More and more of our everyday communication is with artificial intelligence, whether it's Apple Intelligence or Google’s Gemini suggesting edits as you compose an email, wading through regurgitated “AI slop” when researching online or interacting with Copilot or ChatGPT in place of a therapist. 

And yet, while algorithms may be getting better at imitating humans, you know when you’re making a genuine connection with another flesh-and-blood person. And your donors do, too. As I write this in the immediate wake of GivingTuesday 2025, I am struck by one powerful thing: the ability to form authentic, personalized, human connections is still your most valuable asset as a fundraising professional, an ability that can be supported but never replaced by AI tools.  

Human connection is key

One of the leading – and legitimate – fears about the rise of AI is that it’ll make some human jobs obsolete. Well, there are plenty of ways AI can help fundraising professionals, but replace you? I’m not so sure. In fact, AI may have increased the value of authentic human connections, something that as a fundraising professional, you should lean into. When it’s not the norm, a handwritten note or phone call can have added significance.

“More and more, AI tools are helping nonprofit professionals with time-consuming, mundane administrative tasks, which frees up time for crucial conversations and connections with donors and the larger community,” says Mike Spadaro, Give Lively Senior Account Manager (Memberships), summarizing a key conclusion after attending the Nonprofit NY “Onward Together” conference.

Your job is human connection! As a fundraising professional, the words you choose, the attention you pay to psychological concepts and the care you take in retaining, re-engaging and reigniting recent donors not only affect donors, but have positive ripple effects in community members who benefit from your mission. 

The challenge is to use AI strategically so you can bring your focus, care and authenticity to connecting with your community.  

GivingTuesday 2025 results agree

Although the economic pressures of 2025 were top of mind for everyone, the GivingTuesday 2025 surge was powerful. In total, GivingTuesday resulted in a record-breaking $4 billion in donations from 38.1 million people all across the United States. 

There is no question in my mind that, despite the disquieted popular mood, this outpouring of generosity is a direct result of nonprofits’ human-to-human connections, as part of both their mission-driven programs and their fundraising drives. Perhaps this was supported this year by beneficial AI support.     

Of note, Give Lively is inspired by the incredible fundraising success of our nonprofit community on GivingTuesday, especially the critical funds that flowed to them as part of this massive display of generosity. On that one day alone, they saw:

Of course, as we are keen to remind you, GivingTuesday is a kickoff to your year-end campaign, not just a one-off final play! Now is the time to steward your generous supporters by strengthening your human connection with them. It’s about expressing gratitude for generosity; deepening donors’ understanding of why you do what you do; and then connecting that understanding to the need for further action. 

Welcome, fellow human

Here at Give Lively, everything we do and offer is built on a strong foundation of human connection. It’s one reason why we have a longstanding commitment to progressive values such as gender and racial equality, reproductive health and LGBTQ+ rights, social and environmental justice, immigrant services and more. We’ve seen firsthand how uplifting people makes a difference. 

We’ve also seen the importance of bringing that care and personalized attention to our member nonprofits. Mike Spadaro and fellow Senior Account Manager (Growth) Amy Truong help nonprofit professionals during our weekly Community Office Hours, tailored capacity-building Grow programming and giving-season webinars (here’s a recording of the GivingTuesday webinar). 

Join our end-of-year webinar, live!

Following up on our massive, rave-reviewed GivingTuesday-prep webinar (nearly 1,000 people attended!), we’re building steam toward a free end-of-year giving webinar: How to Turn Momentum into Mission Impact. 

‍Save the date: Thursday, December 11, from 1-2 PM EST.

In this webinar, we’ll share proven strategies to:

→ retain and re-engage GivingTuesday donors

→ craft messaging that drives action

→ build a smooth transition from GivingTuesday to year-end giving

Invest in human connection

In a year dominated by headlines about AI, the most effective fundraising trend isn’t a trend at all—genuine, personalized, human connection never goes out of style. And, for the record, we human writers were using the em dash long before AI ever did!