Not every organization is in a position to hire a major gift officer or invest in a new database. But every organization can invest in the systems that make its existing people more effective. For Teen Challenge Canada, that investment took the form of training, structure, and sustained leadership commitment. This approach has produced returns that compound across multiple years.
Teen Challenge is a faith-based organization, 100% donor-funded with no government revenue. It had an existing fundraising program built on direct mail, monthly sponsorships, and church outreaches – all maintained with genuine passion. What it did not have was a structured approach to major gifts. Large donations often arrived, as Glen Smeltzer, the CEO, recalls, like they “dropped out of heaven”: unplanned, uncultivated, and impossible to replicate systematically.
The investment was in a moves management system. A senior consultant flew to Toronto for an initial meeting with Glen and Jennie Nadeau, the Director of Development. Two weeks of intensive training followed: the first week introducing the moves management framework, a six-week pause to allow the team to apply what they had learned, and a second week of role-playing, portfolio review, and refinement. The bi-weekly Prospect Management Committee has now been running for nearly three years, with Glen consistently in attendance.
That last point matters. Jennie is direct about what Glen’s presence communicates: “People know this matters and we set revenue targets and our CEO believes in the team, our CEO supports it, and it’s a big enough deal that he shows up to make sure we have everything we need. That speaks volumes to the wider team, especially when you’re remote.”
What the investment bought was not new people. It was a new framework for existing people: caseloads, donor qualification, structured cultivation pathways, and bi-weekly accountability that turned individual relationships into organizational strategy. Donors who had been giving $5,000 annually through direct mail began moving into assigned relationship portfolios and giving $10,000 or more. In one year alone, three of the organization’s fundraisers closed their first-ever six-figure gifts.
Glen offers an analogy. A former NHL goalie coaching his son’s hockey team spent almost no time coaching goaltending. He spent most of it on the forecheck, on defensive play, on moving the puck out of the zone. Why? Because he knew that most goals allowed are the result of several earlier mistakes.
« With moves management, » Glen says, « the process was broken down so you could see where work was being done. You could see where steps were being taken to strengthen relationships. » By the time a gift arrives, the system has been working for months. That is what scales.