PROTOTYPE Unlocking Planned Giving Potential: CU’s Expert Model for Prospect Identification and Lead Tracking-Slides: Unlocking Planned Giving Potential

Slides: Unlocking Planned Giving Potential

Pdf Summary

The University of Colorado’s webinar presented an expert-driven model for identifying planned giving prospects and tracking leads more effectively. CU’s approach centers on the Gift Planning Opportunity Pool (GPOP), a transparent, research-based prospect list built from indicators such as donor loyalty, recency and frequency of giving, age, capacity/wealth signals, engagement history, and certain planned-gift-related behaviors. Core segments include recurring donors, bequest donors, donors with asset-based giving, DAF and family foundation donors, retired faculty/staff, trustees, surviving spouses, and positive survey respondents.<br /><br />CU pairs this prospect pool with a targeted marketing strategy, including direct mail, emails, retirement/QCD appeals, surveys, and digital outreach, designed to generate “handraisers” or gift planning leads. To manage those leads, CU replaced an ad hoc email-and-spreadsheet approach with a centralized referral system embedded in Ascend. The new workflow improves security, ownership clarity, routing, and visibility across campuses.<br /><br />The lead process includes intake, prospect identification, referral entry, assignment, follow-up, and qualification. Routing is based on campus alignment, interest type, and relationship context, with one primary owner per lead. Staff are expected to contact new leads within 48 hours, use standard follow-up templates, document every action in Ascend, and move leads through defined statuses such as Assigned, In Discovery, Completed, Hold, or Re-assigned.<br /><br />CU reported benefits such as fewer lost leads, better data quality, stronger frontline adoption, and more actionable reporting. The presenters emphasized that success depends more on adoption and clean processes than on technology sophistication. Looking ahead, CU plans to add prospect scoring, dashboards, AI-assisted follow-up, and improved KPI tracking.

Keywords

planned giving

gift planning prospects

GPOP

donor segmentation

lead tracking

Ascend referral system

bequest donors

wealth indicators

donor engagement

prospect scoring