Katie Farina is Donor Republic's AI Product Manager, and she came to AI through fundraising, not the other way around.

For over a decade she's worked across Individual Giving, with a particular focus on the campaigns that quietly raise the most money in our sector: mid-value donors and Gifts in Wills. The work that depends on understanding what people actually care about, why they give, and how to ask in a way that respects the relationship.

After five years in the IG team, Katie now leads AI product development at Donor Republic. She's building Lantern, an AI platform designed by fundraisers, for fundraisers, that takes a campaign brief through to draft creative across direct mail, email, SMS and paid social.

Katie believes AI is only useful in this sector when the people who understand donors are the ones shaping it. Her sessions cut through the hype, show real product decisions, and treat AI as what it is: a craft tool in the hands of fundraisers, not a replacement for them.