Karen McFarlane, NACD.DC

If you're evaluating predictive analytics platforms for fundraising, start here. Too many teams jump from “we need AI” straight into vendor demos. A better starting point is simpler: What decisions are you trying to improve? A Strategic Guide to Predictive Donor Intelligence walks through the criteria I think matter most: • can nontechnical teams use it? • does it forecast, not just score? • can it explain its recommendations? • does it fit into your existing stack? • how quickly can it produce lift? That’s the conversation nonprofit leaders should be having right now. Download the guide: https://lnkd.in/eTy7VzZU Curious what others are prioritizing first: explainability, speed to value, or platform fit?

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Exciting News! Strategic Grant Solutions is excited to announce our strategic decision to join the Arreva Certified Partner Program. Arreva's ExceedFurther immediately stood out when we first saw it, as it's the only true all-in-one, online fundraising, donor relationship management database, healthcare hospitality, and auction software, in one unified database. ExceedFurther instantly sends acknowledgments, receipts, and thank-you emails to donors while also notifying staff in real-time, enabling timely personal outreach, such as thank-you calls. This is just one of the ways ExceedFurther saves time and reduces manual work, while increasing donor acquisition, engagement, and retention. If you'd like to learn more about our joint services offered through this partnership, please visit:  https://lnkd.in/ehqj9fMD #NonprofitConsulting #GrantResearch #GrantWriting #GrantsManagement #ArrevaCertifiedPartnerProgram #ArrevaPartner #ArrevaPartnerProgram #Arreva

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We’ve just published a new Advocast episode, and I highly recommend taking a few minutes to listen. In this conversation, Iulia Davidoiu sits down with Dave Hansen to explore what it really takes to design advocacy programs that stand the test of time. They cover: • Why programs often lose momentum • How trust evolves across the customer lifecycle • The role of incentives and meaningful value exchange • Structural decisions that impact long-term sustainability If you’re involved in customer marketing, advocacy, or lifecycle strategy, there are practical insights worth reflecting on.

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Babak, your comments in Joao-Pierre Ruth InformationWeek piece from Davos, and your BBC News interview this morning, really struck a chord. That article made a strong point that AI was front and centre for business leaders at Davos, while still feeling more peripheral for many politicians. The commercial world clearly sees where this is heading, but the reality on the ground is moving far more slowly. The Wall Street Journal recently noted that AI adoption across companies is still “slow and uneven,” with most organisations stuck in pilot mode rather than real, scaled deployment. Lots of noise. Plenty of decks. Not nearly as much real impact in the day-to-day customer journey. That idea that the future of AI isn’t one giant assistant, but lots of specialised agents working together behind the scenes, feels exactly where things are heading. The retail leaders and agency teams I’m speaking to aren’t asking if they should use AI anymore. They’re asking where it improves service, conversion, and customer confidence right now, especially across the direct-to-consumer journey, and who ultimately owns the first-party data coming out of it. Working from London with the Silicon Valley-based team Mind Over Media , I’m seeing real traction from practical, brand-owned agents that sit inside the customer journey, remove friction at the exact moment it matters, and keep the relationship and the data with the brand. As founders Andy Anderson and Jamie Parker put it: “As commerce moves toward agents and agent-to-agent interactions, every brand will need its own intelligence representing it. We build for the brand, not the channel, so that brain sits with the company, and they keep ownership of the customer relationship, the data, and the commercial outcome.” And this isn’t about replacing people. It’s about giving teams better tools that actually work in the real world. As someone who’s dyslexic thinker, AI has genuinely transformed my day-to-day working life. As Sir Richard Branson often says, it can be a powerful co-pilot, but human creativity still matters most. That balance between human judgement and agent-driven systems feels like the real direction of travel. Much of the work around Mind Over Media AI sits right in the middle of this shift. Let me know what you think? #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #GenerativeAI #AgenticAI #Davos #CustomerExperience #DirectToConsumer #FirstPartyData #DigitalTransformation #Retail #Ecommerce #MarketingTechnology #FutureOfWork

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Most professionals spend at least 2 hours (or more) preparing a new grant opportunity. But what if there was a way to do this in as little as 15 minutes? ...and WITHOUT sacrificing quality and efficacy. We're talking about the time it takes to review the NOFO/RFP, pull out and organize critical details, identify and organize required attachments, and draft the proposal. The AI Grants Hub™ changes everything. This isn't generic AI that requires you to paste context every time. Because everything lives in one connected workspace, including your Standard Grant Narrative, past applications, funder history, and more. Notion AI becomes content-aware. It understands YOUR organization's work, tone, and language. ✅ Generate new grant narratives in seconds using your existing content ✅ Analyze RFPs and suggest outlines automatically ✅ Custom AI prompts built specifically for grant writers ✅ All your grant materials organized in one strategic workspace ✅ No more copy-paste loops or starting from scratch We spent the last year designing this comprehensive workspace that streamlines the entire grant-seeking process. The Hub combines strategic planning, writing support, and project management all in one platform. This is a smart system built FOR grant writers BY grant writers (not a tech company). Ready to transform hours of work into minutes? Learn more about the AI Grants Hub™ and see how it can revolutionize your grant writing process: https://lnkd.in/gwvAxNVX #GrantWriting #NonprofitTech #AIGrants #Fundraising #GrantHub #NonprofitLeadership #FundingStrategy

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Jonathan Aberman is one of the leading experts on marketing and AI. It was great to have him on my podcast, the Backstory on Marketing and AI, https://lnkd.in/erYwRwy5.

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Incredible piece by Allen Martinez on MarTech that will help you diagnoses and fix an AI strategy that is stuck in neutral. This is a must read. My take: - Yes, AI is transformational. - Yes, humans and organizations still change slowly (refer back to Martec's law Scott Brinker, and human nature). As Chris Elwell points out, "His use of numbers to support the thesis could so credibly be interpreted in the opposite way. Many AI projects should be abandoned." Is it me, or does all this feel very... familiar? Allen writes: "Now, it’s AI turn: Same mess, different decade." Indeed, everything old is new again. #martech #AI

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One thing Diane Tryneski — former senior executive at Discovery and Disney, former CDO/CTO at HBO, and now a board director at Southern New Hampshire University and the International Neuropalliative Care Society — said that really stuck with me: "It’s not about knowing every AI detail yourself but about showing you’ve built the right team, partnerships, and guardrails." I’ve seen too many organizations stumble not because they lacked ideas, but because they underestimated the operational, ethical, and financial dimensions of AI. A simple framework for governance—covering compliance, security, and risk—can turn skepticism into confidence. As Diane points out, credibility in AI comes less from mastering the tech and more from demonstrating you’ve put the right structures in place to use it responsibly and effectively. Thanks for coming on the podcast, Diane.

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