Version2.ai

With the season of gratitude in full swing, the Autonomous Fundraiser is making incredible progress. In a short window of time, we've seen the #autonomousfundraiser close its first matching gift, secure a gift of $10,000, and even secure its first planned gift. To date, the autonomous fundraiser has: - Raised $193,421 - Engaged with 1,288 donors (as defined by CASE Standards) - Taken 24,021 autonomous actions with donors You can always follow the autonomous fundraiser's progress live on our website: https://version2.ai

Amazing feature article from our great friends and innovation partners at Illinois Institute of Technology, showcasing their work in Autonomous Fundraising to the entire community. “We teach the growing industry of AI in the classroom,” says Susan Lewers, Illinois Tech’s associate vice president of major and planned gifts. “We should look for ways to implement these practices for university operations, including advancement.” Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eKJuT3FW

We welcome John Newman and the team at Volunteers in Medicine Clinic | Hilton Head Island to our second AI R&D Innovation Partnership cohort to research, develop and accelerate the deployment of the world's first fully autonomous fundraiser. Welcome to Version2 and #autonomousfundraising!

We understand that the work we're doing alongside our Innovation Partners with Autonomous Fundraising is completely new territory for the entire nonprofit sector – heck, it's new regardless of sector. Tomorrow's Live Q&A will feature and answer the Top 10 questions we get about #autonomousfundraising -- and there will also be time for you to submit your own unique questions too. We hope you can join us: https://lnkd.in/eJ2P3TFg #nptech #nonprofittech #philanthropy #philanthropytech #fundraising

In its work with a donor from Parkland Health Foundation, Parkland's Virtual Engagement Officer (VEO), Nicole, secured the first ever planned gift in Autonomous Fundraising history. This $25,000 estate gift shows that a VEO can independently identify, cultivate, and close more complex, high-value gifts, continuing to broaden its impact in the fundraising landscape.

As the autonomous fundraiser continues to make progress this season of gratitude, we're seeing undeniable proof that not only are donors receptive to one-to-one engagement from the Virtual Engagement Officer, they're also inspired by it. VEO engagements with donors are engagements that would not happen if not for AI. It's not for a lack of trying. Nonprofit organizations simply do not have enough trusted fundraising capacity to engage all donors one-to-one. By adding this trusted fundraising capacity to organizations, the VEO has now: · Raised $159,146 from donors · Connected on 1,093 engagements with donors (as defined by CASE Standards) · Taken 19,610 autonomous actions with donors.

The amazing work of William & Mary Foundation's to augment its fundraising staff with Autonomous Fundraising was recently recognized by Inside Higher Ed's Kathryn Palmer. In a first-of-its-kind article, Palmer actually interviewed Wren, W&M's Virtual Engagement Officer (VEO). Matthew Lambert, Meghan Dauler Palombo, Bruce Aird, and the entire William & Mary team are doing amazing things to innovate in ways advancement and fundraising have never seen before. Here's a link to the full article, including Wren's interview with Palmer: https://lnkd.in/ej6UdQGR

When we first introduced Fully Autonomous Fundraising and the Virtual Engagement Officer (VEO), we were told that the opt-out rate would be extremely high, somewhere between 5-10% because donors would not want to interact with AI. However, in practice, we’ve found the complete opposite: Opt-out rates for traditional engagement channels are 2-12x greater than the VEO. · Direct Mail expects about a 0.5 opt-out rate. · SMS Text expects up to a 1.5% opt-out rate. · Email expects up to a 0.26% opt-out rate. · The VEO has a 0.12% opt-out rate. The reason opt-outs for the VEO are about less than half of the next best channel is because Autonomous Fundraising is not a marketing channel, it’s a frontline fundraiser that is a partner in your work. The VEO connects with donors and supporters via one-to-one engagement. And, because of highly personalized, thoughtful, and helpful messaging, virtually nobody opts-out. This is the future of fundraising. Learn more: https://www.version2.ai

We started with a question: “What if a Virtual Engagement Officer could autonomously engage, solicit, steward, and manage donors?” But Autonomous Fundraising has now grown into something much larger. Every week, we update the Autonomous Fundraising journey and transparently share those results on our website https://version2.ai. We feel it’s important to tell you about the results as they happen, because our mission with Autonomous Fundraising is to expand trusted fundraising capacity for Advancement teams working to bring supporters closer to their mission. Upwards of 70% of donors for most organizations are not personally managed in a fundraiser’s portfolio. The reality is it’s just not possible for nonprofit organizations to assign a dedicated gift officer to every donor. Through our Innovation Partnership cohort, the Virtual Engagement Officer (VEO) has secured early gifts with its largest outright gift currently at $10,000, reached self-sustainability by covering its own cost, secured matching and even most recently, planned estate gifts. It’s renewed long-lapsed donors, upgraded giving, and successfully engaged constituents organizations have been trying to reach for years with direct marketing. The VEO is accomplishing exactly what donors want – 1:1 connections that are personal, individual, and centered on the full moves-management journey that works so well in major giving. When donors are properly cultivated over time, delivered messages of gratitude without an ask all throughout the year, and provided opportunities to see impact, the natural outcome is a deep connection that brings about increased support that drives nonprofit organizations forward. Every success the VEO has is groundbreaking, not just for the organization it works for, but for fundraising as a whole. We will continue to share our progress as the VEO transforms what we thought was possible in philanthropy by expanding trusted fundraising capacity for Social Good. To date, completely autonomously, the VEO has now: · Raised $134,510 · Engaged with 846 donors (as defined by CASE Standards) · Taken 16,684 autonomous actions with donors.

Have a look at Mike Esposito, CFRE's Fundraising Innovations list for 2024. We're thrilled to be included as we help organizations expand trusted fundraising capacity with Autonomous Fundraising.