Opportunities and Pipeline Management
Opportunities track potential gifts, grants, sponsorships, or other revenue that is being cultivated but has not yet been received. Each opportunity moves through stages in a pipeline — from initial identification through negotiation to either a successful close or a loss.
Creating an Opportunity
- Navigate to Opportunities in the sidebar and click Create
- Or, from a Contact or Organization edit page, click Create Opportunity in the sidebar
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Short description of the opportunity (e.g., “2026 Gala Sponsorship — Acme Corp”) |
| Amount | Expected revenue amount |
| Closing Date | Target date for closing the opportunity |
| Pipeline | The workflow process this opportunity follows |
| Stage | Current position in the pipeline |
| Interest Area | Philanthropic focus area that resonates with this prospect (Education, Health, Financial Stability, Basic Needs, or a locally defined area) |
| Owner | Staff member responsible for cultivating this opportunity |
| Contact | Primary contact person |
| Organization | Primary organization |
| Source | How the opportunity was identified (Referral, Web, Event, etc.) |
| Priority | Ranking relative to other opportunities |
| Campaign | Associated giving campaign (optional) |
Pipelines and Stages
A Pipeline is a named sequence of stages that defines a cultivation workflow. Your account can have multiple pipelines for different opportunity types — for example, a “Major Gift Pipeline” and a “Corporate Sponsorship Pipeline.”
Each Stage within a pipeline has:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Stage name (e.g., “Qualification”, “Proposal Sent”, “Negotiation”) |
| Likelihood | Default close probability (0–100%) assigned to opportunities entering this stage |
| Stage Type | Open, Closed Won, or Closed Lost |
| Action | Optional script executed when an opportunity moves to this stage |
When you change an opportunity’s stage, the Likelihood automatically updates to match the stage’s default probability.
Stage Types
| Type | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open | Actively being worked |
| Closed Won | Successfully converted — the gift or sponsorship was received |
| Closed Lost | The opportunity did not close |
Stage Instances (Cultivation Checklist)
When an opportunity is created from a pipeline, each pipeline stage is copied as a Stage Instance on the opportunity. Stage instances form a per-opportunity checklist of cultivation activities to complete.
Each stage instance tracks:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Stage name (editable per instance) |
| Move Type | Type of cultivation activity (e.g., Phone Call, Meeting, Letter, Site Visit) |
| Planned Date | Target date for completing this activity |
| Completed | Whether this stage is done |
| Completed Date | Actual date completed |
| Assigned To | Staff member responsible for this stage |
| Notes | Outcome description or follow-up notes |
Stage instances are listed in order on the opportunity edit page. Mark each as Completed as the cultivation progresses. You can also add custom stage instances to an opportunity beyond those copied from the pipeline template.
Interest Areas
Interest Areas are account-level master data records that categorize a prospect’s philanthropic focus. The standard areas align with iGuide focus areas:
- Education
- Financial Stability
- Health
- Basic Needs
Accounts may also define local focus areas beyond these four. Setting the Interest Area on an opportunity helps gift officers personalize stewardship and supports segmentation by philanthropic interest.
Configure Interest Areas in the admin under Opportunities → Interest Areas.
Working with Opportunities
List Views
The Opportunity list provides filtered views:
- My Open — your opportunities in Open stages
- All Open — all staff members’ open opportunities
- Closed Won — successfully closed
- Closed Lost — lost opportunities
- All — every opportunity regardless of status
Related Records
Each opportunity can track the full cultivation history:
- Stage Instances — per-opportunity cultivation checklist (see above)
- Tasks — action items (calls to make, proposals to send)
- Calls — phone call records
- Meetings — meeting records
- Emails — email correspondence
- Notes — free-text notes
- Attachments — documents (proposals, contracts, etc.)
- Related Contacts — additional contacts beyond the primary
- Related Organizations — additional organizations
Converting to a Transaction
When an opportunity closes successfully, link the Resulting Transaction field to the actual gift or payment transaction. This connects the cultivation history to the financial record.
Sources
Opportunity Sources are account-level records that categorize how opportunities are identified. Common sources:
- Referral
- Website inquiry
- Event attendee
- Board recommendation
- Cold outreach
- Grant RFP
Configure sources in the Opportunity Sources list, accessible from the Opportunities section of the sidebar.
Reporting
Opportunities appear in the standard reporting system. Common opportunity reports:
- Pipeline summary (count and total amount by stage)
- Opportunities closing this month/quarter
- Win rate by source
- Revenue forecast (amount × likelihood)
- Owner performance
- Stage instance completion rates by pipeline
Use Building Reports to create custom opportunity reports with the filters and columns your organization needs.