Get Started with Development Agent

After onboarding, learn how to get started with your agent.

What to Expect

Your Development Agent engages constituents through email to connect them with your mission and guide the relationship from early cultivation through solicitation.

The agent specializes in cultivating mid-level donors, those with the capacity and likelihood to give between $500 and $9,999 over the next 12 months.

During initial onboarding, the number of assigned constituents increases slowly to ensure accuracy and allow time for engagement message reviews, feedback, and adjustments. As constituents opt out, are reassigned, or become unassigned for any reason, new constituents are automatically assigned.

Because the agent cannot crawl the web or access information outside of your organization's data that you directly provide to it, you'll need to provide the agent information about who your organization serves, your mission, and any relevant context to help it engage effectively.

Disclosure preparation

After onboarding, ensure transparency by adding a statement about automated fundraising to your website and listing your agent alongside your staff to build donor trust.

Engagements

After email configuration, setting confirmation, and environment provisioning, engagements can begin.

What to expect

The agent intelligently builds a personalized engagement plan for each constituent over a 12-month period. Each constituent can receive up to 8 engagement interactions per year, with a minimum of 7 days between each engagement.

Engagements are generated in batches of 25 constituents at a time. This phased approach ensures optimal performance and scalability. Once a constituent is assigned to the agent, their engagement plan begins.

Each engagement plan generally follows this workflow:

Eligibility check

The agent confirms that a constituent:

• Consents to contact

• Is not assigned to another fundraiser

• Was not contacted in the past seven days

Assignment and schedule

The agent:

• Assigns itself to the constituent

• Collects general information to guide the engagement

• Schedules the engagement, beginning with an introductory communication

Content review

Scheduled content appears on the Engagements page on the Upcoming tab for 7 days for review. Access the page from the Scheduled communications link on the agent home page. Content regenerates when feedback is given.

Engagement and logging

1. The agent sends an introductory engagement

2. The agent records the message history and adds an action to the constituent’s record

Interactions and escalations

The agent evaluates interactions and flags items that may require human intervention.

Progress and outcomes

The agent tracks engagement outcomes, especially donations. If no donation is secured, the engagement plan continues with the next scheduled interaction.

Review the agent’s progress

Monitor your agent's engagements with constituents:

1. Under Portfolio, select Development Agent.

2. Under Related link, select:

   • Scheduled communications – View upcoming engagements and provide thumbs-up or thumbs-down feedback.

   • Communications history – View completed or canceled engagements.

   • Work center – Access the agent’s Work center to:

     • View Needs attention for escalated actions requiring human intervention.

     • Use the Overview and Gifts tabs to monitor fundraising efforts.

     • Use the Portfolio tab to see which constituents are assigned to the agent.

     • Use the Actions tab to review a history of the agent’s actions by constituent and date.

Additionally, from a constituent’s record, you can use the Action tile to focus on actions completed for that specific individual.

Constituent opt-outs

Constituents can choose to opt out of interactions with the agent at any time. Similarly, you have the ability to manually unassign a constituent from the agent. For example, if you reassign a constituent to a human fundraiser, they will be removed from the agent’s engagement plan.

Potential escalation scenarios

• If a constituent asks numerous or complex questions, you may be asked to review the interaction to determine whether human intervention is necessary.

• If the agent lacks sufficient information to respond to a question, you may be asked to assist by providing an appropriate answer.

When these situations arise, use your judgment to assess the need for human support and provide clear, accurate assistance to ensure the constituent’s questions are fully addressed.