Project Authenticity

Project Authenticity is an initiative dedicated to helping social responsibility organizations reclaim control of their data, systems, and decision-making in a post–"sales-ification" era of fundraising technology.  Read about the origin in my Substack.

For years, organizations have relied on platforms that promised efficiency but delivered relationship opacity.  These platforms lock critical insights behind their proprietary models, limiting flexibility, and quietly shaping how social responsibility organizations understand their benefactors. As AI and predictive analytics become more embedded in fundraising tools, the importance of intentional design becomes obvious.  Non-discerning systems can reinforce bias, obscure accountability, and distance organizations from the very communities they serve.

Project Authenticity exists to offer a way out.

Project Authenticity is built with the promise of transparent, ethical, and meaningful data consumption for social responsibility organizations. That means:

• Designing data architectures that organizations can actually govern

• Make better use of technology to add the one feature no CRM has - understanding the nature of the relationship itself

• Developing frameworks to evaluate bias, fairness, and accountability in supporter data

• Translating complex technical concepts into practical tools for real-world teams

At its core, Project Authenticity is about relationship awareness.  It ensures that the technology social responsibility organizations use reflects their values, not just vendor priorities.

This is not about rejecting innovation. It is about refocusing it on what really matters - the human relationship.

Project Authenticity helps organizations move from passive users of support-building technology to active stewards of their data. The goal is simple but urgent: to build systems that are not only powerful, but trustworthy and truthful.

Project Authenticity will be a free template starting out.  Requests for beta-testers will begin by mid-summer 2026.  

Suppor this work by contributing here