Responsive Nonprofit Summit: Where Fundraisers Belong

Kick off the morning by getting to know our sponsors and engaging with fellow attendees during our networking session.

Welcome back to Day 2 of the Responsive Nonprofit Summit!

In this Innovation Showcase, Gabe Cooper reveals what’s coming next across Virtuous products and how these innovations will shape the future of fundraising. From new AI capabilities to deeper insights and automation, you’ll get a firsthand look at what the Virtuous team is building to help nonprofits grow giving faster and with less friction.

This is an exclusive preview of where the platform is headed and a rare opportunity to understand how upcoming innovation maps directly to the future of fundraising.

Donor behavior isn’t just changing it’s being rewired.

In this session, Cherian Koshy, a leading expert in the neuroscience and behavioral science of generosity, breaks down what’s actually driving donor decisions today. Drawing on research from psychology, neuroscience, and real-world fundraising, Cherian reveals why traditional assumptions about donor motivation no longer hold and what leaders must do differently to earn trust and loyalty.

You’ll learn how donors actually make giving decisions, what increases long-term generosity, and how to design donor experiences that align with how people are wired to give.

AI is changing fundraising but how you use it matters just as much as what you use.

This session brings a practical, real-world perspective from leaders working at the intersection of AI, ethics, and nonprofit impact. You’ll explore how to apply clear ethical judgment to AI-supported fundraising protecting donor trust, maintaining transparency, and aligning technology decisions with your mission and values.

Rather than abstract philosophy, this conversation focuses on the real questions nonprofits are facing right now: where to draw boundaries, how to build guardrails, and how ethical AI use can actually strengthen relationships and long-term generosity.

This session is a live teardown of real donation forms, including submissions from you and other attendees!

Watch as we break down what’s helping or hurting conversion in real time: layout, copy, friction points, gift arrays, recurring prompts, and missed opportunities that quietly cost revenue. You’ll see exactly what to fix, what to simplify, and what actually moves donors to complete their gift.

Some forms may be reviewed live. Everyone walks away with proven patterns, best practices, and templates you can apply immediately.

Missed follow-ups quietly cost major gifts. This session is a live demo of Virtuous Momentum, showing how the platform ensures no donor relationship stalls.

You’ll see how Momentum uses AI to track touchpoints, automates reminders, support donor plans, and give fundraisers confidence that the right action happens at the right time without relying on memory or spreadsheets.

Most nonprofit tech stacks didn’t evolve; they accumulated.

In this session, you’ll hear from leaders who have seen nonprofit tech stacks up close and had to make the buying decisions, helping organizations untangle complexity, eliminate tools that don’t deliver value, and design systems that actually support modern fundraising.

We’ll break down what belongs in a future-ready nonprofit tech stack, what’s quietly slowing teams down, and how to evaluate new tools—especially AI—without falling for hype or creating more fragmentation. You’ll learn how to ask better questions, spot red flags, and make technology decisions that support donors, staff, and long-term growth.

Recurring revenue is becoming one of the most important indicators of long-term health for nonprofits but growth in 2026 will require more than isolated tactics.

In this session, Dave Raley, author of The Rise of Sustainable Giving, explores how nonprofits can grow recurring revenue by building for a new era of sustainability in fundraising. Drawing from real-world examples and emerging patterns across high-performing organizations, Dave will unpack the mindset shifts, program design choices, and practical strategies that are shaping the future of recurring giving.

You will gain timely insight you can apply in 2026, while engaging a bigger vision for building recurring revenue that is resilient, responsive, and rooted in generosity that lasts.

Responsive Fundraising isn’t a concept, it’s built into the Virtuous platform.

In this live walkthrough, you’ll see how Virtuous listens to donor behavior, personalizes outreach across channels, and automates next steps using real donor signals. This session connects the philosophy of Responsive Fundraising to the actual workflows teams use every day.

If you’ve heard the term but want to see it in practice, this is the session.

AI isn’t just changing how fundraising works; it’s redefining what’s possible.

In this keynote, Nathan Chappell, Chief AI Officer, takes the stage with fellow AI leaders shaping the future of philanthropy to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming donor engagement, fundraising strategy, and nonprofit operations.

This is a big-picture look at what’s coming next: how AI will reshape roles and workflows, where leaders should lean in (and where caution matters), and what nonprofits must understand now to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Meet us at the Main Stage for the Day 2 Closing, where we’ll unearth the biggest takeaways from the day and give you a sneak peek into the agenda for the final day of the Responsive Nonprofit Summit.

This interactive 2-hour workshop dives deep into the true value of mid-level donors; why they matter, where most programs fall short, and how to intentionally grow this segment into a reliable pipeline for major gifts and long-term retention.

You’ll hear from Jaclyn Jones, bringing the perspective on what works across many organizations, alongside Carly Berna, who has actually built and scaled mid-level donor programs inside a nonprofit. Together, they’ll break down the strategies, structures, and day-to-day practices that turn overlooked donors into deeply engaged supporters.

Expect a highly practical session covering:

How to define and segment mid-level donors based on value, not just dollar amount

What mid-level donors actually need (and why generic comms fail)

How to design a scalable engagement model that doesn’t overwhelm your team

The metrics that matter and how mid-level fuels major giving growth