TLDR
Moves management is a systematic approach to major gift fundraising that tracks each donor through defined stages of engagement — identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship — and uses deliberate outreach (moves) to advance the relationship toward a major gift.
Moves management is the operating system for major gift fundraising. It provides a structured way to track every significant donor interaction, plan next steps, and ensure that high-capacity relationships are actively progressing rather than quietly stagnating.
What a “move” is
A move is any deliberate action taken to advance a prospect’s relationship with the organization. The term is deliberately broad:
- A personal call from the Executive Director to thank a donor for attending an event
- A site visit to show a prospect a program they funded
- A handwritten note from a board member who shares a professional connection with the prospect
- A meeting to discuss the organization’s strategic plan and ask for the prospect’s perspective
- An invitation to join an advisory committee
- A presentation of a specific funding opportunity aligned with the prospect’s stated interests
The “advancement” in moves management means that each contact should move the relationship to a deeper level of engagement. Not every contact does — but the point is that contacts are intentional. A development officer who calls a prospect just to maintain the relationship, with no particular goal or next step in mind, is not practicing moves management; they are just keeping in touch.
The typical stages
Moves management frameworks organize the relationship lifecycle into stages:
Identification — a prospect enters the portfolio. Prospect research has suggested they have capacity, affinity, and propensity. They may already be a mid-level donor, or they may have been identified through research as someone with no current giving history but significant potential.
Qualification — the prospect’s fit is tested through early contacts. Is there genuine mutual interest? Is their capacity real? Is there a program area that resonates? Qualification is about learning enough to determine whether to invest in full cultivation or move the prospect out of the portfolio.
Cultivation — the sustained phase of deepening engagement. Multiple moves over months or years. The organization is learning what the prospect cares about; the prospect is developing confidence in the organization’s competence and the importance of its work. Cultivation has no fixed endpoint — it ends when the prospect is ready to be solicited.
Solicitation — the ask. A specific request for a specific gift amount for a specific purpose. In major gift practice, solicitation is almost never a cold ask; it follows a cultivation process in which the general direction of the gift has already been discussed informally.
Stewardship — post-gift relationship management. Acknowledgment, impact reporting, continued engagement. Stewardship is also cultivation for the next gift.
Portfolio management
A major gift officer typically manages 100–150 prospects simultaneously. They cannot give equal attention to every prospect every month. Portfolio management means assigning each prospect a priority level and a contact frequency — the most promising prospects at the deepest cultivation stage get more contact time; prospects in early identification get periodic check-ins.
Without a CRM that tracks where each prospect sits in the cycle, portfolio management is impossible at scale. Relationship details live in the officer’s head rather than the institution’s records. When the officer leaves, the portfolio’s institutional knowledge walks out with them.
How moves management prevents prospects from stalling
The most common failure in major gift fundraising is not a bad ask — it is a prospect who never gets asked at all. They have attended events, met with the Executive Director, expressed interest in a program, but never received a specific solicitation. Moves management addresses this by requiring that every active prospect has a documented next move planned.
When every contact is recorded in the CRM with a date, a summary, and a planned next step, it becomes obvious when a prospect has gone six months without meaningful contact. The record shows the stall. Without that documentation, development officers often believe they are cultivating a prospect when they are actually just maintaining a pleasant but directionless relationship.
Connection to the annual fund vs. major gift distinction
Moves management is specifically a major gift tool. The annual fund operates on a different model — broad solicitation, high volume, transactional contacts. Moves management is for the narrow subset of relationships where personalized, sustained cultivation is worth the investment.
Most major donors started in the annual fund. Moves management includes an identification function that surfaces annual fund donors with major gift potential — using prospect research and wealth screening to identify who among the $500–$2,500 annual donors has the capacity for significantly larger gifts.
CRM requirements for moves management
Effective moves management requires a CRM that tracks contact records with dates, participants, and summaries; allows assignment of prospects to specific officers; records gift asks and outcomes; supports next-step planning and reminders; and provides a portfolio view — showing all of an officer’s prospects with their current stage, last contact date, and planned next step.
GrantPipe’s donor retention reporting and donor segmentation tools support portfolio analysis — surfacing which donors are at risk of lapsing and which mid-level donors show indicators of major gift potential based on their engagement history.
For a structured approach to major gift cultivation from identification through stewardship, download the Major Donor Cultivation Playbook.
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