As Planned Giving Departments Face a Capacity Crisis, the Gap Between AI-Assisted and Fully Autonomous Widens Givzey | Version2.ai , the pioneering company that invented Autonomous Fundraising and deployed the first Autonomous AI fundraisers in the world, announced the Virtual Planned Giving Officer (VPGO) 3.0 . While the broader fundraising technology industry is just beginning to introduce AI assistants that require human oversight to function, Givzey | Version2.ai is rele

When the Medical University of South Carolina team was thinking through their Autonomous AI Fundraising strategy, there were two clear use cases: a clinical segment and an alumni segment. Carley Houseman, Director of Annual Giving, shares the results her team is seeing so far and what’s on the horizon. Q: You launched two Virtual Engagement Officers simultaneously — James for clinical donors and Emilie for alumni. How did MUSC land on launching two VEOs? A: It actually start

There's a segment of donors in almost every advancement portfolio who are giving reliably, but haven't been asked to do more.  They often give at the leadership annual level, and they give year over year. And yet, they're sitting in a mass communications stream alongside tens of thousands of others, receiving the same emails, the same appeals, the same gift receipts, and nothing more. These donors are ideal upgrade opportunities. Their connection and giving history is active.

A majority of an organization’s donor base will receive mass communications only. But broadcast outreach treats every donor the same, which means the signals that distinguish a warm donor from a cold one — the responses, the questions, the quiet indicators of renewed interest — go unnoticed. For Giving Day campaigns, this hinders what’s possible. Somewhere in that mass appeal list is a donor who would have done more to support Giving Day.  Organizations with Virtual Engagemen

Our team had the opportunity to attend and present at the 2026 CASE DRIVE conference. The sessions were rich, discussing AI, data, fundraising strategy, and the intersection of all three. But what really stood out were the conversations with so many of our partners that all held the same pattern: running an Autonomous Fundraising program has propelled their careers in ways they didn’t expect.  As the company that created the category of Autonomous Fundraising and the first to

Every advancement team knows the list: donors who gave two, three, maybe five years ago, and then went quiet. They didn’t stop giving because of a bad experience or not caring about your cause anymore. But they’ve been lost to mass communications and direct marketing, as a result of fundraising teams limited bandwidth to manage the 95% of unmanaged donors. Of course, some donors respond to generic appeals, but most don’t. They need—and deserve— the one-to-one relationship tha

In the fundraising world, Giving Day is like the  big game. It’s often the largest coordinated fundraising campaign in your fiscal year, and for months, your team works hard to get momentum, volunteers, and gifts through the door.  With a Virtual Engagement Officer on your team, the donors in its portfolio are primed months before Giving Day through personalized cultivation. Early giving is one example of how that plays out. When a VEO prompts donors ahead of the official day

Virtual Engagement Officers have collectively raised over $10 million in autonomously generated revenue for the organizations we serve. That number is remarkable, especially as I think back to where we started, which wasn’t so long ago. In October 2024, the College of Charleston received the first gift ever closed by a Virtual Engagement Officer, for $100. By March 2025, the total raised by VEOs had jumped to $471,000, an exponential increase in just five months. VEOs hit $1

From the start, my team and I knew that Autonomous Fundraising could address our biggest challenge in nonprofit fundraising: the critical shortage of frontline fundraisers. We first knew that Virtual Engagement Officers could work at the annual giving level, and quickly saw their success higher up in mid-level giving, right below where gift officer assignment drops off.  But I have always seen the potential for the VEO to unlock major-level gifts. Recently, the VEO proved it

Our partners are often asked to speak on the topic of AI in Advancement as leaders in their industry and in Autonomous Fundraising. Meghan Palombo, Associate Vice President of Annual Giving & Philanthropic Engagement at William & Mary, joined a technology panel to discuss how the W&M team is using AI in advancement. Here's what she shared about building their Virtual Engagement Officer Wren's portfolio, earning community trust, and the results that have made William & Mary a

How to Evaluate the Right Number of VEOs for Your Institution Autonomous Fundraising scales to fit your organization, and understanding the size of your opportunity is where every strategy starts. The number of Virtual Engagement Officers that our partners start with isn't a default; it's a reflection of how many donors are unmanaged, how many distinct challenges exist across their pipelines, and where the revenue opportunities are greatest. Some organizations start with one

Just like with adding a new gift officer, it's important that the goals and objectives for autonomous fundraising translate into measurable impact and tangible ROI that demonstrates revenue generation. When our team meets with partners during onboarding, one of the first questions we ask is: What are the greatest needs for your organization right now? That starting point matters because VEO strategy requires data-informed goals and transparent alignment on what will lead to s

At fundraising leadership conferences, advancement professionals gather to share what's working. This year, the conversation around AI has shifted as organizations are no longer theorizing about possibilities but presenting results. Our partners are presenting what they've achieved through Autonomous Fundraising, demonstrating how they've integrated digital team members that generate revenue and manage donor relationships alongside human staff. What our partners are sharing a

Grateful patient programs represent one of the most significant donor acquisition opportunities for healthcare organizations. Someone who received a life-saving surgery, completed cancer treatment, or secured a breakthrough medical intervention often wants to give back to the organization that helped them. The challenge isn't identifying these prospects, but rather having staff capacity to personally engage them all. With hundreds or even thousands of patients moving through

When Utah State University launched its Virtual Engagement Officer, Sage, it was the first institution in the state to deploy autonomous AI for fundraising. As the Director of Annual Giving, Jonathan Young has become an industry resource and Autonomous Fundraising champion. We sat down with Jonathan to understand what's driving this level of interest and what he's learned in the first six months with Sage, their Virtual Engagement Officer, on his team. Q: You've been in fundr

A universal truth is that the middle of the donor pyramid has always presented a challenge, and different solutions have emerged to address the gap. You’ve likely tried multiple approaches like donor experience programs (DXO/DGO), targeted phonathons, and hyper-segmented campaigns. Each has offered something valuable, and each has required something significant from your team. What's different is that conversations about the middle of the pyramid now center on strategic reven

Philanthropy fuels mission-critical work. Donors who volunteer at your events, champion your programs, establish recurring gifts, and bring others into your community. These relationships rest on shared values, trust in your impact, and belief in the change you create. Yet most fundraising teams face impossible capacity constraints: thousands of donors who deserve personal engagement, but only enough staff to actively manage the top 3%. Autonomous Fundraising addresses this c

Higher education fundraising is built on relationships that span decades: alumni who return to campus for reunions, parents who watched their children thrive, faculty members who continually shape generations of students, and community partners who witness the institution's impact. These connections run deeper than transactional giving. They're rooted in transformation, pride, and gratitude for what higher education represents. The challenge for advancement teams is building

In 2025, Autonomous Fundraising and Virtual Engagement Officers raised $7,132,652 through 39,217 individual gifts, without adding headcount. Across 100+ partner organizations, VEOs demonstrate that when advancement solves how to expand personalized one-to-one attention, responsive care, and meaningful engagement throughout the donor giving journey beyond the top 3%, impactful ROI follows, including retention, upgraded giving, recapturing donors after periods of disengagement,

Independent school fundraising thrives on community connection. Parents who volunteer for every auction, grandparents who establish endowments, alumni who return for homecoming, and families whose children walk the same halls their parents once did. These relationships are built on shared values, trust in your mission, and pride in what your school creates. Yet most development offices face an impossible math problem: thousands of donors who deserve personal engagement, but o