“All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they are now getting. If we want different results, we must change the way we do things.”
Tom Northup
I used to think the most stressful job in nonprofit fundraising was trying to convince someone to give you money.
Then I met data.
Not long after leaving my role as “the web guy” at a nonprofit, I started a digital agency. Back then—the early 2000s—nonprofits were just beginning to explore what the internet could actually do. Everyone wanted a website. Brochure sites. Donation pages. Email signups that mostly worked. If you had a PayPal button and a halfway decent cause, you were basically ahead of the curve.
At first, it felt great. We were helping nonprofits get online. But it didn’t take long for the shine to wear off. Because while the internet promised transformation, most of what we delivered felt… superficial. Like patching drywall over a crumbling foundation. The bigger questions—the ones about impact—were always lurking under the surface.
Under the surface: fundraising’s real problem
Eventually, we found our way to them. Specifically, to fundraising. That’s where the real transformation was supposed to happen.
But here’s what no one tells you: the closer you get to a nonprofit’s actual fundraising operation, the more you realize how patchwork the plumbing really is.
Money would come in through a campaign. Great. But no one could tell you where it came from, who it was from, or what it meant. Maybe it showed up in a spreadsheet. Maybe someone updated the CRM manually. Maybe it just… vanished.
There was no reliable way to know if “Jane Smith” who gave $50 online was the same Jane Smith who wrote a check last month—or the same one who forwarded your newsletter to her bridge group. Which is how you end up with 13 different Jane Smiths in your database, none of whom are getting thanked.
The illusion of fixing things
At first, we tried to fix it with integrations. Then better forms. Then naming conventions, documentation, spreadsheets with tabs labeled “PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH.” We duct-taped dashboards together and crossed our fingers at year-end. And still, the same problems kept showing up:
- Donors not getting thanked.
- Communications missing the mark.
- Teams burning out, not because they didn’t care, but because they did.
Eventually, it stopped feeling like digital transformation and started feeling more like treading water.
So we added more tools. A form builder here. An analytics layer there. A “quick workaround” that lived in someone’s head and nowhere else. The tools themselves weren’t bad. In fact, most of them were good. Helpful, even.
But clarity never came. The stack got taller. The workflows got messier. And the hope stayed the same: maybe this next thing will finally bring order to the chaos.
It didn’t.
Because the problem wasn’t the tools. It was the absence of a system.
Why does this still feel so hard?
There was nothing to hold it all together—no shared foundation, no built-in rhythm, no throughline that turned data into direction and strategy into action. Just more dashboards. More meetings. More late nights comparing reports that should’ve said the same thing.
And in the background of it all, that persistent question: why does this still feel so hard?
The truth is, behind every missed connection and manual fix, the same pattern keeps showing up. We are asking human beings to do the impossible: to be strategists, analysts, campaign architects, and magicians—without the time, clarity, or infrastructure to pull it off.
So when I first saw the Avid system, I didn’t just get it—I recognized it.
The Fundraising Agency in the Cloud.
A system that thinks like a strategist, acts like a campaign team, and scales like software. Built for people who are tired of duct-taping dashboards and tired promises.
And that’s where this story really begins.
The Fundraising Agency in the Cloud
When we say “The Fundraising Agency in the Cloud,” we’re not just naming a feature. We’re naming a shift.
Because what most fundraisers need right now isn’t a slightly better dashboard. Or a marginally faster report. Or a new integration that solves one problem while introducing three more.
What they need is what a great agency delivers at its best—
Strategy. Direction. Execution. Confidence.
—only now, it’s accessible, scalable, and built into the workflows they already use.
Because even with the best support from internal teams, trusted advisors, or seasoned agencies—that foundational friction still shows up.
Data is scattered. Tools don’t talk. Campaigns stall waiting on reports… or segmentation lists… or yet another round of cleanup.
That’s where Avid comes in.
What makes Avid different
The Fundraising Agency in the Cloud is a new kind of model—
A system that thinks like a strategist, acts like a campaign team, and scales like software.
It connects all your systems—CRM, email, donation platform, ads—and finally makes them work together.
It analyzes your donor data and surfaces your top opportunities.
It gives you the playbooks, the audiences, the recommendations.
And it helps you launch, optimize, and scale campaigns—across every channel—without having to start from scratch every time.
Not a tool you have to manage.
Not a ticket you have to open.
Not a plan you have to explain twice.
A system that’s always on.
Built for people who are already doing everything right—but still feel like they’re falling behind.
Whether you’re a solo fundraiser wearing every hat, a consultant supporting multiple missions, or an agency delivering big strategy across clients—Avid becomes the layer that makes it all work together.
You bring the insight.
The instincts.
The big ideas.
Avid brings the infrastructure.
The execution.
The scale.
Together, it just works.
Not in place of your big ideas—but built to carry them further.
Because the future of fundraising isn’t just more tools.
It’s one system that brings them all together—and finally makes them work.
Avid isn’t here to replace smart people. It’s here to make smart work scale—whether you’re an in-house team, a solo fundraiser, or an agency doing strategy across clients.
When fundraising stops feeling like survival
Fundraising hasn’t failed. It’s just been forced to operate inside systems that were never built to support it.
Disconnected data. Disjointed tools. Long timelines. Limited visibility. Constant guesswork.
None of it reflects the urgency, creativity, or care that fundraisers bring to their work every day.
Avid doesn’t patch over that reality. It changes it.
Because when you unify the tools, the data, and the strategy—everything else starts to shift.
- Campaigns don’t start with a blank page.
- Reports don’t take a week to pull.
- Donors don’t fall through the cracks.
- Teams stop running on fumes.
- Fundraising stops feeling like survival—and starts feeling like momentum.
You still need story. Strategy. Empathy. Craft.
Avid doesn’t replace that—it makes space for it.
Because when you’re not stuck pulling lists or deciphering dashboards, you get time back.
Time to thank a donor personally.
To test a new idea.
To take a breath between campaigns.
To lead.
What it looks like when it works
We’ve seen it firsthand—when Avid clicks, the numbers follow:
- Acquisition costs drop by over 40%
- Donor retention jumps nearly 40%
- ROI climb 30% or more
- Broad-based giving grows by 50% or higher
Not from working longer hours.
Not from heroic spreadsheets.
But from having a system that makes everything—and everyone—work better.
With Avid, your tools are connected.
Your strategy is clear.
You’re not rebuilding the wheel every time.
What used to take weeks now takes minutes—and moves the mission forward.
That’s what the Fundraising Agency in the Cloud makes possible:
Clarity, capacity, and the freedom to focus on what really matters.
This is fundraising, rebuilt
If you’ve ever thought,
“We’re doing everything right—and it still feels too hard,”
you’re not alone.
It’s not you. It’s not your team.
It’s the system you’ve been forced to work around.
And now—for the first time—there’s a better one.
Avid doesn’t replace your tools. It makes them work like a team.
It doesn’t ask you to work harder. It helps you work smarter.
It doesn’t promise to fix everything—just the parts that have been slowing you down for far too long.
So you can spend less time fighting with your data.
And more time leading like the strategist you are.
This isn’t just a product story. It’s a permission slip—
To expect more.
To do less duct-taping.
To get your time—and your clarity—back.
When you’re ready, we’ll show you how it works.
👉 Book a demo
👉 Download the guide: Fundraising, Rebuilt
👇 See the system in action
