Jason VanLue
Founding Partner and Lead
Twenty years in product and design. Six years leading product and design at a fundraising platform used by more than 2,000 nonprofits.
- 20+
- years in product & design
- 2,000+
- nonprofits served
Partner · AI Chief of Staff
The layer your mission is missing.
We sit in the missing seat, with a full team behind us. We steer, we build, and we stay with it as the mission grows.
Why this role exists
A missing seat, and a missing layer.
Leaders set the direction. Teams do the work. Tools hold the data. In most nonprofits, nothing sits between them to connect it all and keep it moving.
That operating layer is what an AI Chief of Staff provides: senior judgment at your table, with AI underneath doing the busywork, so your people get time back for the human work.
Read our thesis, The Missing SeatWhat we cover
Five seats, one partner.
Already have people in some of them? We work beside them, save them time, and free them for the work only they can do.
- DevelopmentThe systems behind your fundraising: online giving, donor journeys, and the CRM. Your people keep the relationships.
- MarketingYour story and brand, the website, and the campaigns that bring new supporters in.
- CommunicationsOne voice everywhere: email, social, the newsletter, the annual report, and the board update.
- TechnologyYour CRM, tools, data, and security. What to buy, what to connect, and what to stop paying for.
- OperationsWho does what, how the work moves, and the meetings and numbers that keep the year on track.
A steady rhythm, at your side.
- Every weekA working session to keep the work moving.
- Every monthA leadership session on priorities, tools, and decisions.
- Every quarterA review of the number, and the next Build in order.
- In betweenCalls whenever you need them.
Builds included
The Builds are part of the plan.
Every Build on this site can be bought on its own, and many partners start that way. With the Growth Team, those same Builds, or new ones we design with you, are part of the work every quarter, and each one stays running.
Pick from the Builds
- Monthly Giving Program
- Impact Report
- Find Your Next Supporters
- Reporting and Dashboards
- AI for Your Team
- Workflow Automation
- Lapsed Donor Win-Back
- Share Studio
- Giving Experience
- Websites
Or one we design with you.
A year with the Growth Team
- Q1GiveMonthly Giving ProgramLive, kept running
- Q2KeepImpact ReportLive, kept running
- Q3ReachFind Your Next SupportersLive, kept running
- Q4OperateReporting and DashboardsLive, kept running
On its ownOne Build, one price, live in weeks.
With the Growth TeamA Build every quarter, included, and every one kept running.
The plans
Choose how much help you want.
Priced to your size, billed monthly.
AI Chief of Staff
Senior oversight at your table
From $1,500 a month
Best forCapable teams that want senior oversight.
- A monthly leadership session, plus calls anytime
- Roadmap oversight across every seat
- Tools, vendors, and hires reviewed before you commit
- Your AI policy and guardrails
- Quarterly team training resources, so everyone keeps up
- A quarterly review of the number
Who buildsYour team, with us steering.
Request a quoteRecommended
Growth Team
AI Chief of Staff plus a build team
From $5,000 a month
Best forTeams that want more built, every month.
- Everything in AI Chief of Staff
- Builds included: one in motion every quarter
- Team training sessions, not only resources
- A team across all five disciplines
- Everything we build, kept running and improving
- A weekly working session
Who buildsWe do, and we keep it running.
Request a quoteThe alternative
Stay as you are
What it costs to go it alone
$475,000+ a year
Hire each seat
- Director of development$77,909
- Marketing manager$76,000
- Communications director$102,257
- IT or database manager$111,009
- Director of operations$107,680
Salary only, before benefits, taxes, and recruiting.
Or wait
- Most donors don't give a second time.
- AI stays a pilot with two people.
- Every campaign starts from a blank page.
- Reports count activity, not the number.
About the price
Starting points, set with you.
We know nonprofit budgets, and we care about your mission. Together we set the right rate for your revenue, your team, and what you need.
Wherever it lands, it costs far less than hiring these seats, and far less than what the work inside every Build has traditionally cost.
Partnerships run in quarterly cycles, are billed monthly, and can be cancelled before the next cycle begins.
Starting with a Mission Blueprint? Its cost is credited toward your first month of the Growth Team.
Who you'll work with
Senior people, in the room.
You work directly with people who have built for leading companies and from inside nonprofit technology.
Jay Owen
Founder, Business Builders
Founded Business Builders in 1999 and leads it today. Author of Building a Business That Lasts.
- 26+
- years serving missions
- 1999
- founded Business Builders
Jason has a rare gift. He can sit in a room full of competing priorities, technical constraints, and half‑formed ideas, and walk out with a clear picture of what actually matters and how to build it.
Plus a full operating bench across all five disciplines.
A unified team of senior operators to free you up for the work that only you can do.
- StoryBrand Certified
- HubSpot Platinum Partner
- Inc. 5000, twice
- Serving missions since 1999
Our team has built for
Questions
What leaders ask us.
Something else on your mind? Bring it to a free call.
Or start with a plan- Q1What is an AI Chief of Staff?A senior partner who sits beside your leadership and connects the people, tools, and data that move the mission, with AI doing the busywork underneath. There isn't a perfect title for it yet. It's the layer most organizations are missing.
- Q2Do we need to be using AI?No. We start with what the mission needs: the website, the giving program, the reporting, the team's week. AI is how we get more of it done, and we bring your team along at the pace that fits.
- Q3We already have some of these seats.Good. We work beside the people in them, take the busywork off their plates, and free them for the work only they can do.
- Q4Can we start smaller?Yes. Start with a plan or a single Build, then decide whether you want a partner at the table.
Let's talk about a seat at your table.
Tell us about your team and the year ahead. We'll suggest the right level of help, and you'll know the price before anything starts.
What we'll cover
- Where you areYour team, your goals, and the seats you'd like covered.
- The right fitSenior guidance, or guidance plus the hands to build.
- When to startA pace and a starting point that fit your year.
You'll talk with Jason VanLueFormer VP of Product and Design at Virtuous