Introducing Automation 2.0: An AI-powered way to build donor engagement workflows in Keela

Every nonprofit knows there are donor moments that deserve a timely, thoughtful response.

A first gift. A major contribution. A giving milestone. A lapsed supporter who may be ready to reconnect.

But acting on those moments consistently can be hard — especially when your team is already stretched. In this past, building an automation for outreach often took a lot of time and effort. Now, we’re introducing a more guided, AI-assisted way to create, review, and activate donor engagement workflows with confidence with the upgraded Automation 2.0 experience in Keela.

Turn donor moments into timely follow-up

Donor engagement works best when it feels relevant, personal, and well-timed. But without automation, meaningful follow-up can easily become manual work: reminders, spreadsheets, one-off emails, or tasks that depend on someone remembering the next step.

Automation 2.0 is designed to help teams create repeatable workflows for common donor engagement moments, such as:

• Welcoming first-time donors
• Following up after a meaningful gift
• Segmenting donors based on giving behavior
• Re-engaging lapsed supporters
• Stewarding major donors or high-priority contacts
• Keeping internal teams aligned on important donor activity

Instead of building every step from scratch, teams can describe the workflow they want to create and use Keela’s guided experience to turn that goal into a visible, reviewable workflow.

Build workflows with AI-assisted guidance

Automation 2.0 is powered by Mission Assistant, the AI layer across our suite of nonprofit products.

With this upgraded experience, users can describe what they want to automate in plain language. For example:

“When someone gives more than $500, check whether they’re a major donor, then send the right follow-up email and apply the right tag.”

From there, Automation 2.0 can help generate a draft workflow structure that users can review, adjust, and complete before activation.

This means you can start with the donor outcome you care about, and let Automation 2.0 focus on the technical setup steps behind it.

Review the workflow before anything runs

Automation should save time, but it should also feel safe.

That’s why Automation 2.0 keeps your workflow visible and reviewable before launch. Users can inspect the trigger, filters, branches, actions, and settings so they understand who will enter the workflow and what will happen next.

The upgraded experience also supports plain-language setup for filters and split paths, helping you create more nuanced donor journeys without needing to manually configure every rule.

And unlike legacy yes/no branching, Automation 2.0 supports multiple split paths, giving teams more flexibility to tailor follow-up based on donor behavior or audience criteria.

Complete required setup with clear guidance

Before a workflow goes live, Automation 2.0 helps you identify what still needs attention.

If a step is incomplete (missing a tag, filter, or email selection), Automation 2.0 highlights the required setup so it can be resolved before launch.

For donor-facing email actions, select from existing emails in your Keela account. This helps you connect automated follow-up to reviewed campaign content, instead of creating unsupported freeform email messages inside the workflow builder.

Use Review & Activate before launch

Automation 2.0 includes a Review & Activate step to help you check whether a workflow is ready before it runs.

If there are blockers, it will tell you what needs to be fixed before activation. If there are warnings, it will flag them for your review so you can decide how to proceed.

Most importantly, workflows do not activate automatically. You stay in control: review the workflow, complete required setup, approve donor-facing content, and explicitly activate when you’re ready.

Understand what happens after activation

Once a workflow is active, Automation 2.0 gives teams more visibility into how it’s performing.

Activity tab views help you understand who entered a workflow, which steps were completed, and where a contact may have stopped. This makes it easier to understand workflow behavior and troubleshoot when needed.

Additional overview and reporting improvements are being built out in phases, giving teams more context over time as Automation 2.0 continues to evolve.

A more guided path from donor data to donor action

Automation 2.0 is part of Velora’s broader vision to help nonprofits move from insight to action faster.

By combining AI-assisted workflow creation, visible review, activation guardrails, and post-launch visibility, Keela helps teams create donor engagement workflows with more confidence; without giving up the human judgment that great donor relationships require.

Whether you’re welcoming new donors, stewarding key supporters, or building more consistent follow-ups across your team, Automation 2.0 gives you a smarter, more empowered way to turn donor moments into meaningful action.

Ready to build your next donor workflow?

• ‍Sign in to explore Automation 2.0‍
• Visit the Help Center to learn how to get started‍
• Talk to our sales team, to get a demo of Keela

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