Edna, Avid's built-in AI, generates the campaign content in your plays—email copy, social posts, ad copy, and donation page content. Learn what she can generate, what information she reads, and how your data stays protected.
Applies to: All Avid users with Playbooks access
Use this article when
- You want to understand what Edna can generate for your campaigns.
- You need to know which information Edna reads when she creates content.
- You want to confirm how your donor data and brand materials are handled.
- A colleague or stakeholder asks how AI fits into your fundraising workflow.
This article covers content generation inside Playbooks. For the chat assistant—asking questions about your data and getting recommendations—see Ask Edna.
What generates your content
Edna is Avid's built-in AI assistant. Inside Playbooks, she works behind the scenes whenever you create or edit a play, generate assets, or ask for content suggestions. She generates campaign content, recommends strategies, and personalizes messaging so you spend less time drafting and more time connecting with donors.
What Edna can generate
Campaign content for every touchpoint
Edna creates draft copy for every touchpoint in a play. This includes email subject lines, body text, social media posts, ad copy, and donation page content. Each draft reflects your campaign goal and audience.
Regenerated and refined assets
Select any generated asset and ask Edna to regenerate it. Provide feedback or a new direction, and she produces an updated version. You can regenerate as many times as needed before approval.
Copy built on behavioral psychology and copywriting frameworks
Edna applies proven persuasion and copywriting frameworks to your campaign content. These include behavioral psychology principles (such as social proof, urgency, and reciprocity) and structured copywriting methods. The frameworks help your messaging resonate with donors and drive action.
Play strategy recommendations
When you describe a campaign goal, Edna suggests a play type, audiences, touchpoint sequence, and timing. She populates the Strategy tab with key messages and a campaign overview tailored to your objective. See Create a Play with AI for the step-by-step workflow.
What Edna reads when generating content
Edna draws on three categories of information to produce relevant, on-brand content.
| Data source | What Edna reads | Where you manage it |
|---|---|---|
| Strategic brief | Campaign goal, target audience description, preferred channels, and timing you provide when creating a play. | Play creation wizard or the Strategy tab inside a play. |
| Brand guidelines | Your mission statement, brand voice, tone preferences, uploaded documents, and resource URLs. | Settings > Edna. See Manage brand content and resources in Settings. |
| Donor data | Audience segment attributes such as giving history, recency, and engagement level. Edna uses these to personalize messaging, not to surface individual donor records. | Pathways > Manage Audiences and your connected data sources. |
Your constituent data never gets sent to AI models—Avid's or anyone else's. Donor-level analysis happens inside Avid. Where Avid uses external AI providers for specific features, only high-level, aggregate summaries are sent—never personally identifying information, individual donor records, or your organization's name. See Data Security and Compliance: Common Questions.
Why it matters
- Speed: Generate a full multichannel campaign in minutes instead of days.
- Consistency: Every asset follows your brand voice because Edna reads your guidelines.
- Relevance: Content reflects real donor data, so messaging speaks to the right audience.
- Control: You review and approve every asset before it launches. Edna drafts; you decide.
How it works in practice
- You describe a goal. Enter your campaign objective when creating a play or using Smart Play.
- Edna reads your context. She pulls your strategic brief, brand guidelines, and audience data.
- Edna generates content. Draft assets appear on the Touchpoints page (Calendar, Grid, or List view).
- You review and refine. Edit any asset directly or ask Edna to regenerate it with new instructions.
- You approve and launch. Approve each touchpoint, then use Preview Play and Launch Play to deploy. See The Playbooks Approval Workflow: From Draft to Deployment.
Privacy in brief
- Individual donor PII (names, emails, addresses) is not embedded in generated copy. Edna uses aggregate segment attributes.
- You control what Edna can access through Settings > Edna. Remove or update resources at any time.
- All generated content goes through your team's approval workflow before it reaches any donor.
For the full picture—including how Edna handles security in chat and email—see Ask Edna and Data Security and Compliance: Common Questions.
Key terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Edna | Avid's built-in AI assistant. Generates and refines campaign content in Playbooks and answers questions via Ask Edna. |
| Strategic brief | The campaign goal, audience, channels, and timing you provide. Edna uses it as the primary input for content generation. |
| Regenerate | Ask Edna to produce a new version of a specific asset with updated direction or feedback. |
| Touchpoint approval | The per-touchpoint review step in Playbooks: approve each touchpoint, then preview and launch the play. |