Moves Management for Nonprofits: Stages and Examples
Moves management breaks down donor relationships into intentional steps—or "moves"—designed to build trust, measure engagement, and secure major funding.
By mapping out every stage of the donor lifecycle, moves management ensures that no high-potential supporter falls through the cracks and that every conversation aligns with the donor’s specific interests and giving capacity. In this guide, we’ll explore the stages of the moves management process, along with examples of what this looks like in practice.
What is moves management?
Moves management is a systematic framework used by nonprofits to guide individual prospects from initial discovery to long-term financial partnership. “Moves” are the actions and touches your organization takes to establish these relationships and move prospective donors closer to your cause and mission.
How well your nonprofit does at moving donors through the gift cycle plays a role in your donor retention and donor engagement efforts. The better you do at this process, the more engaged your donors are, and the higher your donor retention rate will be.
Who should be involved in moves management?
Executing a moves management strategy requires clear roles, shared accountability, and cross-departmental collaboration across your nonprofit. While dedicated fundraisers handle much of the day-to-day outreach, engaging staff and leadership across the organization ensures that every prospective donor experiences a seamless, high-touch journey.
Development director
The development director oversees the entire moves management framework, establishing fundraising targets and monitoring pipeline health across all donor tiers. They ensure that team members follow established moves protocols, manage gift officer portfolios, and step in to assist with high-value donor conversations.
Major gifts officer
Major gifts officers act as the primary relationship managers for high-capacity donor portfolios. They are responsible for executing individual moves, scheduling face-to-face meetings, drafting customized proposals, and driving prospects from qualification through solicitation.
Executive director or CEO
The executive director or CEO plays a critical role in high-level cultivation and solicitation, particularly for top-tier major gift prospects and principal donors. Their presence signals institutional importance and helps build executive-to-executive trust during key meetings and final asks.
Board members
Board members serve as key champions during the identification and cultivation stages by opening doors to their personal and professional networks. They host cultivation events, make warm introductions, conduct thank-you calls to recent donors, and occasionally participate in peer-to-peer solicitations.
Program staff
Program directors and frontline staff provide the authentic stories and subject-matter expertise that make cultivation touchpoints compelling. By facilitating site tours, attending donor briefings, or presenting project updates, program staff help bridge the gap between financial contributions and real-world impact.
CRM administrator
The CRM administrator maintains the technical foundation of the moves management process by managing database integrity, setting up task reminders, running wealth screenings, and building pipeline reports. They ensure that gift officers have accurate data to track their touchpoints and measure progress against team goals.
Marketing and communications team
The marketing and communications team creates the supporting materials needed at each stage of the donor lifecycle. They produce impact reports, campaign brochures, personalized pitch decks, and digital stewardship content that gift officers use to keep prospective donors engaged between meetings.
Moves manager
For moves management to succeed, every prospective donor in your database must have a single assigned owner, known as their moves manager. This assigned staff member—typically a major gifts officer or executive director—is accountable for scheduling, executing, and logging the next move for that relationship, ensuring no high-value prospect ever sits without a clear path forward.
The 5 stages of moves management
The five stages of moves management are identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. This stage-by-stage model provides a structured framework for nonprofits to guide prospective donors through a predictable journey, turning initial awareness into lasting financial support.
1. Identification
This stage focuses on finding prospective donors whose values and interests align with your organization’s mission.
Start by running database queries to flag existing supporters who demonstrate consistent giving patterns or sudden increases in gift size.
Additionally, your staff members can use board connections, peer networks, and event attendee lists to discover warm major gift leads.
2. Qualification / Research
The qualification stage involves researching a prospect’s giving capacity and affinity to confirm they warrant dedicated gift officer time before launching into intensive cultivation.
Fundraisers typically perform wealth screenings to review external indicators such as real estate holdings, business affiliations, and philanthropic history.
Once you’ve confirmed a prospect’s capacity, your gift officers can conduct a brief discovery call or introductory conversation to verify the prospect's genuine interest in specific programs.
3. Cultivation
During this stage, gift officers execute a planned series of personalized touchpoints to build a meaningful relationship, educate the donor on impact, and prepare them for a specific financial request.
Fundraisers usually arrange a one-on-one meeting, facility tour, or project briefing tailored to the prospect’s specific passions.
To maintain momentum, staff members must document every interaction in your nonprofit’s database and assign a clear next move for the relationship.
4. Solicitation/Ask
The solicitation stage centers on making a clear, timely, and personalized ask for financial support that aligns with the donor’s capacity and the relationship built during cultivation.
Your development team should prepare a customized proposal that outlines a precise dollar amount, project scope, and anticipated community outcome.
Finally, leadership should assign the most effective solicitor—such as the Executive Director, a trusted board member, or the primary major gift officer—to lead the conversation with the prospect.
5. Stewardship
This final stage requires thanking the donor, reporting back on how you used their gift, and maintaining engagement to foster long-term loyalty and future gift upgrades.
Representatives should send a personal thank-you phone call or written note within 48 hours of receiving the gift. Moving forward, schedule regular impact updates, such as quarterly progress reports or exclusive briefings, long before starting the next ask cycle.
Moves management examples by donor type
First-time donor sequence
A first-time donor sequence focuses on welcoming new supporters and securing a second gift to boost early retention. This cadence may involve:
- Thank-you call: A staff member places a prompt phone call within two days of the initial gift to express gratitude.
- Impact email: The team sends a follow-up email two weeks later to show the donor how their gift made a difference.
- Interest survey: The nonprofit delivers a brief donor survey one month in to gather affinity data.
- Second-gift ask: A fundraiser presents a personalized second-gift request around 90 days post-gift based on survey responses.
Mid-level donor sequence
A mid-level donor sequence targets dedicated supporters who show the potential to step up their annual giving. Moves management for mid-level donors might look like the following:
- Personal update: A staff member calls to share recent program achievements without asking for money.
- Event invitation: The fundraiser sends an exclusive invite to a small-group virtual briefing or local event.
- Discovery meeting: The gift officer hosts a one-on-one conversation to discuss the donor's philanthropic priorities.
- Upgrade ask: The officer presents a tailored upgrade proposal for the organization's next campaign once alignment is clear.
Major gift prospect sequence
A major gift sequence guides high-capacity individuals through an intensive relationship-building process. The moves management process for major donors may involve:
- Wealth screening: The gift officer analyzes external wealth data and internal giving history to establish capacity.
- Qualification call: Staff conducts an introductory call to gauge the prospect's interest and inclination.
- Cultivation visit: The fundraiser arranges an in-person meeting or facility tour to build a personal connection.
- Formal proposal: The solicitor presents a written proposal tailored to a specific strategic priority and moves into dedicated stewardship once secured.
Planned giving prospect sequence
A planned giving sequence focuses on building trust with long-term, loyal donors who may be interested in leaving a legacy gift. Cultivating planned givers may involve:
- Loyalty segmentation: The development team identifies supporters who have given consistently for five to ten consecutive years.
- Legacy invite: Staff sends an official invitation to join the organization's legacy society.
- Educational email series: The marketing team delivers targeted emails explaining bequests, IRA distributions, and charitable trusts.
- Estate conversation: A gift officer schedules a gentle one-on-one meeting to discuss legacy opportunities.
Moves management metrics to track
A data-driven moves management strategy relies on clear key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate pipeline health, measure campaign momentum, and keep gift officers accountable.
Tracking the right fundraising metrics allows leadership to make informed decisions and refine their outreach strategies over time. These metrics may include:
1. Retention rate: Donor retention rate measures the percentage of supporters who give again year over year. Tracking this metric helps nonprofits gauge overall donor satisfaction and ensure that their stewardship efforts effectively prevent donor churn.
2. First-time conversion rate: This metric calculates the speed and frequency with which new donors make a second gift after their initial contribution. A strong conversion rate indicates that your onboarding and early cultivation touchpoints are successfully engaging new supporters.
3. Second-gift rate: Similar to the first-time conversion rate, the second-gift rate measures how effectively an organization moves a donor beyond their initial gift. Securing that second contribution is often the most critical step in transforming a one-time giver into a lifelong partner.
4. Upgrade rate: The upgrade rate measures the percentage of existing donors who increase their annual giving amount compared to the previous year. High upgrade rates demonstrate that your moves management process successfully deepens donor commitment over time.
5. Major gift pipeline value: Major gift pipeline value represents the total estimated dollar amount of all active proposals currently in the cultivation and solicitation stages. Monitoring this total helps executive leadership forecast future revenue and address potential funding gaps early.
6. Qualified prospects: This metric tracks the total number of screened prospects who have been verified as having both high financial capacity and a genuine affinity for your mission. Maintaining a steady count of qualified prospects ensures that gift officers always have viable leads in their portfolios.
7. Completed moves: Completed moves reflect the actual number of meaningful, strategic interactions logged by staff members within a specific timeframe. Tracking completed touchpoints ensures that gift officers maintain active relationships rather than letting prospects go cold.
8. Average time in stage: Average time in stage calculates the average number of days a prospect remains in a single stage, such as cultivation or solicitation, before advancing or being disqualified. This metric helps teams identify bottlenecks in their pipeline where prospects frequently stall out.
9. Ask-to-close ratio: The ask-to-close ratio compares the number of formal proposals submitted to the number of gifts successfully secured. A healthy ratio proves that gift officers are properly qualifying prospects and timing their solicitations effectively.
How to prioritize prospects with data
Attempting to manage every donor with a high-touch, major-gift approach quickly leads to staff burnout and inefficient resource allocation. Strategic data segmentation plays a key role in guiding donors through the gift cycle, allowing your team to identify top-tier prospects and focus custom outreach where the return is highest.
By dividing your database into distinct groups, you can deliver tailored messaging that resonates deeply with constituents and ultimately increases the lifetime value of your donor base. Potential segmentation criteria include:
Giving history and RFM analysis
Analyzing recency, frequency, and monetary value gives fundraisers a clear view of donor loyalty. Supporters who contribute small amounts consistently over several years often demonstrate higher long-term value and affinity than one-time larger donors, making them prime candidates for upgrade or planned giving sequences.
Engagement scores and active involvement
Tracking touchpoints beyond financial gifts reveals a donor's true commitment to your cause. Monitoring event attendance, volunteer history, email interactions, and committee participation helps identify highly engaged supporters who are primed for deeper cultivation conversations.
Wealth indicators and capacity
Evaluating public wealth indicators provides essential insight into a prospect's overall financial capacity. Reviewing external data, such as real estate holdings, business ownership, stock transactions, and previous donations to other charitable causes, helps gift officers determine an appropriate target ask amount.
Affinity and planned giving likelihood
Assessing a prospect's specific interests ensures that outreach aligns with the programs they care about most. Combining high affinity scores with giving frequency allows nonprofits to pinpoint ideal candidates for special project proposals or legacy giving invitations.
Balancing capacity and inclination
Effective prospect prioritization requires balancing a donor's financial capacity with their inclination to support your specific mission. By segmenting prospective donors into distinct operational tiers based on both ability and willingness to give, your team can assign custom moves management plans to high-priority leads while nurturing broader donor segments through automated digital communication.
Applying moves management across the donor lifecycle
Donor cultivation
Finding your best donor prospects to begin cultivating can be as simple as starting with the ones hidden in your donor database. Prospect research is difficult, but it can be easier if you start with people you already know. These can be current donors that you want to upgrade or renew, or supporters, volunteers, or lapsed donors that you could cultivate into current donors.
Another good way to cultivate donors at any stage of the funnel is to ask open-ended questions and send donor surveys to get to know your prospects and current donors, and to find out the best way to communicate with them. Donors like it when we ask them questions about themselves, and learning about your donors is invaluable in guiding our donor communication efforts.
Donor solicitation
In order to solicit your donors properly to move them further into your donor life cycle, you need donor management software that makes it easy for you to cultivate your relationships with your donors, survey your donors, denote your donors’ communication preferences, and segment your constituent communications.
Nonprofit data segmentation is a must to help you better solicit your donors. The lack of personalized communications is one of the core reasons that donors stop giving. Organizations that segment their donors into unique groups based on frequency and recency of giving, reasons for giving, interests, and other demographic information increase their retention rates significantly.
Tip: Make sure you use the word “you” more than “us” or “we” in solicitation communications to donors or prospective donors. Our Ahern Audit feature can help your writing be more donor-centered. It’s not about you, it’s about the donor.
Donor stewardship and relationship-building
Relationship-building is the essence of fundraising. If you are building or enhancing relationships with your donors, you are literally moving ahead with two vital strategies for fundraising success in the long term.
First, you and your team are improving donor retention. This is essential because if a donor is not maintained from year to year, it is nearly impossible to facilitate the knowledge and engagement levels needed to upgrade their giving to a major gift level. Secondly, multiple years of retention allow all the factors necessary for a major gift to come to fruition for a donor. Just think of what can happen during year after year of giving.
Personal touches are key, and using custom fields in your database is another easy way to build relationships. Don’t underestimate how important authenticity with donors and communicating outcomes to them at all levels can be.
Donor upgrades and renewals
You can use moves management to move those first-time donors into repeat donors. The first step is rewarding and satisfying the donor with personal touches.
Once that donor has become a current donor, you can work on upgrading them — either to give more frequently or to give more. It’s important to have a separate plan of action for each donor segment of first-time, monthly, and annual donors to tailor your approach to their needs.
The best way to motivate and upgrade nonprofit donors is to satisfy donors by giving them what they want (appreciation!), meeting them where they are, and connecting them with your mission.
Frequently asked questions about moves management
How long should a prospect remain in the cultivation stage?
The cultivation stage generally lasts anywhere from six to 18 months, depending on the donor’s capacity and comfort level. Rushing to solicitation too quickly can alienate a prospect, while prolonged cultivation without a clear ask risks stalling momentum and wasting staff resources.
What is the difference between a donor touchpoint and a move?
A touchpoint is any contact with a donor, such as sending a newsletter or birthday card. A move is a strategic, intentional interaction designed to advance the donor to the next stage of the giving cycle, such as a discovery meeting or program tour.
Can small nonprofits implement moves management without a CRM?
Yes, small nonprofits can start moves management using shared spreadsheets to track donor stages, touchpoints, and next steps. However, as the prospect pool grows, transitioning to a dedicated donor management system becomes essential for automating task reminders and preventing leads from falling through the cracks.
How do you handle a prospect who stalls during cultivation?
When a prospect stalls, re-evaluate their capacity and inclination through a brief discovery touchpoint or informal survey. If their interest has waned, politely step back from direct cultivation, assign them to automated communication sequences, and reallocate gift officer time to higher-priority prospects.
Conclusion
If done correctly, moves management can be an invaluable process for your nonprofit to employ on your donor retention and engagement journey. The better you are at cultivating and soliciting donors, the more sustainable your nonprofit can become.
Nonprofit sustainability can only get better when you succeed at engaging, soliciting, and stewarding your donors at every stage of their life cycle.
Happy fundraising!
Additional resources to help you get started
Major gift fundraising
- Guide: major gift fundraising for small shops
- Major gift success stories from Bloomerang customers
- Article: top strategies to kickstart major gift fundraising
Upgrading and retaining donors
- Article: secret to upgrading nonprofit donors? Personal, not personalized
- Article: top 10 ways to upgrade nonprofit donors
- A guide to donor retention
Donor data segmentation
Legacy gifts and planned giving
