The Future of Fundraising

Welcome to the Future of Fundraising.

Autonomous fundraising is revolutionizing donor engagement by addressing a fundamental challenge faced by organizations of all sizes: the inability to personally engage with every donor. With thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions of supporters in their databases, they simply cannot assign a gift officer to learn about each individual and their connection to the organization, and personally deliver curated content that’s relevant to their interests. Yet we know that level of personalization is what organizations of all sizes long to be able to do with every donor. '

A member of our first cohort of Innovation Partners in the Version2 R&D Lab, St. John Fisher University , is a young institution with 34,000 living alumni. Its Virtual Engagement Officer, Quinn, is tackling several strategic priorities. As 76% of their alumni graduated after 1990, the university is focused on re-engaging recent graduates and qualifying new prospects for its donor pipeline. Quinn is also helping fill data gaps, enabling the university to better understand alumni interests and preferences. These insights are essential as Fisher concludes a comprehensive campaign and prepares its pipeline for future fundraising efforts.

Meanwhile, Texas State University faces the challenge of engaging a large and growing alumni population of over 230,000. With an enormous base of recent graduates and limited resources, the university’s VEO, Emma, plays a critical role in reaching lapsed donors and increasing engagement among non-donors. By providing personalized outreach at scale, Emma enables Texas State to build meaningful relationships with alumni who are just beginning their philanthropic journeys.

Both institutions highlight the transformative potential of autonomous fundraising in building connections and driving results, regardless of the size of their donor base and human staff. At Fisher, Quinn’s ability to gather and act on alumni data is helping their team focus on high-priority prospects. At Texas State, Emma is creating opportunities to engage alumni beyond transactional outreach, nurturing a sense of ongoing connection and service to graduates that fosters philanthropy.

This Tuesday, you can meet both Emma and Quinn , as they’ll join St. John Fisher University’s Leah Richards , Senior Director of Advancement Services and Dana Orlando , Director of Prospect Research and Texas State University’s Rebecca Dickey , Senior Strategic Business in a live panel discussion with Version2’s Emily Groccia .

Not only will you get to hear how these two very different organizations are approaching Autonomous Fundraising. You’ll also get to hear from the VEOs themselves about how they’re paving the way for a more sustainable future in philanthropy.

Register here to join live or receive a recording of the webinar.

Have a wonderful week ahead.

Virtual Engagement Officer (VEO) Renews Recurring Gift

Advancement Services professionals are often tasked with all the behind the scenes work with donors, reminding them of things that are often overlooked, but critical to securing gifts – such as updated credit card information for a recurring gift. A Version2 Innovation Partner recently saw its VEO do more than just expand fundraising capacity.

The VEO entered into a two-way conversation with the donor that secured their annual gift and also got the donor to take the necessary action to update their payment information to make it recurring again, which the office had tried to do previously (five times) to no avail.

The end result was a successful donor engagement that led to the natural outcome of a gift and a positive experience for the donor. We're seeing interactions like this every day between the VEO and donors. (SCHEDULE VEO DEMO WITH OUR EXPERT TEAM )

The Third Wave Of AI Is Here: Why Agentic AI Will Transform The Way We Work (Forbes)

Longtime Forbes contributor and technology author, Bernard Marr explains the third wave of AI, ‘agentic AI',’ a fundamental shift from previous AI iterations focused on making predictions and generating content. This third wave is about AI agents that can independently perform complex tasks and make decisions, representing a fundamental shift in how we think about and interact with AI in the workplace.

Marr writes:

“For organizations still focused on earlier waves of AI, the time to explore agentic AI is now. The transition isn’t just about adopting new technology - it’s about reimagining how work gets done.”

“As we stand on the cusp of this third wave of AI, one thing is clear: the future of work will be shaped by our ability to effectively collaborate with AI agents. Those who embrace this transformation early will be best positioned to harness its potential, creating more efficient, innovative, and productive workplaces where humans and AI agents work together seamlessly.”

(READ MARR'S FULL ARTICLE )

From the Road: AHP International Recap

When Givzey and Version2 go on the road, we like to bring you along. Our teams recently spent the week in San Diego for the AHP International ‘24 Conference, an amazing opportunity to connect with healthcare fundraisers working on some of the most important philanthropic initiatives we can imagine.

The keynote discussed much of the work we’re doing with AI to empower organizations to change the world. Our teams got together to share their learnings from AHP - see what findings they brought home in Ashley W. 's recap. (KEEP READING )

Fundraising Jobs

Our featured jobs always come from our amazing subscribers. If you have jobs you would like posted in the Future of Fundraising newsletter, please email [email protected] with your requests.

• Associate Vice Chancellor for Development, Major Gifts| University of Illinois Foundation | Springfield, IL | APPLY>>>
• Senior Director of Advancement $170,000 - $205,000 | St. Benedict's Prep School | Hybrid/Newark, NJ | APPLY>>>
• Vice President of Development $180,000 - $200,000 | Army Historical Foundation | Fort Belvoir, VA | APPLY>>>