November 12, 2025 | Read Time: 8 minutes
This collection of essays is part of a special package of predictions from sector leaders and thinkers about what lies ahead in 2026 and how to respond to what will likely be another unprecedented year for the nonprofit world. Read more predictions about Major Donor Giving | Foundation Giving | Democracy and Threats to the Sector | Fundraising and AI | Equity Efforts | Nonprofit Operations | Policy Changes | Bridge Building, and Predictions for 2030.
AI Will Speed Up the Fundraising Hamster Wheel
Allison Fine
Nonprofits are addicted to the hamster wheel of fundraising, and in 2026, artificial intelligence may supersize both the wheel and the addiction.
For decades, organizations have churned out endless solicitations in search of new donors. It’s a losing game: Email response rates are stuck below 1 percent, only 19 percent of first-time donors give again, and development staff are burning out at alarming rates. One dreadful result is that 20 percent fewer households make charitable contributions than did in 2000.
Now comes AI. Soon, artificial intelligence will be part of every fundraising platform, screening donors, drafting solicitations, and predicting lapses. It will be seductively easy to press go and unleash a torrent of even more requests. The danger is clear: AI could speed up the hamster wheel by flooding in-boxes and accelerating donor fatigue.
This is the opposite of how nonprofits should use AI to encourage generosity.
By sucking up rote, administrative tasks, AI can free staff to do what machines can’t: listen, connect, solve problems, and build genuine relationships with donors. This is, after all, why fundraisers were attracted to the work in the first place.
AI should help slow the wheel, not spin it faster. Used wisely, it can give nonprofits the time and space to restore what’s been lost in fundraising over decades of transactions: trust, community, and authentic connection.
My greatest fear is that nonprofits will use AI to chase more gifts, faster. My greatest hope is that they’ll use it to chase deeper relationships instead.
Allison Fine is the president of Every.org.
The DAF Reckoning Ahead – and What to Do About It
Mitch Stein
I recently began a talk to more than 100 fundraising operations leaders with this question: “What’s the first word that comes to mind when you hear ‘donor-advised funds’?” The responses: “Cumbersome” … “Chaos” … “Headache” … “Complicated” … “Complex” … “Nightmare” … “UGGGH”
Revenue from donor-advised funds increased by a massive 30 percent in 2024, compared with a 1 percent decline in other forms of giving. The problem: that growth is crushing fundraising operations.
Here’s why: At the recommendation of DAF holders, gifts can be sent to any of 1.9 million eligible nonprofits, which has historically involved sending physical checks to often outdated addresses on file with the IRS. To help streamline this time-consuming and error-prone process, some DAF sponsors have adopted payment portals. Both options, however, are prone to fraud, with bad actors stealing checks or falsely verifying account details with an AI-doctored bank statement.
The result for nonprofits? With each DAF using a range of methods to send contributions, donor stewardship is extremely cumbersome and, in some instances, practically impossible.
A different gift-processing workflow is needed for each DAF to reconcile payments with donor details. That means sourcing information from grant letters, emails, and portals — a slow and repetitive task.
We’re due for a reckoning in 2026. The current model is not sustainable on either side of the payment equation, and it’s slowing down the movement of hundreds of billions in philanthropic dollars. To maximize DAFs’ potential, DAF sponsors should find common solutions that seamlessly connect the entire donation process and prioritize the grantee experience. Otherwise, the operational burden lurking in the shadows will overtake the positive impact of increased DAF giving.
Mitch Stein is the head of strategy at Chariot, a DAF payments company and the originator of DAF Day.
AI Tools Will Enhance Donor Trust
Nathan Chappell
In 2026, fundraisers will embrace artificial-intelligence tools that fuse two capabilities: prediction and generation.
For years, predictive AI has helped fundraisers identify who is most likely to give, when to reach out, and how much to request. Generative AI, on the other hand, can write compelling, human-sounding outreach. In practice, these technologies have often operated in silos: One tells fundraisers whom to engage while the other helps draft what to say.
In 2026, the two will merge into a single assistant. A fundraiser will log in to their customer relationship management system to find a ranked list of donors ready to hear from them, alongside personalized messages that reflect each donor’s history, motivations, and interests. This goes beyond efficiency. It’s a giant leap toward what I and others call “precision philanthropy,” or the use of data to reach the right donors in the right way at the right time. And it gives fundraisers something they desperately need: authentic donor engagement at scale.
But here’s the caveat: The AI tool fundraisers actually embrace won’t simply be the most accurate or articulate. It will be the most trustworthy. Donors are increasingly protective of their personal data, and fundraisers can’t afford to jeopardize relationships through opaque algorithms or tone-deaf automation. The winning tool will therefore be transparent, safe, and ethical, extending a fundraiser’s empathy rather than eliminating it.
In 2026, the most popular AI fundraising tool won’t be the flashiest. It will be the one that predicts wisely, generates responsibly, and above all helps humans connect with humans.
Nathan Chappell is the chief AI officer at Virtuous Software and founder of Fundraising.AI.
Fundraisers, Prepare for Change
H. Art Taylor
Since becoming president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals in April, I’ve talked with many AFP members about their experiences, challenges, and the future of fundraising. Based on these conversations, I believe fundraisers’ jobs will change in two ways in 2026.
First, technology and data analytics will reshape how fundraising success is measured. Given that many nonprofits now use artificial intelligence, digital-engagement tools, and a wide variety of metrics, fundraisers will increasingly need to be both data and tech savvy. They’ll also need to proactively adjust strategies — tweaking campaigns midway through, for example — based on what the data reveals. And if they’re relying heavily on AI, fundraisers will have to ensure that transparency, ethical data use, and authentic donor relationships remain at the heart of their work.
Second, sectorwide collaboration will become more important next year. Challenges such as federal funding cuts, tax policy changes, declining donor retention, and burnout aren’t surmountable if the field works in silos. Fundraisers will therefore need to recognize the benefits of working with people from other nonprofits on behalf of their missions and the people they serve. This means pooling resources, sharing networks, and aligning efforts to achieve shared goals.
In short, the shifts underway in philanthropy present an opportunity for fundraisers: a chance to build a more resilient, equitable, and collaborative system that prioritizes long-term relationships and collective impact over short-term wins.
H. Art Taylor is the president and CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
A Surprise AI Benefit: More Human Collaboration
Louis Diez
In 2026, a new type of AI fundraising tool — collaborative intelligence partners — will take over the field. While single-purpose automation tools exist, fundraisers need an assistant that integrates into their workflow to handle administrative tasks, analyze donor data, and draft personalized outreach, freeing them to focus on building relationships. Transparently, the fundraising tool I created, WIZE, will do just that, but I expect other, similar tools to be released and adopted next year.
Conversations with hundreds of fundraisers through the fundraising community I lead, the Donor Participation Project, have convinced me of the need for such a tool and why it will be popular:
It will operationalize collective wisdom. A truly collaborative AI tool will incorporate an organization’s unique voice and strategy to ensure authentic and effective communications. This will turn organizational knowledge into a tangible asset. For example, a platform could synthesize past meeting notes with the latest programmatic updates — information that once lived in separate documents — and then suggest personalized talking points for upcoming meetings.
It will enable personalization. Fundraisers in the Donor Participation Project constantly complain about the struggle to move beyond generic communication. New AI tools will solve this by synthesizing a donor’s entire journey — from event attendance to online interactions — to help fundraisers craft individualized messages, strengthening the connection in a way that mass emails can’t.
It will encourage more effective engagement. Fundraisers are often drowning in data but starved for next steps. In 2026, new AI tools will analyze past interactions and donations to suggest the most effective outreach. This will help fundraisers be more thoughtful and responsive so they can engage with donors as partners not data points.
In short, collaborative AI tools that treat fundraising as a human-centric craft, not a transactional process, will become the new standard in 2026.
Louis Diez is the CEO of WIZE and founder of the Donor Participation Project.
Photos: Margaret Fox Photography; Chariot; Courtesy of Nathan Chappell; AFP Global; Marco Calderon
