free, no signup. The example is filled in: press the button, then replace it with your own situation. In Capstone, a message like it is written for each person you know when their check-in is due.
The weekly routine
- Open your portfolio and sort Tier 1 and Tier 2 prospects by next move due date (5 minutes).
- Schedule or confirm the next move for anyone due in the next two weeks (5 minutes).
- Log every move from last week in your CRM or spreadsheet with a one line note and the next step (5 to 10 minutes).
- Send two stewardship touches to Tier 4 donors and one reconnect note to a lapsed major donor (5 minutes).
- Flag any prospect with no move in 60 days for your next director check-in (2 minutes).
Mistakes to avoid
- Logging activity that is not a move, like a mass email, and calling it cultivation.
- Keeping prospects in your portfolio for years with no response instead of disqualifying them.
- Ending a visit without agreeing on a next step and a date.
- Waiting too long to ask because the relationship feels comfortable.
- Disappearing after a gift so the donor only hears from you when you need something.
- Carrying more prospects than you can actually visit, which leaves most of them untouched.
What to track
- Stage of every prospect (identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship) and the date it last changed.
- Next move and its due date for each prospect.
- Number of substantive moves per prospect, with notes on what happened.
- Proposals made, amount asked, and outcome.
- Prospects with no move in the last 60 days.
- Lapsed major donors contacted and who responded.
Every donor in your portfolio, on their own pace Set a rhythm for each donor, from weekly to every three months. When a donor is due, the note is drafted from your last visit. If you talked since, it waits.
Start 14 days free, then $25/mo
A study of 20 million LinkedIn members found that acquaintances, more than close friends, led to new jobs (Science, 2022). Capstone keeps those people warm. You approve every message, and it goes from your own email or phone.
Frequently asked questions
What are the five stages of moves management?
The five moves management stages are identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. You identify prospects with capacity and connection, and qualify them through a discovery visit. Then you cultivate interest with planned moves, ask for a specific gift, and steward the donor so the cycle can begin again. Track each prospect's stage and the date it changed so you can see who is stalled.
What is a moves management system?
A moves management system is the process and tools a fundraising team uses to plan, record, and review each purposeful contact with a major gift prospect. It usually lives in your CRM, though a spreadsheet works for a small shop. The core is simple: every prospect has an assigned officer, a stage, a strategy, a next move, and a due date.
What is the 80/20 rule in fundraising?
The 80/20 rule is a rule of thumb that a large share of an organization's dollars tends to come from a small share of its donors. For major gift officers, the practical takeaway is to spend most of your time on the relatively few prospects with the most capacity and connection. Check your own giving data, since the actual split varies by organization.
What is the right major gift officer portfolio size?
The right portfolio size is the number of prospects you can actually move each quarter, and it varies by shop, travel, and other duties. As a reference point, Dunbar (1992, Journal of Human Evolution) estimated people can hold about 150 stable relationships in total. Since your portfolio shares that capacity with the rest of your life, size it to what you can realistically visit and follow up on.
Should I reconnect with lapsed major donors or focus on new prospects?
Do both, but do not skip lapsed donors. They already know your mission and once trusted you. Research by Levin, Walter, and Murnighan (2011, Organization Science) found that executives who reconnected with dormant contacts got advice that compared favorably with advice from their current contacts. A warm, no-ask reconnect note is a low cost way to find out who is ready to come back.
Can I run a moves management plan in an Excel template instead of a CRM?
Yes, a spreadsheet works fine for a small portfolio as long as it has columns for prospect name, tier, stage, strategy, last move, next move, due date, and ask amount. The risk is that it lives only on your computer. If your organization has a CRM, log moves there so your director and colleagues can see the history. Check your data policy before storing donor information in personal files.