Elevate your nonprofit’s fundraising strategies with artificial intelligence (AI)! CCS’s newest thought leadership provides valuable insights, strategies, and tools to propel your organization and achieve unprecedented mission success.

Jeff Kula, Senior Vice Chair, Philanthropy, Cleveland Clinic

Learn About:

  • The history of AI
  • Implementing AI in your fundraising strategy
  • Benefits and considerations of using AI
  • AI example cases and making the most of AI chat prompts
  • And more!

AI is changing the way nonprofits fundraise

Nonprofits often operate with limited resources and staff but are responsible for securing funding, engaging with supporters, and fulfilling the organization’s mission. AI makes this easier. 

Traditional AI—algorithms and techniques that group or separate objects, transactions, or entities—and Modern AI—used to generate content, images, or video based on simple text prompts—can be instrumental to an effective fundraising strategy. Traditional and Modern AI (Gen AI) allow you to work more efficiently and productively.  

With AI, you can obtain accurate, rich data to build custom predictive models around acquiring, segmenting, reassigning, and retaining donors. AI can also create a targeted list of major donor prospects, identify which donors to upgrade based on their donation history, and personalize donor communications by segmenting their interests.  

streamlined donor management

Managing your nonprofit’s donor database manually can be incredibly time-consuming and prone to errors. AI can help you automate your data entry, clean up existing data, and ensure that current and prospective donor data is accurate and updated.  

Further, AI can segment donors based on various factors, including donation history, interests, and engagement level with your organization. You can use this information to tailor your fundraising and communication strategies to each donor group. One example is using AI to identify previous donors who have lapsed and automatically generate reengagement appeals to encourage them to become donors again. 

automated processes

Gen AI can automate processes for nonprofits with lean support staff, including acknowledgment letters for all donation designations—you can edit and approve these automated versions before sending them to donors. Gen AI-powered automation can also create impact stories of significant gifts to share with current and prospective donors. 

likelihood prediction

One of the most promising uses of AI in fundraising is predicting which donors are likeliest to give to your nonprofit again. By analyzing donation histories, AI algorithms can forecast future donations and help segment donors, allowing for more tailored communication and targeted fundraising strategies.  

One such prediction method is Random Forests, or “decision trees,” which use specific conditions to visually map out all possible outcomes of a decision. This AI-driven approach removes the need for manual decision-making and helps you enhance your targeting efforts for potential donors and donations. 

enhanced fundraising campaigns

AI can analyze your organization’s past campaign performance and predict which strategies are likeliest to succeed by assessing criteria such as donor demographics, previous donations, and contribution frequency to recommend the best outreach timing and methods. 

content generation

AI language generation models like ChatGPT can create qualification emails, thank-you letters, and proposals as well as research profiles. By automating content creation and testing variations, AI ensures you present the best possible content to donors. This boosts efficiency, allowing you to focus on other important tasks.  

leverage the power of aI for your nonprofit

Relationship-building is essential to successful fundraising, and AI is not designed to replace but augment human work. When it comes to efficiency and productivity, AI has the potential to transform not just nonprofit operations but donor engagement and retention. By automating routine tasks, personalizing donor engagement strategies, and providing data-driven insights, AI allows you to focus more on your organization’s mission.  

Embracing AI technology can help you secure the necessary resources to achieve your nonprofit’s goals and drive your mission forward for an even greater impact. 

Still have questions about AI?

Our industry-leading Data Analytics team is here to help!

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