Major gift fundraising is part art, part science—and the science part can eat up your whole afternoon. Once you’ve identified a good prospect, you need a data-informed ask amount, a realistic deadline, and action steps to cultivate the gift. Even for a strong prospect, that work has often meant hours of research and some educated guesswork.
Here’s where Optimized Opportunities and Action Plans can help. Optimized Opportunities put Prospect Insights Pro’s predictive intelligence to work for you: The system can suggest an ask amount, expected amount, and deadline. Then Chat for Blackbaud AI can help generate a series of cultivation steps toward securing that gift. (Note: These capabilities are available now for organizations in the US and Canada with access to premium features.)
What's an Optimized Opportunity?
Optimized Opportunities enhance the major gift cultivation workflow you probably already use. When you have access to premium features, when adding or editing an opportunity for an eligible constituent you’ll receive these data-informed recommendations in the modal:
- Ask amount—an aggressive-but-realistic goal within the constituent's target gift range
- Expected amount—either the lower end of that range or the constituent's highest cumulative giving over the past three years, whichever is greater
- Deadline—aligned to your organization's fiscal year
- Target gift range—estimates what a constituent may be able to give based on Prospect Insights Pro’s predictive modeling. Use it as a capacity-informed reference point, not a requirement or replacement for fundraiser judgment.
Each value includes brief context for how it was calculated, so you can review the recommendation before applying it.
A Recommended opportunity panel showing suggested ask amount, expected amount, and deadline, along with the data behind the recommendation.
Select Accept recommendation to apply the suggested values or adjust them before you save. Nothing changes on the record until you decide.
The modal also shows the constituent’s other active opportunities and pledges, so you can review the full picture before saving.
How to Get Started
- Add an opportunity, anywhere. Start from a Prospect Insights Pro queue, a constituent record, a constituent list, or Work Center—wherever your team already starts opportunity work.
- Review the recommendation. See the suggested ask amount, expected amount, and deadline, along with the constituent's other active opportunities and pledges for context.
- Accept, adjust, and save. Select Accept recommendation to apply the suggested values, adjust anything you'd like to change, then save the opportunity.
After saving the opportunity, Blackbaud AI prompts you to create an optional Action Plan tied to the opportunity. Accepting the recommendation will open Chat for Blackbaud AI, where you’ll receive a series of recommended cultivation actions to help secure the gift. These actions can be reviewed and refined within Chat for Blackbaud AI before being added to the opportunity in one click.
Know Your Optimization Status at a Glance
A fully optimized opportunity has more than the right ask amount. An Optimization panel appears on every opportunity record, allowing you to quickly see what is on track and what still needs attention. The panel checks four areas:
- Does the ask amount align to predicted capacity?
- Is the deadline set?
- Is an action scheduled?
- Has a fundraiser been assigned?
The Ask amount check compares the opportunity’s ask amount to the constituent’s target gift range. If the ask meets or exceeds the recommended range, the panel shows Ask amount aligned to capacity. If it falls below predicted capacity, the panel shows Ask amount below predicted giving capacity and displays the target range for review.
The panel updates automatically as the record changes.
Review your existing prospects
In the Prospect Insights Pro Undergiving queue, filter by Optimization status to surface prospects who still need an active opportunity, scheduled action, or assigned fundraiser.
A ⚠ Needs actions scheduled flag on the Optimization panel is your cue for the next step. When you save an opportunity, Chat for Blackbaud AI offers to create an action plan suggestion to help close that gap.
Select Save and create an action plan, and Chat for Blackbaud AI opens with the opportunity already in context. It generates up to seven cultivation steps—such as calls, emails, meetings, and mailings—staged backward from your ask date or deadline. Each step can include AI-drafted content you can use as-is or edit first.
You can iterate on the plan in plain language before anything is added to your records using prompts like “Make the first email more personal” or “Shift all the steps two weeks earlier.”
When you’re satisfied with the plan, add the steps one at a time or all at once. They appear on the opportunity’s Actions tile as a dated, trackable sequence your team can execute.
Benefits of this Workflow
- More consistent major gift cultivation. Every high-potential prospect can have an active opportunity and a plan of action tied to it.
- The moment you add an opportunity, a ready-to-accept ask amount, expected amount, and deadline are waiting for you—wherever you're working.
- Action Plans turn a saved opportunity into a staged, dated cultivation sequence that ensures steady progress toward a gift.
- Comprehensive follow-through and tracking of larger gifts.
- The Optimization panel on every opportunity record shows what's on track and what needs attention, without digging through fields.
- Ask and expected amounts are grounded in each prospect's predicted capacity and giving history, not a gut feeling.
- You stay in control. Optimized Opportunities and Action Plans support fundraiser judgment; they don’t replace it. A user must review, accept or adjust, and save before recommended amounts change an opportunity. Action Plan steps also require review before they’re added to a record.
- Organizations control availability through Prospect Insights Pro and Generative AI feature enablement, along with admin-managed user permissions.
- When a user accepts an optimized ask amount, that value is captured in the Original Ask Amount field on the opportunity record. This preserves the original baseline while allowing the current ask amount to evolve as strategy changes.
How to Begin
Before you try the workflow, confirm that both pieces are enabled: Prospect Insights Pro provides the opportunity recommendations, and Generative AI features power Action Plans in Chat for Blackbaud AI.
Optimized Opportunities and Action Plans are available today to eligible US- and Canada-based organizations with Prospect Insights Pro or Raiser's Edge NXT Complete.
- Already have Prospect Insights Pro or Raiser's Edge NXT Complete? You may have access if your organization has opted in to Prospect Insights Pro and Generative AI features. Check with your admin if you’re not sure these are enabled.
- Don't have Prospect Insights Pro or Raiser's Edge NXT Complete yet? Ask your account manager about Raiser's Edge NXT Complete, which includes Prospect Insights Pro along with Optimized Opportunities, Action Plans, and predictive intelligence across your database.
- Not sure what your organization has enabled? Check your customer account area, or ask your admin.
What We’re Exploring Next
As customers use these recommendations in real fundraising workflows, we’re exploring high-value ways to make the guidance more context-aware, including:
- Calibrating recommendations by gift type, such as planned gifts, major gifts, annual giving, or blended asks.
- Accounting for multiple active opportunities tied to the same constituent, so teams can evaluate the full ask strategy instead of each opportunity in isolation.
- Incorporating campaign, fund, or initiative context when that information should influence ask strategy.
- Making recommendations easier to explain, so fundraisers can understand why a value was suggested and confidently adjust it when needed.
Have another idea for optimizing major gift cultivation workflows? Share it in the Idea Bank so our product team can consider it as we plan future enhancements.
Get Started
Ready to try it? Add an opportunity from a constituent record, list, Work Center, or Prospect Insights Pro queue. Review the recommended ask amount, expected amount, and deadline; adjust anything you want to change; and save. Then use Action Plans to turn the opportunity into a cultivation sequence your team can start right away.
Learn more: Prospect Insights Pro Opportunities (Help Center)
Learn more: Action Plans (Help Center)
Learn more: Target gift range (Help Center)
Learn more: Introducing Premium Features for Raiser's Edge NXT (Blackbaud Community)
