We have legeraged AI and specifically PowerAutomate to automate the generation of our physical receipts for gifts of cash, check, stock. This process has significantly reduced my time in pulling exports, merging documents, etc. We are a Blackbaud RE NXT shop and utilize Queue to push out the receipt excel file into SharePoint, which is where PowerAutomate grabs the file and merges the letters and envelopes. I then get an email with the letter and envlopes attached for review and printing. We've also automated the 'mark gift receipted' process using PowerAutomate.
Like all AI functionality, it's not perfect, but it significantly reduces time on several points of the process. It has been a huge help for our department!
------------------------------
Molly Kaszuba
Executive Director of Advancement Operations
New York Law School
molly.kaszuba@nyls.edu------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 10-06-2025 01:48 PM
From: Isaac Shalev
Subject: Evolving Gift and Records Work with Technology
Oh, I would add another area where I've seen promise demo, which is endowment administration. AI is quite good at ingesting all the gift agreements and helping to suss out restrictions, and could be used to identify which funds could be tapped for various uses. I know of one vendor in the space who is working on a product of this kind.
Thank you,
Isaac Shalev
Data Strategy Expert
Sage70, Inc.
(917) 859-0151
isaac@sage70.com
Schedule a 30-minute consultation now:
Original Message:
Sent: 10/6/2025 1:51:00 PM
From: John Taylor
Subject: RE: Evolving Gift and Records Work with Technology
Isaac and I share the same opinion on this matter. When it comes to gift administration, AI is not a viable substitute for the actual recording/posting of gifts. Automation, instead, is the name of the game.
Depending on the extent to which you have leveraged data at your organization, AI can still help solve problems and answer questions related to some gifts.
For example, I created a pre-AI database at Duke University that virtually eliminated the age-old problem of "unknown" gifts of stock. AI may also help determine where and whether soft credit should be assigned.
In a gift administration world, AI can also assist in drafting gift and endowment agreements. However, AI is not a substitute for a review by Counsel. Still, especially when a donor suggests several restrictions or qualifications for using a gift, AI can help with a preliminary evaluation against state and federal regulations as well as institutional policies.
John
John H. Taylor, PrincipalJohn H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
2604 Sevier Street
Durham, NC 27705
919.816.5903 (cell/text)
Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987
Original Message:
Sent: 10/6/2025 1:40:00 PM
From: Isaac Shalev
Subject: RE: Evolving Gift and Records Work with Technology
Hi Amanda,
For my consultancy, this is our main work. Automating various data workflows, including handling various inputs from 3rd-party apps and payment platforms and designing better reporting and reconciliation processes are still very much the low-hanging fruit in our industry. Hand-in-hand with better process automation and document handling are better tracking, ticketing, and project management tools and approaches. Every institution is different, but with the proliferation of so many new tools over the last 5-10 years, there is a lot of catch-up to in terms of data integration and reporting, and in rehauling the processes that surround them.
In terms of AI, there has been some work done in this area, but I think the real advances are in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which itself leverages AI in certain areas.I find RPA to be a more suitable toolkit for dealing with gift-entry work because gift-entry requires very high rates of consistency and accuracy in a reliable and repeatable way. AI isn't great at that, but RPA really is. Happy to talk further, please reach out offline if you'd like to chat.
Thank you,
Isaac Shalev
Data Strategy Expert
Sage70, Inc.
(917) 859-0151
isaac@sage70.com
Schedule a 30-minute consultation now:
Original Message:
Sent: 10/6/2025 11:41:00 AM
From: Amanda Haney
Subject: Evolving Gift and Records Work with Technology
Good morning and happy Monday,
I'm interested in learning how other offices are adapting their work in the area of gift and records management, particularly with regard to two key developments:
- The introduction and integration of artificial intelligence (AI)
- Has anyone implemented AI in this specific area of their work? Gift processing and records management is quite a niche space-I'm curious if AI has proven to be useful here.
- The automation or streamlining of manual processes
- In our office, enhancements developed by our IT department (such as import processes and bulk uploads) have significantly reduced the amount of manual data entry required by our team. I'm interested in hearing whether others have experienced similar improvements, and how these changes have allowed you to reallocate your time or refocus your efforts, and in what areas.
Thank you!
Amanda
Amanda L. Haney
Director of Gift & Data Management
Gift & Data Management
University Advancement I Elliott Alumni Center I 9 Edgewood Rd I Durham, NH 03824
Office: 603-862-2041 I amanda.haney@unh.edu
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