We are excited to bring you a full-day AI masterclass to follow the main 2026 Digi.Raise conference!
The main conference will be held at Aerial Function Centre, Sydney on 19 & 20 May.
The AI masterclass will be held just over the road at Four Points by Sheraton Sydney, Central Park on 21 May.
Main Digi.Raise conference – find out more and register here.
AI masterclass – Find out more and register below.
FULL-DAY AI MASTERCLASS – THURSDAY 21 MAY
Here’s a pattern PLAI see's in almost every nonprofit they work with – someone on the team has tried AI. Maybe several people have. They’ve written emails with it, summarised documents, played with chatbots. Leadership has noticed. There might even be an AI working group. But nothing has actually changed. The way the team works, the way decisions get made, the way campaigns are designed – it’s all fundamentally the same. Experimentation without design is activity without progress.
This full-day masterclass is where that changes. It’s for fundraising and nonprofit leaders who are ready to move from trying things out to building something real – an AI strategy designed around your organisation, your team and your actual challenges. You’ll leave with a 90-day action plan, not a theoretical framework.
Led by Kaz McGrath, who has guided organisations including MSF, Save the Children International,
UNICEF, WWF and ActionAid through this exact process.
event details
Masterclass Schedule
- 8:30am – Arrival and informal networking
- 9:00am sharp – Masterclass begins
- Breaks – Scheduled throughout the day
- 5:30pm – Finish
We really encourage delegates to attend the full day to gain the most from the masterclass. However, the session has been designed with some flexibility in mind. If needed, attendees can still fully benefit from the core content by joining from 9:30am and departing from 4:30pm to accommodate travel or caregiving commitments. While the full experience is recommended, delegates who need this flexibility will still leave with clear insights, practical takeaways, and actions to implement.
date
Thursday 21 May 2026
time
8:30am - 5.30pm
venue
Four Points by Sheraton Sydney, Central Park, Sydney
tickets
F&P Members: $997 inc GST.
Non-Members: $1246 inc GST.
This masterclass is for…
Heads of fundraising, digital managers, CRM leads, communications directors, and CEOs from mid-sized organisations – leaders who are done experimenting and ready to lead
Your Day at a Glance
Morning: Diagnose
The morning is about seeing clearly. Most organisations overestimate their AI readiness in some areas and underestimate it in others. We’ll work through:
- Where your organisation actually is with AI – an honest assessment, not a checkbox exercise.
- The five highest-impact AI use cases for digital fundraising teams, and how to identify which ones matter most for you.
- The tool landscape: what to invest in, what to ignore and what’s about to change.
- Governance, risk and the conversations your leadership team needs to have but probably hasn’t.
- The skills and mindset shifts your team needs – and what to prioritise first.
afternoon: design
The afternoon is about building. Using the diagnosis from the morning, you’ll work hands-on to design AI systems for your organisation:
- Design an AI Strategy for your organisation, using PLAI’s AI-Native Strategy framework
- Your 90-day action plan – what to do first, who owns it and how to measure whether it’s working.
you'll leave with
- A clear-eyed assessment of your organisation’s AI readiness – strengths and gaps.
- A prioritised list of AI use cases specific to your context.
- A 90-day action plan with concrete next steps, owners and milestones.
- The confidence and frameworks to lead your team through AI transformation – not just manage it.
meet the presenter
KAZ McGRATH
Founder and CEO, PLAI (Purpose Led AI)
Twice named one of Australia’s Top 100 Women of Influence, Kaz McGrath is one of the world’s leading experts in AI for social impact. As founder and CEO of PLAI (Purpose Led AI), she has trained over 15,000 professionals across organisations including MSF, Save the Children International, UNICEF, WWF and ActionAid.
Kaz doesn’t teach people how to use AI tools. She teaches them how to think, design and lead with AI – transforming how organisations work, not just what they produce. Her methodology draws from IDEO, Stanford d.school and a decade of frontline nonprofit experience, including co-founding the Ration Challenge at Act for Peace, which scaled from a 100-person pilot to a global campaign across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US.
Kaz advises the UNDP and the World Economic Forum on AI capability, holds Stanford HAI credentials and speaks at major sector conferences worldwide.
Kaz will also be presenting two sessions at the main Digi.Raise conference on 19 +20 May.