The Future of Fundraising
Welcome to the future of fundraising.
Successful fundraising teams are built on a foundation of open communication and accountability between managers and their gift officers. Managers require regular updates and real-time insights from their teams to effectively guide strategy and prioritize outreach. A gift officer updates a manager on progress of a gift in the pipeline. A manager asks the team to shift focus to meet a new fundraising goal, or pivot to a high-priority initiative. This 2-way collaboration allows fundraising teams to be responsive and agile. In every interaction, leadership’s insights shape and drive the team’s success.
Over the last few weeks, our team began dissecting the human manager-gift officer relationship and applying it for the first time ever to Autonomous Fundraising. To be an effective member of the fundraising team, a Virtual Engagement Officer (VEO) will need to ?be able to communicate and adapt based on its interactions with its manager. The VEO should be able to pivot on the fly, instantly access crucial metrics like real-time giving and engagement numbers, and prioritize outreach to supporters in specific locations, especially in time-sensitive situations.
As a result of our research and the developments that came thanks to the collaborative insights of our Innovation Partners, the VEO sent its first weekly productivity report to its manager last week, offering a proactive summary of metrics like new gifts, donor engagement levels, and even a preview of planned activities for the week ahead.
Regular reporting like this will provide VEOs’ managers with greater knowledge and transparency than ever before possible, and it will empower them to strategically deploy their autonomous fundraisers to the appropriate priorities.
Situational responsiveness of an autonomous fundraiser will be ?a critical part of this relationship. Just as managers in an office environment reprioritize their team’s tasks to reflect emerging needs, the VEO will be pausing routine activities to follow urgent directions. For example, if a major event with the organization’s president requires additional attendees from the New York City area, the manager redirects VEO to prioritize invitations to donors in that region. Or, in the wake of a regional crisis, the VEO needs to be re-tasked to communicate with donors from affected areas, ensuring that outreach remains relevant and compassionate.
Our close work with our Innovation Partner cohort has fueled these developments. Their daily insights, real-world scenarios, and analytical feedback continue to shape and enhance the VEO’s capabilities. The path forward is about evolving Autonomous Fundraising to ensure it genuinely fulfills real-world frontline fundraising needs.
The VEO has the potential to become the world’s most experienced fundraiser. That extends to both donor interactions and collaboration with managers. We have an opportunity to build VEOs that not only engage seamlessly but are also effortless to manage.
I hope you have a great week.
Wednesday, November 6 at 2:00 PM ET
Join Version2 for an exclusive live discussion on the latest advancements and insights from our autonomous fundraising R&D lab. This session takes you behind the scenes of developing the Virtual Engagement Officer (VEO) and shares what we’re learning in our R&D lab about Virtual Engagement Officers, donor interactions, emerging best practices, and more.
Come learn about:
Join us to understand what's been done, what we’re learning, and what we’re changing at Version2’s AI R&D Lab from behind the scenes. (REGISTER HERE )
SPOTLIGHT: Multi-Year Pledges Score Big for Boise State University
Boise State University Athletics is all about empowering student-athletes to compete at the highest level by continually enhancing athletic facilities, supporting the whole student-athlete, and fostering a culture of excellence and enrichment. Included in this mission is a $65M upgrade to the historic Albertsons Stadium, dubbed The North End Zone Project, which includes 1,600 first-class premium seating options, year-round amenities, and top class game-day experiences.
To reach this $65M goal as quickly as possible, Boise State recognizes that making the initiative accessible to donors outside of the very top of the giving pyramid is critical. By prioritizing multi-year pledges, Boise State immediately increases bookable revenue to complete the project on a short timeline.
Reaching this goal with traditional PDF pledges, email chains, and paper processes creates too much friction for donors and fundraisers to effectively scale.
Check out this spotlight to learn how five gift officers secured 100+ multi-year commitments in under two weeks. (READ BOISE STATE'S SPOTLIGHT )
The Rapid Evolution of the Donor Experience Drives Giving Revenue
As we navigate the ever-changing landscape of nonprofit fundraising, it's crucial to stay on top of the latest trends and technologies, especially when it comes to building major and planned gift pipelines.
This is true even in the best of fundraising climates. Unfortunately, research shows us that small and mid-size donors are disappearing. So how can advancement and development professionals scale sustainable revenue when it seems the economy has a different agenda?
The key is to understand the current climate and stay on the forefront of the innovation curve to elevate world-class donor experiences. (KEEP READING )
Fundraising Jobs
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