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

How compassion and collaboration guide our approach to Autonomous Fundraising In the fundraising world, we know that personal, trusted connections are the foundation for building philanthropic support at all levels. Fundraising will always be personal. As a team of former advancement professionals, we understand this deeply, and it's embedded in how we approach our work every single day. We are relationship builders. This is the lens through which we view every interaction, d

How leading nonprofits are moving beyond pilot programs to deploy comprehensive AI-powered fundraising strategies across their entire organization Picture this: Your nonprofit has 150,000 solicitable donors, 45,000 lapsed donors, and multiple departments/programs that are all clamoring for more fundraising support. Your gift officers can only manage 100-200 prospects each, leaving thousands of qualified donors receiving nothing more than mass marketing emails. Sound familiar?

When nonprofit leaders evaluate AI fundraising tools, they're often shown demonstrations of automated email triggers and workflow automation. A donor hasn't given in ten months? The system sends an email. Someone makes their third gift? They get added to a cultivation sequence. This is a rules engine, automation masquerading as artificial intelligence—and it fundamentally misunderstands how one-to-one fundraising actually works. The difference between a rules engine and a mov

When the end of the calendar year is near, advancement leaders face the same impossible math. Up to 40% of individual giving is concentrated in a six-week window, and every donor in your portfolio deserves meaningful engagement. But your gift officers are already managing 150-200 relationships each, and December doesn't magically add hours to the day. So the triage begins. Top prospects get personal attention. Mid-tier donors get templated emails. And a hundred qualified dono

Opening the Door to Secure, Autonomous Fundraising for Texas Institutions Texas state educational institutions can now confidently partner with Givzey | Version2.ai , knowing we meet the stringent TX-RAMP security requirements mandated for their technology vendors. This certification ensures that Texas colleges and universities can leverage our autonomous fundraising technology, including our Virtual Engagement Officers that have raised over $5 million, while maintaining full

Over the last dozen years this 24-hour global movement has inspired transformative philanthropy across every sector.   Organizations with Virtual Engagement Officers saw incredible results for their Giving Tuesday campaigns coming directly from their VEO-managed donors.  VEOs sent over 21,000 messages to donors across the country and helped raise $284,105 (and counting) for the 40+ organizations that participate in the Giving Tuesday campaign.   One of our HBCU Innovation Par

How Version2.ai's VEOs deliver transformative results with minimal environmental impact As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly central to nonprofit fundraising technology, questions about environmental impact have moved from the margins to the mainstream. Institutional boards, sustainability officers, and socially conscious donors are asking the right question: What is the carbon cost of AI-powered fundraising? At Version2.ai , we believe transparency about our envir

Every calendar year-end, fundraising teams are faced with a paradox that is known but rarely named: the moment donors are most ready to give is precisely when our teams have the least capacity to engage them. The data makes this painfully clear. We know a disproportionate amount of individual giving is done in the last few months of the calendar year. Lexis Nexis reports that nonprofits typically raise between 24% and 47% of annual online giving in November and December with

Fundraising teams can tell you a donor's last gift amount, their preferred communication channel, and their likelihood to respond to an appeal. They can segment by wealth capacity, engagement score, and giving history. They know the donor attended three events last year and opened 60% of emails. What they can't tell you:  that the donor's grandmother was a nurse, which is why the hospital campaign resonates. Or that their first-generation college experience drives their recur