Prospects and prospect rules

Prospects identified and the gap

Every level of a gift pyramid has two prospect numbers. Prospects needed is how many people you plan to ask: the number of gifts × the level's prospect multiplier. Prospects identified is how many you already have who could plausibly make a gift that size. The Gap compares them: “Short 3” when you have 3 fewer than you need, “Covered” when you have enough, and a dash when the level has no count yet.

Prospects identified comes from one of two places:

• Counted from your file. With giving history, we apply the pyramid's prospect rule to every constituent in the file. A counted level is marked “From file”, with View records.
• Typed by you. Type any number into the box. With giving history it's marked “Edited”, with Reset; without giving history, typing is the only way to fill it. See Typing your own counts.

The Total row adds up prospects needed and prospects identified across the levels, and once any level has a count, Rule-of-thumb checks adds “Enough prospects identified overall”, which passes when the total identified reaches the total needed.

Each constituent counts once, at their highest level

A constituent is counted at the highest level the rule qualifies them for — and only there. Someone who qualifies for the $250,000 level isn't also counted at $100,000 or $50,000. That keeps the column honest: added up, it's the number of different people you could ask, not the same people counted several times.

There's one exception. When planned gifts are kept separate, a constituent who reaches a higher level only with their planned gifts is also listed in that higher level's Planned column. See Planned gifts.

“The last 5 years”: measured from your latest gift

Look-back windows are measured from the date of the latest gift in your file, not from today. The pyramid says so under the rule: “Giving is measured back from Sep 30, 2026, the latest gift in the file.” So an export that ends on Sep 30, 2026 is read as of that date even if you upload it months later, and the counts don't drift as time passes. When you upload a newer file or refresh from your CRM, the date moves with it.

With an as-of date of Sep 30, 2026, “the last 5 years” means gifts dated after Sep 30, 2021, up to and including Sep 30, 2026. A gift on Sep 30, 2021 itself is outside the window.

What counts as giving

The money conditions — Giving to this level and the giving half of the default rule — add up money actually received in the window. Here's how each of the six gift types is treated:

Refunds recorded as negative amounts reduce the total. The assumptions note on the pyramid repeats this: “Giving counted: one-time, recurring, pledge payments and in-kind; open pledges don't count.” Your own type labels are matched to these six when you upload — see matching gift types.

Note: Recent giving and Number of gifts look at every gift row in the file, whatever its type. See Advanced.

Typing your own counts

Type a number into any level's Prospects identified box — for example, prospects your team knows about who aren't in the file yet. It saves on its own about a second after you stop typing, or straight away when you press Enter or leave the box. Clear the box to remove your count.

• With giving history, a typed count is marked “Edited”. Reset puts the counted number back.
• A typed count changes the gap, the totals, the checks, Compare scenarios and the Excel export's prospects identified column. It doesn't change who's counted: View records, the Excel “Prospects by level” sheet and the prospect plan's suggestions still come from the rule. While a level shows “Edited”, View records isn't offered there; choose Reset to get it back.
• Typing any count for a level, even 0, removes its “Can't fill this level from your file” notice.
• Typed counts belong to the scenario. Save levels and Back to the standard template clear them, and new or duplicated scenarios start without them.

When no one in your file reaches a level

Each constituent has a reach: the largest level gift they could qualify for on capacity rating or giving alone. With the default rule that's the larger of their rating and 10 times what they gave over the last 5 years (because 10% of a gift that size equals their giving). The largest reach in the file is what “Shaped by your giving” mentions, as in “(up to $437,000)”.

When a level's gift is bigger than the largest reach, the file gives it no prospects, and you haven't typed a count, the level is flagged: “Can't fill this level from your file. No one in your file has given or is rated near $500,000. The largest is $437,000. Lower the goal, change this level, or type in prospects you know about.”

The prospect rule

The prospect rule decides who counts as a prospect for a level. Once a pyramid has giving history, the box above the table — Prospects from your file — shows it as a sentence:

That's two conditions joined by “or”: a capacity rating at or above the level's gift, or money received over the last 5 years of at least 10% of it. Planned gifts are kept in their own column. Below the sentence the box says how planned gifts are treated and the date giving is measured from.

Each scenario has its own rule, so you can compare a strict rule with a generous one side by side. In the guided setup you pick from three starting rules: the default, its giving half on its own (“Gave at least 10% of the level's gift over the last 5 years”), or its rating half on its own (“Rated at or above the level's gift”).

Edit rule

1. Choose Edit rule beside the sentence. The Prospect rule panel opens.
2. Choose whether a constituent counts when any or all of the conditions are true.
3. Change a condition's type in its list and fill in its numbers or values. Add condition adds a Gave to a fund condition you can change; Remove takes one out (a rule always keeps at least one).
4. Tick or untick Count planned gifts toward levels.
5. Watch the preview at the bottom, then choose Save rule — or Cancel to leave the rule as it was.

Saving changes the rule for the scenario you're on and recounts. Draft with AI Plus puts an AI-drafted rule in a new “AI draft” scenario instead of changing this one; see AI draft scenarios. Only non-personal data is used: IDs, dates, amounts, types, ratings and the detail columns you kept.

The six kinds of condition

Funds come from your file's first kept detail column whose name contains “fund”, listed alphabetically (up to 200). If your file has no such column, there's a box to type a fund name instead, but nothing can match it until your file has a fund column. A detail column lists the detail columns you kept when you uploaded; see the columns of a gift file.

Any or all

“Count a constituent when any of these are true” joins the conditions with “or”: one is enough. “All” joins them with “and”: every one must hold. The words between the conditions in the panel, and in the sentence, change to match.

Use any to widen the net (rated or a strong giver). Use all to narrow it (a strong giver and a Building Fund donor and gave recently).

Conditions that don't depend on the level

Capacity rating and Giving to this level compare the constituent with each level's gift, so they place people at the right level. The other four — fund, recent giving, number of gifts and detail column — are the same for every level: if they're true at all, they're true for the top level.

Careful: Joined with any, a level-free condition puts everyone who meets it at the top level. “Gave at least 10% of it over the last 5 years, or gave to Building Fund” counts every Building Fund donor — even one who gave $50 — as a prospect for your lead gift. Join level-free conditions with all, alongside Capacity rating or Giving to this level.

The live preview

As you edit, the bottom of the panel shows what the rule would do before you save it: “With this rule: about 212 prospects (now 180).” The first number is how many constituents the edited rule would count across all levels; the second is the current total of Prospects identified, including any counts you typed. The sentence under it updates too. The preview doesn't include the Planned column.

Rule examples

Capacity ratings

A capacity rating is a dollar estimate of what a constituent could give, usually from wealth screening. It's optional: add a capacity column to your gift file (headers like “Capacity”, “Capacity rating”, “Gift capacity”, “Wealth rating” or “Estimated capacity” are recognized). Each constituent's latest rating in the file — from their most recent gift row that has one — is the one used.

Under the default rule, a rating counts like this: a constituent qualifies for a level when their rating reaches the level's gift or their giving does, and they're counted at the highest level where either is true.

• If your rule has no Capacity rating condition, ratings don't qualify anyone. They still count toward the file's largest reach and anchor “Shaped by your giving”.
• View records shows each counted constituent's rating in its Capacity column.
• In a campaign priority, anyone with a rating is in every priority's pool, whatever funds they gave to.

No ratings? The default rule still works on giving alone. Consider Giving to this level on its own so the sentence says exactly what you're counting.

Planned gifts and the Planned column

Bequests and other planned gifts — gifts of type Planned in your file — are commitments rather than money in hand, so by default they don't qualify anyone for a level. The Count planned gifts toward levels box in the rule panel decides:

• Off (the default): levels count outright gifts and pledge payments. A constituent who reaches a higher level only when their planned gifts are added is listed in that level's Planned column. They may also be in Prospects identified at a lower level, from their outright giving. The pyramid says “Planned gifts are counted separately, in the Planned column.”
• On: a planned gift qualifies a donor for a level like any other gift, and there's no Planned column. The pyramid says “Planned gifts count toward levels.”

The Planned column only appears when the pyramid has giving history and the box is off. Planned prospects don't reduce the gap. Only planned gifts dated within the rule's window count. The choice belongs to the scenario and prints with the assumptions. View records under a Planned count shows those constituents, with their planned giving included in Given.

Where the constituent IDs go

Counts are only useful if you can see who's behind them. The constituent IDs counted at each level go to three places:

• View records, beside each counted level and each Planned count, opens a side panel listing them 50 at a time, with Search by constituentid. Columns: constituentid, Given, last 5 years (the rule's first giving window), Capacity, Gifts and Last gift. See Viewing records.
• Export Excel includes a Prospects by level sheet: every counted constituent ID with its level and whether it's in “Prospects identified” or “Planned”. See Excel export.
• The Prospect plan suggests constituents for each level from your file using this pyramid's prospect rule, so your team can assign them to gift officers. See Prospect plans.

Names and contact details are never stored, so you'll look the IDs up in your CRM. The AI assistant never sees constituent IDs or gift rows — only the pyramid's totals. See Data, privacy and deleting.

Prospects in a campaign priority

When a gift pyramid is a priority of a campaign, two extra rules apply to its counts:

• The pool: its prospects come from donors to the funds it's seeded from, plus anyone with a capacity rating. A priority with no linked funds looks at the whole file.
• No double counting: a donor counted in another priority of the same campaign isn't counted here too.

The rule preview leaves out donors that the campaign's other priorities currently count; the recount after you save settles who goes where. See Campaigns and priorities and data coverage.

Asks files

An asks file lists past solicitations and how they ended. TruePyramids uses it for one thing: to suggest how many prospects each level really needs, from your own close rates. It never becomes a pyramid's gifts and doesn't change any counts.

To upload one, open Upload new file — this link starts with Asks chosen under “What's in this file?”. The upload, review and personal-information steps work like a gift file; see uploading an asks file. We read asks only from an uploaded asks file, not from a CRM connection.

The file needs four columns, one row per ask:

constituentid,ask_date,ask_amount,outcome
C-004518,2026-03-14,25000,Won
C-002210,2026-04-02,100000,Declined
C-007731,2026-05-20,50000,Pending

Headers can be named differently — “Donor ID”, “Date Asked”, “Amount Requested” and “Status” are all recognized — and other columns are ignored and not kept. Outcomes are read ignoring case, spaces and punctuation:

Rows with another outcome, such as “Deferred”, are left out and listed for you after the import. So are rows with no constituentid, a date or amount we can't read, an amount of $0 or less, or no outcome.

Which asks count

• Decided asks only. Won and lost asks count; open ones are left out, because counting undecided asks would make every ratio look worse than it is.
• The latest asks file. Suggestions come from your organization's most recently imported asks file, not from several files combined. To change what they're based on, upload a new file.
• Every date. Ask dates are read but don't limit which asks count.
• Any constituent. Asks aren't matched against your gift file; only the amounts and outcomes are used.

Ratio suggestions from your asks

With an imported asks file, each level in Edit levels shows what your history says about its prospect multiplier, and the top of the panel names the file: “Ratio suggestions come from asks-2026.csv: how many asks it took to close a gift at each level.”

1. Bands. Each decided ask belongs to one level: the largest level whose gift it's at least half of. On the standard $2,500,000 chart, asks of $250,000 or more belong to the $500,000 level, asks from $125,000 to under $250,000 to the $250,000 level, and so on down. Asks under half the smallest level count only toward the overall ratio.
2. The ratio. For each level, decided asks ÷ asks won, rounded to a whole number (halves round up) and kept between x1 and x10.
3. Enough to go on. A level needs at least 10 decided asks and at least one win for a suggestion.

Under each level you'll see one of:

• “Your asks suggest x4 at this level (14 asks).” with a Use x4 button. It sets that level's multiplier in the panel; choose Save levels to keep it.
• “Matches your asks history at this level (20 asks).”
• “Too few asks at this level to suggest a ratio (6 asks).” — shown when the level has fewer than 10 decided asks, or none were won.

Without an asks file, the panel says “Upload an asks file to see ratio suggestions from your own history.” Suggestions are worked out for the levels as saved; a level you've just added in the panel gets one after you save and reopen it.

Settings › Pyramid defaults uses the same file for one overall figure: “Your asks history suggests about 3:1 (from 17 asks in asks-2026.csv).” That's all decided asks ÷ all wins, rounded. The owner can choose Use as default when it falls between 2:1 and 5:1.

Worked examples

Five constituents under the default rule

Narrowing with “all”

Advanced: exactly how prospects are counted

What we summarize for each constituent

Counting starts from your file's gift rows, grouped by constituent ID. A constituent is anyone with at least one gift row in the file. For each one we work out:

• Received in each look-back window the rule uses (5 years if it has no Giving to this level condition): the sum of one-time, recurring, pledge payment and in-kind amounts dated after the as-of date minus the window, up to the as-of date.
• Planned in each window: the same sum for planned gifts.
• Capacity: the rating from their latest gift row that has one.
• Last gift: the date of their latest gift row of any type, including open pledges and planned gifts.
• Gifts: the number of gift rows of any type and any date — so a pledge and its three payments are four gifts.
• For each fund or detail condition: whether any of their gift rows, of any type or date, has that value.

The as-of date is the latest gift date in the file, of any type. It's recorded with each count and shown on the pyramid and in the assumptions note.

Rule evaluation, step by step

1. The levels are put in order of gift amount, largest first.
2. For each constituent, each condition is tested against each level's gift A:
   • Capacity rating: rating ≥ A.
   • Giving to this level (p%, y years): received in y years ≥ A × p ÷ 100 (plus planned in y years when planned gifts count). No rounding.
   • Recent giving (y years): last gift ≥ as-of date minus y years (on that date counts).
   • Number of gifts (n): gifts ≥ n.
   • Fund and detail: the constituent has a matching gift.
3. With any, a level qualifies when one condition is true; with all, when every one is.
4. The constituent is counted in Prospects identified at the first — largest — level that qualifies, and nowhere else.
5. When planned gifts don't count toward levels, the levels are tested a second time with planned giving added. If that finds a larger level than step 4, the constituent is also listed in that level's Planned column.

The constituents counted at each level, the as-of date and the largest reach are saved with the scenario; View records and the Excel “Prospects by level” sheet read that saved list. The prospect plan applies the same rule when it suggests constituents, leaving out anyone already on the plan.

Largest reach

Each constituent's reach is the larger of their capacity rating and, for each Giving to this level condition, received × 100 ÷ p over that condition's window (with planned giving added when planned gifts count). The largest reach in the file is saved with each count. A level is flagged “Can't fill this level from your file” when its gift is larger than that, its counted prospects are 0, and you haven't typed a count. Ratings raise a constituent's reach even when the rule has no rating condition.

Ratio suggestion math

• An ask of amount x belongs to the first level i, largest first, with x ≥ 0.5 × A_i. The top level has no upper bound; asks below half the smallest level belong to no level.
• Per level: suggestion = asks ÷ won, rounded half away from zero, clamped to 1–10, when asks ≥ 10 and won ≥ 1; otherwise none.
• Overall (Settings): all decided asks ÷ all wins, rounded to one decimal; the suggestion is that rounded to a whole number, shown when there are at least 10 decided asks and one win.
• Only the most recently imported asks file is read, and open asks are never counted.

Edge cases

• Level-free conditions with “any” put everyone who meets them at the top level; see Conditions that don't depend on the level.
• Limits: up to 10 conditions; percentages 1–100, years 1–50, gifts 1–1,000. Numbers outside are pulled into range when you save.
• Fund matching: the list shows values from the first kept detail column whose name contains “fund”, but a fund condition matches that value in any kept detail column whose name contains “fund”. Values must match exactly.
• Constituent IDs are taken as your file spells them; each distinct ID is one constituent.
• Refunds (negative amounts) reduce received totals and can take a constituent below a level.
• Several scenarios are counted independently, each with its own levels and rule. The same constituent can sit at different levels in different scenarios.
• Typed counts never change who's counted, only the number shown.
• Campaign priorities count only their pool, and the campaign's priorities are counted together so no donor lands in two.
• Changing the rule recounts every scenario of the pyramid, but only the scenario you're on gets the new rule.

Questions

Why isn't a donor counted at the lower levels too?

Each constituent counts once, at the highest level they qualify for, so the column adds up to real people rather than the same people several times. Someone who could give $250,000 is a prospect for your $250,000 gifts, not also for your $100,000 ones.

Why does my top level show 0 prospects?

No one in your file meets the rule at that gift. If no one reaches it at all, you'll also see “Can't fill this level from your file” with the largest reach in your file. Add capacity ratings, type in prospects you know about, loosen the rule, or rethink the level.

“The last 5 years” — from when?

From the latest gift in your file, not today. The pyramid shows the date: “Giving is measured back from Sep 30, 2026, the latest gift in the file.”

Do open pledges count?

No. Only money received counts: one-time, recurring, pledge payments and in-kind. Pledge payments count as they arrive. Planned gifts count only if you turn on Count planned gifts toward levels.

Where are my bequest donors?

With planned gifts kept separate (the default), constituents who reach a level only with their planned gifts are in that level's Planned column. Turn on Count planned gifts toward levels in Edit rule to count them in Prospects identified instead.

We don't have wealth ratings. Does that matter?

The default rule still works on giving alone: anyone who gave at least 10% of a level's gift over the last 5 years counts. Ratings help most at the top, where your best prospects may not have given much yet.

Why did everyone land at the top level after I edited the rule?

You probably joined a fund, recent giving, number of gifts or detail condition with any. Those are true for every level, so everyone who meets them counts at the top. Switch to all and keep Capacity rating or Giving to this level in the rule.

Why is the preview different from the table?

The preview counts what the edited rule would find in your file. The “now” figure is the current total of Prospects identified, which includes any counts you typed. The preview also leaves out the Planned column.

I typed a count. Does it change View records or the Excel list?

No. Typed counts change the number, the gap and the checks, but the constituent IDs in View records, the Excel “Prospects by level” sheet and the prospect plan's suggestions still come from the rule.

Why don't I see ratio suggestions?

They need an imported asks file. Once one is imported, open Edit levels: each level shows a suggestion, a match, or “Too few asks”.

Why does it say “too few asks” when I have plenty?

Suggestions are per level. Each level needs at least 10 decided asks in its own band — and at least one win — and open asks don't count. The number in brackets is the decided asks in that level's band.

I uploaded two asks files. Which one is used?

The one imported most recently. Files aren't combined, so put all the asks you want counted in one file.

Does the AI assistant see who my prospects are?

No. It only gets the pyramid's totals and settings, never constituent IDs or gift rows. See AI assistant.

Does changing the rule change every scenario?

No. Save rule changes the rule for the scenario you're on. Every scenario is recounted, each with its own rule.

Can asks come from my CRM?

No. CRM connections bring in gifts; asks come only from an uploaded asks file. Export your solicitations from your CRM as a CSV or Excel file and upload it as Asks.