Beyond the Top 3%: 2025 Autonomous Fundraising Results

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, and, of course, revenue. 

This last year, VEOs sent 661,978 personalized messages. These were fully autonomous, consistent and strategic moves management touchpoints, including 60,407 Giving Day conversations, 21,020 stewardship messages, and thousands of birthday greetings, event invitations, and communications that built connections.

VEOs reactivated more than 4,600 previously lapsed donors, accounting for 36% of donors who gave in 2025. Giving from these donors adds up to more than $1 million in what would have otherwise been lost revenue. It includes 740 long-lapsed donors (no giving in 3+ years) and 1,602 SYBUNTs who returned with an average gift of $455. 

28% of donors who were managed by VEOs upgraded their giving, collectively increasing their contributions by 65% over the previous year. Additionally, nearly $2 million was secured from gifts of $5,000 or more, demonstrating the VEO’s effectiveness in retaining and growing mid-level donors to build major gift pipeline.  

These results demonstrate something advancement leaders already understand: the fundamentals of excellent donor relationships don't change, but the ability to deliver them at scale does.

In 2025, VEOs solved the specific operational challenge of growing individual donor relationships for more than just the top 3%, without overwhelming or even reassigning staff. Autonomous Fundraising applied what we know as the right way to work with donors to those outside of traditionally managed portfolios.

December in particular revealed what this operational shift makes possible. VEOs generated 30% of the year's total revenue in that single month—$2,065,809 from 6,165 gifts. VEOs sent 153,297 messages in December alone (23% of the year's total outbound communications), including 94,318 year-end messages and facilitated 1,445 two-way conversations with donors that were critical for closing gifts into the last minutes of 2025.

Working through the final days and hours of 2025 without pause, VEOs answered questions in real-time that made gifts possible by providing mailing addresses, clarifying designations, and confirming tax-deductibility, removing the small but significant barriers that can stand between a donor's intention and their contribution, ensuring that no question went unanswered and no opportunity was lost simply because human capacity had its limits during the season's most critical fundraising period. 

Our team is proud and grateful for every single one of the organizations who joined us. Together, we’ve established a new standard for managing more donors with personal 1:1 engagement and proven the results that follow with VEOs. 

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