u/femininomenonanomaly

I’ve been having a lot of anxiety as a fundraiser about my future job security. I keep seeing conflicting views online about AI and fundraisers. On one end of the spectrum, I see articles describing how AI agents close huge planned gifts via email. And if I don’t start utilizing AI, I’ll be left behind (even though it sounds like not being left behind means coming to the death of my profession). Then I see articles saying how the human connection is so essential to fundraising, and AI can never replace that. It can mimic empathy and great listening, but the heart of fundraising is intuitive in a way that a computer simply can’t be.

It does comfort me to know that AI can’t replace handwritten notes and lunches or coffees with donors. Facility tours. Interactions at events. It can’t replace the intuition that while someone CAN give a 6-figure gift, it’s inappropriate to ask for one just yet. It can’t replace the general connection that a fundraiser provides as a bridge between donor and organization.

I do understand how AI could be useful to my job - it just saddens me that the natural progression of that is eliminating positions and colleagues that i adore, like database professionals, and parts of the job that I like, such as writing annual appeals or personalized emails and newsletters for donors. Coming up with annual strategies. So even if I do have job security, it’s going to look so different.

What do you all think? Do I have a job in 3 years?