In this article:
- What is a prospect plan?
- Plan names
- Plan types
- Plan roles
- Designations on opportunities
- Helpful hints
- Downloadable PDF
What is a prospect plan?
A prospect plan is a shell for tracking all substantive interactions with a prospect, related to a specific solicitation; in fact, it is the fundamental unit by which WFAA tracks development progress towards an ask. Plans come in variety of flavors—Major Gift, Gift Planning, Leadership Annual Gift; these plan types provide a way for development to signal the type of development activity happening with the prospect.
Plans also have roles; some roles, like the Primary Plan Manager, Secondary Plan Manager, and Secondary Solicitor-WFAA Solicitor, receive metric credit; while other roles, such as Secondary Solicitor- WFAA Advisor and Campus, serve primarily to provide vision into the plan and do not receive any metric credit. Plan participants, like a spouse, child, financial advisor or peer, are added to plans because they have a relationship with the prospect; adding a spouse participant to a prospect’s plan allows the plan to appear on the records of both household members.
Every plan has the same basic architecture: a narrative, for storing a short description of the overall development strategy; steps, for the actions to be taken (pending) or already taken (completed); and an opportunity, the digital storage unit for information about the solicitation itself—estimated ask amount, date, type, designation. Each plan should have only one opportunity.
All actions that advance a prospect through the development cycle should be captured on plan steps and contact reports (an interaction filed on a plan step). DoDs should track non-substantive activity (e.g. sending a birthday card) as basic interactions (filed from the ‘Documentation and Interactions’ tab).
Plan names
The plan name syntax is meant, primarily, to provide others in the organization with some quick, high-level information about the plan. A standardized plan name also offers development directors quick vision into their own portfolio – notably, from the fundraiser dashboard’s “Prospects and Plans” tab.
From the plan name alone you can get information about: the site, the plan manager (or, alternatively, the lack thereof, indicating a prospect still in qualification), and the intended type of development effort (plan type).
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Unassigned Plans (i.e. not in active qualification)
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[SITE] + [PlanType] Example 1: BUS Major Gift Example 2: PHM Gift Planning |
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Qualification Plans
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[SITE] + QUAL + [PlanType] Example 1: BUS QUAL Major Gift Example 2: PHM QUAL Gift Planning |
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Assigned Plans
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One primary plan manager: [SITE] + [ DOD] + [PlanType] Example: EGR ANNLE Major Gift Two Plan Managers (Primary and Secondary): [SITE1]/[SITE2] + [PRIMARYDOD]/[SECONDARYDOD] +[PlanType] Example: EDU/HEC BETSYB/CLAIREB Major Gift For + 2 Sites, use UWF: [UWF] + [PRIMARYDOD]/[SECONDARYDOD] +[PlanType] Example: MED WALLYL/GILLIANF Major Gift |
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Historical Plans
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[SITE] + [ DOD] + [PlanType] + [Date of Last Completed Step] Example: EGR BRADG Major Gift 7/8/16 |
Plan types
Plan types signal the type of development activity happening with the prospect.
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Major Gift |
The Major Gift plan type can have a wide variety of uses and therefore is the recommended plan type for most cultivation efforts. It should be used for all gifts to designated non-discretionary funds, no matter the size of the gift. It can also be used for gifts to discretionary funds, if the intent is not to renew the gift annually. This major gift plan type can also be used for blended gift opportunities. |
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Leadership Annual Gift |
Recommended for use when a prospect is being cultivated specifically for an annual gift to a discretionary fund. These gifts can be of any size, but are typically $1,000 or more. |
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Gift Planning |
Recommended for use when a prospect is being cultivated for a planned gift, such as an estate gift, or gifts given through vehicles like Charitable Gift Annuities, CRATs, CRUTs, Life Insurance, Real Estate and gifts in-kind. |
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Chancellor’s Team Gift |
Recommended for use when a prospect is being cultivated for a transformational gift to UW-Madison. These plans should be used for prospects where involvement by the Chancellor in the cultivation strategy is critical to the success of the ask. Typically, prospects will have a gift capacity greater than $5 million and may have funding interests of a wide variety on campus. |
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Corporate and Foundation Relations |
Recommended for use when a corporate or foundation entity is being cultivated for a gift. |
Plan roles
All roles may be occupied by WFAA and Campus fundraisers, except where outlined below.
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Primary plan manager |
Fundraiser with primary responsibility for overseeing and/or executing the steps of a prospect plan. |
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Secondary plan manager |
Fundraiser with secondary responsibility for executing the steps of a plan. They work closely with the Primary Plan Manager and may own plan steps. |
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Secondary solicitor |
An additional fundraiser role who works with plan manager(s) to coordinate and execute a prospect solicitation. A plan can have multiple solicitors. There are 3 types: WFAA solicitor: A WFAA staff member who assists in the execution of an opportunity and may also provide strategic support. Can be thought of as a third plan manager. WFAA advisor: A WFAA staff member who provides strategic support in an advisory capacity for the Prospect Plan. Campus: A UW-Madison staff member who provides strategic support in an advisory capacity for the Prospect Plan and may also assist in the execution of an Opportunity. |
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Additional solicitor |
Fundraiser who participates in a step or contact with a prospect. The Additional Solicitor works with the plan managers to coordinate and execute the outcomes of the plan step and/or contact. The Primary Plan Manager is responsible for including the Additional Solicitor(s) on the step and/or contact report. |
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Plan participant |
A plan participant is an external constituent involved in a prospect plan, like a spouse, child, financial advisor or attorney. The participant’s relationship is primarily with the prospect. |
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Prospect manager |
Assigned after three or more units begin actively cultivating a prospect. RPM staff will work, in concert with development leaders, to ensure appropriate assignment of this role. Prospect Managers are responsible for: · monitoring activity with a prospect and ensuring appropriate contacts are taking place; · coordinating activity with a prospect across development units and acting as a consensus-builder when multiple prospect strategies co-exist and might conflict; and · helping develop a coordinated plan for the donor or prospect and facilitating the execution of that strategy |
Designations on opportunities
An opportunity is the functional unit by which WFAA tracks development progress towards a solicitation. Because each opportunity is associated with one ask, each opportunity must have a designation. This practice expedites ABE gift entry, makes opportunity linking more efficient, and improves the quality of opportunity reporting.
Until the solicitation is made, the opportunity is a dynamic record of the potential ask. You should feel comfortable revisiting and updating information to make it reflect the cultivation work as it is occurring.
There are three required Designation fields.
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Designation (fund number) |
Click on the magnifying glass to search for the specific fund that the gift will support. If you don’t know the fund number, consider using wild card characters to search fund names, e.g. “%BUS%” will return all fund names containing the letters “BUS”. If entering a qualified opportunity for a fund that is not yet created, each unit-level site has a holding fund created for this purpose. Searching for “Qualified” will return the list of holding funds from which to choose. Listing additional information in the comments section will help clarify the specific situation. |
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Amount |
Enter the amount of the gift. The total gift amount for all designations must match the expected ask amount or ask amount entered in fields at the top of the form, e.g. $10,000 + $50,000 = $60,000. |
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Type |
We use the designation field to drive the reporting for our matching gifts like the Chancellor’s Scholarship Program match. Choose among: Match Eligible/ Non-Match Eligible/Not Applicable · Choose Not Applicable for any designation without an associated match. · For all designations with a match, follow matching fund protocols by entering one of the matching fund holding funds or an existing fund that qualifies for the match. For most gifts with an associated match, you will choose Match Eligible. · In some rare occasions, a gift will be made to a “Match Eligible” fund, but not qualify for the actual match; these should be coded Non-Match Eligible. |
Helpful hints
- Pending plan steps trigger visibility on the “Pending Activity” tab, on the Fundraiser Page.
- The Opportunity is a dynamic and evolving record! You should feel comfortable revisiting and updating opportunity information to make it reflect the cultivation work as it is occurring.
- All opportunities must have a designation. This practice expedites ABE gift entry, makes opportunity revenue linking more efficient, and improves the quality of opportunity reporting.
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