Login | June 18, 2026
Cleveland State University utilizing AI to boost alumni/donor involvement
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: June 12, 2026
As colleges and law schools grapple with budgetary constraints due to mounting costs, reduced funding and changes in the federal government’s education policies, some are coming up with unique ways to reduce staffing and boost results.
Last year, administrators at Cleveland State University added the institution’s first virtual engagement officer (VEO) to help increase alumni and donor involvement and contributions.
Powered entirely by artificial intelligence, the VEO named Ava launched in May 2025, quickly leading to an increase in participation and donations.
In fact as Chad Warren, vice president of advancement and executive director of the Cleveland State University Foundation, explains, the results were so impressive that the school has now added a second VEO to the roster, named Adam.
“The role of our VEOs is to engage new individuals and reengage past participants in the university by connecting them to events and causes that are important to them,” says Warren.
“Each VEO has a separate portfolio containing alumni and donor names,” he says. “Ava’s portfolio was made up of 1,085 individuals, and initially only 11% of that group was making contributions. Now giving in her portfolio has risen to 20%.”
Adam, which got up and running in May, is expected to boost CSU’s engagement numbers even further.
CSU is one of the first universities in the nation to embrace this operational shift in partnership with the Boston-based digital fundraising and engagement company Givzey.
Warren says a VEO performs many of the same functions as a human, but at a much larger scale.
“The VEOs generate emails, text messages and videos that are sent directly to each individual,” says Warren. “As the algorithm learns an individual’s preferences, it begins to customize the messages.”
For example, if an alum or donor clicks on information related to sporting events, the VEO might provide news on coaches, games and wins.
“It learns about each person and quickly responds to what is clicked on,” says Warren.
While a typical professional fundraiser manages a portfolio of approximately 125 to 150 individuals, Adam and Ava will collectively engage more than 2,000 alumni and donors.
The technology expands and complements the team’s capacity, Warren says, while CSU advancement staff continue to provide the personal outreach and relationship-building that are essential to fostering meaningful connections with alumni and supporters.
“Ava and Adam assist by engaging with individuals that our staff can follow up with,” Warren says.
“Implementing new technologies is a mantra of higher education, and we want to embrace that future while honoring the personal connections that our alumni and development teams already have with our supporters,” says Warren. “This is another exciting way for us to connect more people to Cleveland State University.”