For many nonprofits, donor numbers are falling, income from appeals is becoming harder to grow, and teams are being stretched thinner each year. To sustain growth in this environment, organizations are turning their focus back to major giving - not just to bring in larger gifts, but to build the kind of deep, lasting relationships that can sustain an organization through uncertainty.
But building major gift pipelines that convert takes time. And traditional prospecting is a slow, resource-intensive process. But what if AI could act as a force multiplier, freeing up researchers and small major gift teams from repetitive work, and surfacing the right intelligence, in the right context, in a fraction of the time?
In this blog, we look at how ChildFund Australia is using Dataro's AI-powered prospecting tool, ProspectAI, to identify and add the right donors to their major donor pipeline - focusing on alignment over volume. By combining AI-powered intelligence with human connection, they’re uncovering hidden opportunities, improving efficiency, spending more time in conversation with major donor prospects, and ultimately building a pipeline that not only converts but drives greater long-term impact.
Why Major Giving Matters Now
The fundraising landscape is changing yet major giving remains one of the most stable and impactful revenue streams.
According to our data, revenue from major gifts is up 18% year-on-year so far in 2025, with the number of gifts increasing by 8%. More than half of the organizations in our dataset have reported a lift in major giving in the first half of the year and for many, its driving topline revenue growth while donor numbers remain stagnant or even decline.
This tells us two important things about major giving right now:
- major donors are more resilient than others, and continue to show up even when other donor segments are in decline.
- more organizations are actively investing in philanthropy, and it’s paying off in both value and volume.
For nonprofits, major giving is both a safety net and an opportunity. Major donors are not only stabilizing revenue right now, they’re becoming a growth engine for the sector.
As Jess Walker, Head of Philanthropy at ChildFund Australia, puts it:
“Fundraising is harder than ever. Public giving is down. Teams are stretched thin. And the old fundraising playbooks aren’t cutting it anymore. And this is one of the reasons why we’re investing so heavily in growing our major giving program right now.”
The Challenge: Time, Tools, and the Hidden Middle
Traditional prospecting is time-consuming. In fact, ChildFund’s team used to spend 6–8 hours just researching a handful of donors - combing through CRMs, databases, and wealth scans.
“In a fundraising landscape where time and attention are precious commodities, we know the stronger major gift pipelines aren’t built on volume - they’re built on focus. It is easy for teams to default to doing more, casting the net too wide, and inflating the number of opportunities. But without deep qualification, those prospects rarely convert. It’s a false economy.
With our small team and limited resources, we needed a way to ramp up philanthropy quickly and strategically - focusing on true prospects who align with our mission. But the traditional approach was just too slow.”
Add to this, the most valuable prospects don’t always appear in the usual places:
- Hidden middle donors - loyal, consistent givers overlooked by wealth screens.
- Warm supporters who already have a deep affinity but aren’t flagged as wealthy.
- Potential door-openers with networks and influence beyond their personal giving.
As Jess notes:
“We have so many major donor prospects in our database… they’re not on the wealth screen, and they’ve never given a major gift.”
How AI-Powered Prospecting Changes the Game
This is where agentic AI tools like ProspectAI transform the process.
Instead of spending hours researching and still missing key prospects, ProspectAI automates the heavy lifting:
- Bulk Upload: scan entire lists of donors at once, surfacing the best opportunities.
- Affinity Search: identify prospects who care about your cause, even if they don’t look like traditional major donors.
- Research Intel: generate actionable reports with connections, affiliations, and conversation starters — so you can qualify quickly and walk into meetings prepared.
As Jess says:
“AI helps you do things at scale. We’d never be able to research this volume of people at such a depth — and we’d miss really important information, because they’re often hidden deep in a PDF or some corner of the internet.”
AI doesn’t replace fundraisers. It empowers them. It makes research faster and smarter, so fundraisers can spend more time in meaningful donor conversations.
ChildFund Case Studies: ProspectAI in Action
From $50-a-Month Sponsor to Major Gift Champion
A loyal child sponsor giving $50 a month looked like any other regular giver. Wealth screens flagged nothing. But ProspectAI revealed he was a successful entrepreneur with strong corporate connections.
Jess set up a meeting, and what followed was transformational:
“He invited me to put together a pitch, and he’s going to put 10 of his corporate colleagues into a room. Together, they’ll fund a project.”
One overlooked supporter became the catalyst for a whole new network of major donors.
The Hidden PAF Connection
Another $50-a-month donor had been supporting ChildFund for nearly a decade. What wasn’t visible in the CRM — or any wealth scan — was her connection to a Private Ancillary Fund (PAF).
ProspectAI surfaced just enough intel to reframe her as a prospect. Soon after, her first major gift came through the PAF.
Lesson: Not all major donors look like major donors.
From Complaint to Connection
One donor had submitted a complaint. On paper, nothing suggested major donor potential. But ProspectAI revealed capacity and professional connections.
Instead of closing the loop with a standard response, Jess reframed it as an opportunity.
“If he cared enough to email us, his connection to our cause must be strong.”
What looked like friction became the start of a meaningful relationship.
Knowing Who Not to Pursue
Not every prospect is the right fit. ProspectAI flagged a high-profile donor with capacity - but whose philanthropy was tied to causes outside ChildFund’s mission. By recognising this early, the team saved time and preserved goodwill.
Lesson: It’s just as important to know who not to chase.
Building a Smarter Prospecting Strategy for Better Pipelines
As Jess explains, success isn’t just about having a tool, it’s about embedding it into a clear strategy:
“If you’ve got a serious tool, you should have a serious strategy and a seriously capable team to use it.”
ChildFund uses Dataro’s predictive ranks and ProspectAI to take a funnel approach.
For example:
- Start with loyal child sponsorship donors
- Layer in AI-powered propensity and affinity signals
- Prioritise the best-fit prospects for high-touch cultivation
“This tool doesn’t replace human intelligence or connection - it enhances it. It gives you the confidence to take the next step, have better conversations, and spend more time actually fundraising. It’s helped us shift our qualification focus too… Instead of asking “who might be interested?”, our leaders can now ask “who is truly aligned with this program or project? That change gave us not just more prospects, but better prospects.
Beyond Capacity: Better Intel and Smarter Due Diligence
Traditional prospecting has focused on wealth capacity — who could give — and sometimes on affinity and connections — who cares about your cause and who they know. Those are still important, but they’re not enough.
As Jess notes:
“Some of our best opportunities have come from people already in our database — people who would have stayed under the radar if we didn’t have ProspectAI.”
ProspectAI adds a deeper layer of intelligence:
- Conversation starters: Insights that help you open doors more naturally.
- Networks and affiliations: The context to see how one donor might unlock many.
- Hidden philanthropy: Links to vehicles like PAFs that don’t show up in a wealth screen.
- Risk signals: Due diligence built into the process, surfacing red flags early so fundraisers can avoid wasted time or missteps
This is where AI becomes an enabler, not just a filter. By pulling insights from across the web and structuring them into clear donor reports, ProspectAI empowers fundraisers to qualify faster, prepare smarter, and approach each prospect with confidence.
As Jess explains:
“Just because you have the information doesn’t mean you should use it — especially not all at once in an initial meeting. You still need EQ and to let the relationship evolve naturally.”
The result? Fundraisers spend less time guessing, less time on Google, and more time building trust-based, human relationships — with the assurance they’re not missing hidden risks or opportunities along the way.
Key Takeaways
- Major gifts are the growth engine in an environment of donor decline — they provide stability and drive revenue growth when smaller-donor bases are shrinking.
- AI uncovers what wealth screens miss — not just capacity, but affinity, networks, and hidden philanthropic structures (like PAFs) already in your database.
- Better intel, smarter due diligence — ProspectAI helps you qualify prospects with context, identify red flags early, and know who not to chase, saving time and preserving relationships.
- Efficiency matters — ProspectAI turns hours of manual research into minutes, giving fundraisers back time to focus on conversations and strategy.
- Smaller teams can achieve more — by prioritising intelligently, relationship managers can punch above their weight and build stronger pipelines with less effort.
- Human connection stays at the centre — AI provides the insights, but it’s empathy, trust, and EQ that convert prospects into lifelong partners.
Jess sums it up best:
“At the end of the day, fundraising is about people. ProspectAI helps you find them, understand them, and show up ready to build real relationships. That’s the magic. ProspectAI gives you the insights to find them, the intelligence to qualify faster, and the confidence to focus on the right relationships. With smarter due diligence and better preparation, you walk into every conversation ready to connect."
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