Executive Team Member Spotlight — James Bruening
Name: James Bruening
Title: Vice President, Data Strategy & Planning
James leads Data Strategy & Planning at Fuse, where he helps turn data into decisions (and occasionally into very detailed spreadsheets). He brings 14+ years of marketing and nonprofit fundraising experience to this role, partnering with teams to design data-driven strategies that strengthen donor engagement, improve performance, and drive long-term and sustainable growth.
Getting to Know James:
1. Q: How do you like to spend your free time away from the wonderful world of direct response?
A: During the spring/summer months, I enjoy being outside and doing yardwork (my wife thinks I’m crazy for that!), as well as firing up the grill to enjoy a nice Ribeye steak with a Summer Shandy. I also have been known to play a video game or two (as an elder millennial, I appreciate the classic games from NES, SNES, and N64!). I also enjoy watching sports, primarily football and basketball (go Iowa State Cyclones and San Francisco 49ers!).
2. Q: Tell us about a favorite campaign that you’ve worked on.
From my role, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily an individual campaign that I would isolate down to a particular “favorite”, but rather the pride and fulfillment of seeing the progress many of our clients see when taking a step back and evaluating their programs at a higher level across multi-year trends, channels and audiences. Also being able to tie this back to long-term goals and KPIs we set and build into budgets and growth forecasts and seeing us meet and exceed these goals. Those are all my favorites!
3. Q: What do you think is in store for our industry in the future?
A: I think we’ll continue to see more focus on connecting data, audience strategy, and execution in a more intentional way. There are a lot of opportunities for organizations to better use their data to guide decisions, not just at the campaign level, but across their broader fundraising programs.
I also think we’ll see a continued shift toward more audience-led thinking, where we’re looking at long-term donor value and growth alongside short-term performance.
At the same time, improvements in data infrastructure, modeling, and tools (including AI) will help teams work more efficiently and make more informed decisions. Overall, I think the future is about being more connected (and less siloed), more intentional, and more consistent in how we approach fundraising strategy.
4. Q: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
A: The ability to manipulate space and time! This includes moving forward or backward in time (or just freezing it in the present), and teleportation. Instantly travel anywhere (and any time) you want! How amazing would that be!
5. Q: What was your dream job as a child?
A: I was really interested in history and geography as a child (and still as an adult!). I had a fascination with ancient culture, especially the Egyptians, and at one point I probably really wanted to be an archaeologist that could see the world and learn more about our past.
6. Q: What would be your entrance song?
A: Rock: Anything from Breaking Benjamin (Breath, Firefly, Follow, Sooner or Later, Awaken)
Country: Barefoot Bluejean Night by Jake Owen
7. Q: Fill in the blank: The quickest way to my heart is _____________.
A: …good company, good food, good weather, and good tunes!