A development officer has lunch with a longtime member who hints at a gift toward the new education wing. Back at the office, she opens Altru to log it and stops: is this person a “prospect” now? What status? And if she creates an opportunity, which stage does it start in? Ask three fundraisers and you’ll get three answers, and six months later your pipeline report means nothing.
The fix isn’t a hidden setting. It’s agreeing on what each value means, when it changes, and who changes it. This guide gives you a starting framework you can adapt and then lock in.
Two different questions: the person and the ask
Much of the confusion comes from mixing up two separate things:
- Prospect status describes your relationship with the constituent. Where is this person overall? Newly identified, being researched, being cultivated, in active solicitation, being stewarded after a gift?
- Opportunity stage describes one specific ask. A single donor can have a closed annual-fund gift, an open capital request, and a planned-gift conversation all at once, each at its own stage.
If fundraisers treat the opportunity stage as a stand-in for the donor’s overall status (or the reverse), reports drift fast. Keep them separate in your training and your documentation, even if the labels overlap.
A note on configuration: the exact field names and the values available in your Altru database depend on how it was set up, and many of these lists are editable tables your administrator controls. Before rolling out a new scheme, look at what values currently exist in your system and how often each is used. A quick constituent or revenue-related query grouped by status will show you what you’re working with. If you aren’t sure whether a list is editable or what a field drives downstream, test in a sandbox or ask Blackbaud support before changing it in production.
A prospect status list that holds up
Keep it short. Five or six values is plenty for most museums, zoos, and gardens. A common set:
- Identified: someone flagged this person as worth a look (a board referral, a wealth screening hit, a big jump in giving). No contact yet.
- Qualified: a fundraiser has confirmed interest and capacity through a conversation or research. This is the gate. Unqualified names stay out of anyone’s portfolio.
- Cultivation: an assigned fundraiser is actively building the relationship toward a specific ask.
- Solicitation: an ask is planned or has been made and is awaiting a decision.
- Stewardship: a gift was received; the focus is thanks, reporting, and keeping the door open.
- Inactive / Not a prospect: declined, lost capacity, or asked not to be solicited. Keeps them off lists without deleting history.
Write one sentence per value describing what must be true to enter it. “Qualified” should mean the same thing whether the director or a new associate sets it.
Opportunity stages, and where a new one starts
This is the question fundraisers actually ask: what stage do I enter a new opportunity in?
Our recommendation: don’t create an opportunity until you can name a rough amount, a purpose, and a target timeframe. Before that, it’s a prospect, not an opportunity. Once those three exist, the opportunity starts in a planning or “qualified” stage and moves forward from there:
- Qualified / Planning: ask amount, purpose, and target date are drafted. Default starting stage for new opportunities.
- Ask scheduled: a meeting or proposal date is set.
- Asked: the request has been made. Record the date and amount asked.
- Verbal yes / Pending: the donor agreed; paperwork or payment is outstanding.
- Closed – won or Closed – declined: final outcome, with the actual gift linked where your setup allows.
Two rules make this list useful. First, stages only move forward when something happened (a meeting, a proposal, a response), not when someone feels optimistic. Second, every open opportunity gets a target date. An opportunity sitting in “Asked” for nine months with no follow-up is a lost gift your forecast is still counting.
How status and stage should line up
You don’t need automation to keep these consistent, just a simple convention:
- Creating an opportunity means the prospect is at least Qualified, usually Cultivation.
- Moving an opportunity to Ask scheduled or Asked moves the prospect to Solicitation.
- Closing an opportunity as won moves the prospect to Stewardship, unless another open ask keeps them in Solicitation.
- A declined opportunity doesn’t automatically make someone inactive. Decide case by case.
Whether Altru can update one field automatically when the other changes is something to confirm in your own environment rather than assume. Most teams handle it through habit and a monthly check.
Keeping it clean after rollout
- Retire unused values. If your list has a dozen statuses and three are used, consolidate. Map old values to new ones before you remove anything, and update records in a batch rather than by hand.
- Build two standing queries. One for open opportunities past their target date, one for prospects in Cultivation or Solicitation with no logged contact in the last 90 days. Review both at your monthly pipeline meeting.
- Assign an owner. One person (often the development director or database manager) approves changes to the lists. Fundraisers use them; they don’t add to them.
- Put the definitions where people work. A one-page reference saved next to your fundraising procedures beats a policy document nobody opens.
Quick answers
Should every donor be a prospect?
No. Prospect status is for people a fundraiser is personally working. Annual fund and membership donors handled through mailings and renewals don’t need it.
Can one constituent have several open opportunities?
Yes, and that’s the main reason to keep stage on the opportunity rather than the person. Each ask moves at its own pace.
We already have years of inconsistent data. Start over?
No. Apply the new definitions to open prospects and opportunities first, then clean up historical records only where your reports actually depend on them.
