Meet Penny: The AI Partner That’s Actually Helpful

I’ve spent years around new technology. I’ve seen trends come and go. But it’s been a long time since something genuinely surprised me.

That changed when I got access to our AI fundraising partner—an assistant we’ve been quietly building called Penny.

Within minutes of using it, I found myself grinning. Not because she was clever, but because she was useful.

When I asked Penny to help me prepare for a board meeting, she gave me solid, practical input. Then I pushed further—“Help me build a scorecard with the most important metrics.”

Five minutes later, I had a sharp, thoughtful framework ready to guide the conversation.

It wasn’t a gimmick. It was magic that made sense.

Why we’re building Penny this way

Everyone’s rushing to launch “AI copilots.” Every week, it seems a new “co-pilot” promises to change everything overnight.

Most sound the same: they summarize, they draft, they rephrase what’s already online.

They’re impressive—but not helpful.

At Bloomerang, we’ve decided to take a different path. We’re not chasing the hype cycle. We’re building something we’d actually want to use ourselves rooted in human expertise and empathy. And yes, AI can be rooted in the best parts of what makes us human, but more on that later.

Penny’s goal isn’t to automate your work. It’s to think with you—to help you plan, prioritize, and make better decisions without needing to become an AI expert first.

That’s what makes her special. She’s not another shiny new tool. She’s the assistant you wish you already had.

Built on real nonprofit know-how

Here’s Penny’s edge: she’s grounded in real nonprofit experience.

She doesn’t just scrape the internet or mimic what’s been done before. She draws on:

• The field-tested expertise of Bloomerang’s fundraising consultants, and
• Each organization’s own data within the Giving Platform.

So when Penny offers advice, it’s not a random guess—it’s guidance rooted in what actually works. You get tried-and-true advice grounded in real success, not advice based on a mix of good and bad campaigns.

We’ve woven our consultant’s  insights—and the rich, real-world methodology for success we coach our own clients on—directly into Pennyworth’s foundation. That’s why she feels less like software and more like a trusted partner.

That’s AI in true partnership with people.

Practical, not performative

Nonprofit leaders tell me the same thing over and over: “AI sounds powerful—but I don’t have time to figure it out.”

Penny is being built for exactly that. You don’t need perfect prompts. You don’t need to know how she works under the hood. You just need a question, a challenge, or a goal.

Penny meets you there—with clarity, not complexity.

She’s being shaped by fundraisers, not just engineers. Because generosity is human, and AI should be too.

The real purpose of AI

For all the hype, AI finally has a purpose worth building toward: helping people who help others.

That’s our North Star at Bloomerang. Every design choice, every line of data, every prototype exists to make Penny genuinely helpful to the people doing the world’s most important work.

We’ll continue to share more about Penny over the coming weeks—proof that AI can amplify the human element instead of replacing it. Because the best technology doesn’t make us less human—it helps us show up as our best selves.

That’s Penny’s purpose.

And that’s why we’re building her right. Because when we build with purpose, technology doesn’t replace people. It empowers them.