AI in Fundraising and Development for Associations

Seven progressive courses plus a capstone to help development professionals build privacy-safe AI workflows, automate donor operations, and apply predictive intelligence to fundraising strategy, from understanding AI fundamentals in a fundraising context to leading department-wide AI adoption.

Seven Courses. One Capstone. One Clear Path.

Each course is self-paced and designed for busy association professionals.

Take the courses in order. Each course builds directly on the one before it. The skills, frameworks, and deliverables you develop in each course feed into the next.
Finish with the Capstone. After completing all seven courses, the Capstone is your certification milestone, a comprehensive applied assessment that tests your ability to integrate data protection, donor engagement, prospect strategy, and governance into unified fundraising decisions.
Built for busy schedules. Each course is broken into short, focused segments you can complete in 30–45 minute sessions. No need to block out a full day.
You'll leave with something concrete. Every course ends with a deliverable you can implement at your association, not just concepts, but something you can bring to your team or present to leadership.

Move from understanding how AI works in a fundraising context to leading AI-powered development strategy, with something actionable to take back to your team at every step.

The Courses

Course 1 — Fundraising with AI: Safe Workflows for Development Professionals FND-101 · ~1.5 hours Your starting point. Understand how AI applies to fundraising and development work, and establish the safe, responsible workflow practices that everything ahead depends on.
Course 2 — Protecting Donor Data: Privacy-Safe AI Workflows FND-102 · ~1.5 hours Build the data protection practices your donors expect and your organization requires — before you scale any AI-powered fundraising system.
Course 3 — Automating Development Operations with AI FND-103 · ~1.5 hours Eliminate the manual, time-intensive work of donor operations. Build AI-assisted workflows for acknowledgments, records management, and routine communications.
Course 4 — AI-Powered Donor Segmentation and Personalization at Scale FND-104 · ~1.5 hours Move beyond one-size-fits-all donor outreach. Use AI to segment your donor base and deliver communications that feel personal, at a scale your team couldn't achieve manually.
Course 5 — AI-Assisted Grant Writing and Major Gift Proposals FND-105 · ~1.5 hours Use AI to research, draft, and refine grant applications and major gift proposals, without losing the voice and relationships that make them succeed.
Course 6 — Predictive Prospect Intelligence and Major Donor Strategy FND-106 · ~2 hours Use predictive analytics to identify your highest-potential prospects, time your asks more effectively, and build a major gifts pipeline grounded in data.
Course 7 — AI Governance and Policy Leadership for Development Teams FND-107 · ~1.5 hours Build the governance frameworks, ethical guardrails, and organizational policies your development team needs to use AI responsibly and sustainably.
Capstone — Development AI Professional Capstone FND-108 · ~1 hour Your certification milestone. A comprehensive applied assessment across the full series, integrating data protection, donor engagement, prospect strategy, and governance into real fundraising decisions.