EverTrue

Build communications around donor preferences, not a fiscal year calendar. That's what University of Delaware did. With Preferred Month of Giving, donors choose when they hear from UD instead of following a fiscal year calendar. Automated reporting and Pledgemine by EverTrue turned a manual process into a scalable, personalized workflow. Communication fatigue dropped. Responsiveness went up. Relationships got stronger, not because UD sent less, but because they sent it when it mattered. Read the full story by visiting the link in comments! 👇

A donor who's given for a decade and one who lapsed three years ago are in very different places. West Chester University Foundation decided their outreach should reflect that. For years, every appeal started from scratch. Same list, no through-line between sends. Lauren Giannaris and her team built donor pools instead, moving people through a journey across the year and using Pledgemine by EverTrue to give each pool its own personalized mail. The real shift wasn't a new mailing list. It was finally meeting donors where they actually were, instead of starting over with every appeal. Full link to episode in comments! 👇

More than 400 leaders came together yesterday for AI Agents in Advancement, hosted by Clark University. I was honored to share a few ideas, but even more grateful to Joe Manok, who has become an amazing thought partner and friend. Joe is establishing a clear leadership position at the intersection of AI and advancement by convening the community, testing ideas and openly sharing what he learns. It’s clear that the promise of AI is to save time and deliver better intelligence to create more frequent, meaningful and human interactions. The energy in the room was incredible and I truly believe many problems that have plagued our sector for decades are on the cusp of being solved. Thank you, Joe!

We keep hearing the same thing about AI and fundraising: people have figured out how to use it well, but their organizations are still functioning exactly the same way. So how widespread is that gap? We want to hear from the people actually doing the work. What’s changed in your work? Has your team’s work changed? And where do you draw the line with AI? Scott Rosenkrans, AIGP, our Head of AI Growth, created this 10-minute survey to help us understand where the sector really stands. Responses are confidential, and we’ll share the findings. Open through September 30 → Take the survey: https://hubs.la/Q04v970V0

Fundraising doesn't happen at a desk. The rebuilt Signal mobile app is now live, so gift officers can prep for a visit, search for constituents, and log the contact report without waiting to get back to a desk. ⚡ Rebuilt from the ground up, one fast, consistent experience on iOS and Android 🔍 Search in plain language or pull up a saved list right in the field, wealth and giving history included 📝 Get an AI briefing before the visit, then log the contact report right after. Nothing gets lost between the meeting and the office 🔒 AI hosted inside your own organization's data, so security keeps pace with the tech The relationship doesn't pause when the meeting ends. Now your tools don't either. See it in action: https://hubs.la/Q04tZLmt0 Update your Signal app to get started!

In most of the conversations around AI and fundraising I have, I hear from individuals who have figured out how to use AI effectively, but their organization is still functioning the same way. So at EverTrue, we built a survey to measure this and identify the blockers. We're less focused on the tools you use but rather: -Did your work actually change? -Did your team's work actually change? -Where do you draw the line on what AI should never touch? If you work in fundraising or advancement, we'd genuinely like your honest answer. Takes ~7 min. Responses are confidential; findings get published so the sector can see where the sector stands and what's getting in the way. Open through Sept 30. https://lnkd.in/gz2WNaVp

What do you do when best practice says one thing, but your donors say another? Chicago Theological Seminary listened to their donors and made their direct mail longer, not shorter. Chad Ryan Schwickerath, VP for Advancement and Strategic Initiatives, noticed something once the letters got longer. Gifts started showing up online on days they hadn't sent a single email, the only explanation was the letter that had just landed in mailboxes. Using Pledgemine by EverTrue, the team replaced short, ask-first emails with long-form letters built around the seminary's actual mission. 12% response rate. And donors didn't just give, they started writing back! Full podcast episode in comments! 👇

Reviewing your spending policy this year? See how it stacks up first. We analyzed real customer data to uncover how nonprofits and institutions are configuring the Percent of Average Spending Method, the most commonly used approach for endowment distributions. You'll get benchmarks on: 📊 Typical spending rate ranges 🔁 Common lookback windows 💰 Fund vs. pool-level averaging ⚠️ Underwater spending decisions 📅 Distribution posting frequency Whether you're prepping for a committee discussion or just want validation that your approach is aligned with peers, this gives you the real-world context to back it up. Get the report → https://hubs.la/Q04ttcdy0

What if the best fundraising moment isn't an ask at all? A promotion, a retirement, a new job on LinkedIn: these moments are easy to miss in the middle of the day-to-day work of an advancement office. Western Kentucky University built a way to catch them anyway, using Signal and ThankView by EverTrue to turn career-move data into personalized video recognition. WKU delivered 800+ personalized videos in one batch, by a team of two, segmented by student, mid-career, and major-gift alumni so a first job never sounds like a retirement. The same approach now shapes birthday outreach, and even inspired WKU's deans to send personalized notes of their own. Turns out, the best fundraising doesn't feel like fundraising. It feels like someone paying attention and showing up when it matters. Full story in comments 👇

That's a wrap on Apra PD! 💜 Scott Rosenkrans, AIGP, Patrick Heffernan, Megan Grosskopf, and Ron Eisenstein spent the week talking prospect research, AI, and what's top of mind for fundraising teams this year. We believe fundraising is fundamentally human. So we build our products the same way: by showing up, listening to the people doing the work, and seeing the problems firsthand instead of guessing from behind a screen. That's why we keep coming back to conferences like this one. If we connected this week, it was great to meet you! Next up, we'll be at: 📍 FFE & NIC Dual Meeting Seminar 📍 AASP 40th Annual Conference 📍 CACUBO Annual Conference Come find us. 👋