Constituent follow-ups

A follow-up keeps the next human action attached to a funding opportunity. It has a subject, activity type, status, optional owner, due date, completion date and outcome. The activity types are Call, Meeting, Email and Task. Open, Completed and Cancelled distinguish unfinished work from a finished or abandoned action. Qualification and the status-triggered proposal submission also log activities as part of their workflows, giving the team a trace of those transitions.

• Tie activity to funding work. Each follow-up points to a funding opportunity and operating organization; it is more useful than a free-floating note.
• Give work an owner. Use the owner reference when a particular team member must make the call or send the email.
• Record the result. When work is complete, fill the outcome and completion date so the next person knows what happened.

Agree who assigns follow-ups and how due dates should be reviewed. Decide whether a cancelled activity needs an outcome explaining why. Teach team members to write a subject that names the intended decision, such as confirming eligibility or obtaining a proposal response. Because an owner is optional on the record, an open item without one needs attention during the team’s regular review. Link each activity to the correct opportunity before importing historic outreach.

After the proposal step advances an opportunity to Proposal, the relationship manager adds an email follow-up due after the funder’s stated review date. The proposal workflow’s email activity remains in the record; the manager checks the sent message separately. When the funder asks for a revised budget, the manager completes the follow-up with an outcome and creates a task for the proposal coordinator. The coordinator updates case lines while the manager keeps the next contact date visible. At the weekly meeting, the team reviews open follow-ups by owner and due date before discussing forecast value.

The team should open the parent opportunity before treating this screen as a complete account of the case. Compare its owner, constituent and current status with the linked records, and resolve any disagreement while the conversation is still recent.

The weekly review works best when the team opens the activity alongside its parent opportunity. A completed call can change the next step without changing the opportunity status. Capture that decision in the follow-up outcome, then assign the next activity to the person who will act.

• Open constituent follow-ups — Calls, meetings, emails and tasks still open, with due date and parent opportunity.
• My constituent follow-ups — The current team member’s assigned activity and its outcome.

Follow-up; Proposal submission.