Building the Agentic Core for Philanthropy
GradRoots is building the first agentic operating core designed explicitly for philanthropy.
Philanthropy is one of the most important coordination systems in civil society. It funds education, workforce retraining, veterans services, emergency aid, healthcare access, and upward mobility. Yet the infrastructure powering this work remains manual, fragmented, and structurally inefficient.
Legacy systems like Blackbaud Raiser's Edge were built for record-keeping in a pre-AI era. They optimize for contract lock-in and margin preservation, not fundraising outcomes.
We believe fundraising is not a static workflow problem.
It is a leverage problem.
AI enables a fundamental shift: separating cold administrative work from warm human stewardship.
GradRoots replaces legacy donor systems with an AI-native platform that automates outreach, simplifies payments, and materially reduces cost per dollar raised.
Our long-term ambition is to become the infrastructure layer for the future of the social safety net.
GradRoots did not begin as a trend-driven idea.
After leaving Kangarootime following a private equity transition, I volunteered inside a Southern California community college foundation that had effectively shut down. I helped rebuild fundraising operations from scratch.
What I discovered was an earned secret:
The organizations that power the social safety net are running on broken infrastructure.
At the same time, AI is reshaping the labor market and accelerating economic transition. As displacement increases, institutions like community colleges and foundations will matter more, not less.
The software that powers them must change.
GradRoots includes:
AI handles cold-temperature tasks — research, reminders, reconciliation, workflow coordination — so human leaders focus on relationships and trust.
Three forces converge:
Philanthropy is uniquely suited for human-in-the-loop automation. It is trust-based, structured, and repeatable.
The infrastructure shift is overdue.
We intend to support the full spectrum of philanthropy:
If we reduce cost per dollar raised and increase operational intelligence, we expand the effective capacity of civil society without new legislation.
Mission: Secure the future of giving.
One organization at a time.