In this episode of The First Day from The Fund Raising School, Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., is joined by Vicki Pugh, CFRE, CAP, CEO of Advancement Experts and longtime faculty member with The Fund Raising School, to explore how fundraisers can begin using artificial intelligence with confidence, curiosity, and a healthy dose of caution.
Drawing on decades of fundraising experience, Pugh describes her own entry into AI as a self-described “low tech girl living in a high-tech world.” Formal training helped her move beyond simply experimenting with large language models to understanding how better prompts could produce useful results. She explains that AI can accelerate tasks such as writing, summarizing, donor research, and data analysis, while giving fundraisers more time to focus on strategy and relationships.
Bill and Vicki also emphasize an essential rule for using AI responsibly: verify the results. AI tools can hallucinate, produce inaccurate information, or present incomplete findings with confidence. Fundraisers should compare outputs across tools and continue using trusted sources such as donor research platforms, public records, organizational databases, and other established resources. AI can dramatically speed up the research process, but it should support professional judgment rather than replace it.
Pugh shares several examples of how AI-assisted data analysis can translate into practical fundraising strategy. For one organization, analyzing giving patterns revealed unusually strong retention at a longstanding $350 giving level. That insight led to a strategy for encouraging donors to move toward $500 gifts, contributing to an additional $30,000 in fundraising. In another case, AI-supported analysis helped a nonprofit respond to a board request to increase annual fundraising from $2 million to $3 million by using historical growth rates to establish more realistic goals and identify the staffing and investment that additional growth would require.
These examples demonstrate that AI is not only for large universities, hospitals, or nonprofits with sophisticated technology teams. Smaller organizations and one-person fundraising shops can use the same tools to examine retention, donor upgrades, acquisition opportunities, giving ranges, campaign goals, and other patterns that might otherwise require hours of manual analysis. Used effectively, AI can become an equalizer by helping organizations with limited staff access information and insights more quickly.
At the same time, Pugh stresses that the “human element” remains indispensable. AI can identify where donor numbers, dollars, or retention rates are improving or declining, but fundraisers must decide what those patterns mean and how to respond. The technology may generate possibilities, but people still develop the personal outreach, communications, stewardship, renewal, and upgrade strategies that turn information into stronger donor relationships. As Bill notes, one of AI’s most valuable roles may be idea generation rather than simply producing answers.
The central takeaway is simple: fundraisers do not need to become technology experts overnight, but they do need to remain curious and continue learning. Pugh encourages professionals to take courses, learn from colleagues who understand AI, experiment with multiple platforms, and gradually build their skills. AI adoption is a journey, not a competition. By combining new technology with fundraising experience, verification, and human judgment, fundraisers can save time, gain better information, and make stronger strategic decisions.
