Beyond AI Enablement: How Autonomous Fundraising Generated $1M in Upgraded Gifts

In the first year of Autonomous Fundraising, our team observed that donors were consistently increasing their giving after working with the Virtual Engagement Officer. Now, beyond just observation, the data is providing definitive proof that trusted digital labor fundamentally changes what’s possible for our organizations.

Across more than 100 Virtual Engagement Officers, we're seeing something remarkable. When a donor makes a gift under VEO management, almost one third of them are increasing their giving. And, when they increase giving, they're doing it by an average of 40%.

This is not just engagement or cultivation or discovery work, it’s all of these that combine to result in direct revenue acceleration.

What makes this even more significant is that the VEO has now raised more than $4 million, and $1 million of that comes directly from upgraded gifts. A quarter of all revenue generated by the VEO comes from donors who have decided to deepen their commitment after autonomous, 1:1, engagement.

But the data point that we're most proud to see is that 99.5% of donors with increased giving remain in VEO portfolios.

This reveals something fundamental about Autonomous Fundraising versus AI Enablement. AI Enablement tools help existing fundraisers work more efficiently - drafting emails, prioritizing prospects, analyzing data. They're designed to help your current team do more with the capacity they already have.

Autonomous Fundraising creates new capacity entirely. VEOs don't just identify donors who should be in someone's portfolio - they own the portfolio. They have the conversations that inspire upgrades. They deepen relationships between donors and nonprofits. And our Innovation Partners see that these donor relationships are sustainably managed by VEOs, with no need to be transferred.

This is what happens when we stop asking "how can AI help fundraisers reach more donors" and start asking "how can AI expand the fundraising team itself." Autonomous Fundraising doesn’t put more pressure on a human team’s capacity. These are hundreds of sustained relationships generating real revenue growth - $1 million worth of it - that simply wouldn't exist without this capacity.

The pattern holds across institutions of all types and sizes. The upgrade rate is consistent. The retention is consistent. The revenue growth is consistent. This isn't about individual success stories, it's systematic proof that Autonomous Fundraising can augment what our traditional gift officers do, provide strategic and personalized attention that naturally leads to giving – but at scale.

If you're looking at your own donor make and thinking about the donors who could upgrade with the right attention, you're asking the question that led to this data, and Autonomous Fundraising matters. Every organization deserves this kind of capacity.

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Ready to explore how VEOs could expand your fundraising capacity? Schedule a conversation with our team.