Using fundraising goals for major gifts or grants

In this article:

What is a fundraising goal?

An individual fundraising goal represents a major gift contribution (or grant) that you want to pursue. By adding a goal, you can improve your ability to plan.

Add a fundraising goal

To add a goal, click on the Add goal button on the Dashboard, Fundraising tab, or from the Goal Information section of a constituent details page.

On the Goal page, you can set the constituent (if this has not already been set) and the ask amount, as well as the due date and the team member who owns the proposal. You can also add related tasks and assign owners for those, which is useful for planning and tracking required activity for completing the goal.

Moves management

You can use the Status field to indicate progress toward the goal. Define your own statuses in Settings > Menu Items > Gift menu items and then editing the list of values under Goal status.

NOTE: Goals can also be used for grant proposals. Just set the constituent to the foundation or other granting organization.

Working with default goal status versus custom goal status

By default, goal status is set up to update automatically based on gift entry against the goal. Though it is possible to add custom values for goal status, the system doesn't allow those custom values to be applied to the goal unless a setting is enabled in your account. If you'd like that setting to be enabled, please request this from the Help page in your account.

Once the setting is enabled, you will have the ability to choose a custom status value for a goal. The caveat to keep in mind is that goal status will no longer change automatically when a gift is entered against the goal. Anytime a goal status needs to be updated going forward, this will need to be completed manually.

You can search for and export goals using filters and Advanced Search criteria from the Fundraising > Goals page.

You can also report on goals in a constituent report, choosing the "Goals" or "Goal list" columns to view your goal data on a by-constituent basis.