Artificial Intelligence, or AI as we know it, is a topic that is in the news everywhere today. It is trending in such a way that The Chronicle of Philanthropy has made AI the focus of their special report in March 2019. It is a fact that nonprofit fundraising is evolving; in some areas, AI has already arrived – the nonprofit sector is one such area. While nonprofit organizations do not have a historical record of being a frontrunner in the technological aspect, nonprofit sector is quietly becoming an early adopter of AI.
Artificial Intelligence, simply put is a system that takes actions to maximize success by perceiving its environment; it is a system that resembles human intelligence. Teamwork between AI and nonprofits is the key to successful nonprofit fundraising. Looking in the process as to how it would work, the AI assistant would first develop and apply algorithms to look into huge amount of data with an attempt to recognize patterns and give best recommendations. The human fundraiser will then apply his own judgment and intelligence to select from those recommendations and finalize on solution and message. This right here is the future of modern day fundraising.
For most nonprofits, it is the common channels that are used for fundraising, In this article, GiveCentral will take you through the different benefits of combining forces and how this can be made to work best.
Prediction and Observation
There are a lot of minute details that can have very big impacts; many times these details are missed by humans. This is where AI comes in and it can really help by creating predictive models based on previous engagement and interaction. For example, no organization wants to spoil their equation with their supporters; so they need to be really careful when to reach out to them so that they don’t become too annoying or desperate to their donors. AI can help you find the answer to when you should be asking a recent one-time giver to give again, who should receive the donation appeal and which communication should be used for which giver. Let’s take another example, all your donors will not have the same interest; especially if you have different causes that you’re supporting, there will be a division between your supporters. AI will help you engage each donor differently, by knowing the interests of your donors and creating an interaction based on those interests. This could be in the form of a short video, email or a text message.
Generation of smart work
AI can be used to automate tasks that take up a lot of your time. For example, the sync between GiveCentral and Salesforce has helped in cutting down the time that goes into data entry, among many others. Now the time that has been saved can go into completing another productive task. Not just a safe record of information, but making additions to a mailing list is also a benefit that has made life easier for nonprofit workers. Reaching out to supporters on calls, building personal connections for nonprofit fundraising, in-depth research of target audience and spreading awareness about your cause are other things that can be worked upon as AI does the rest of the job.
Board Fundraising
Your board members are a group of the most trustworthy and reliable individuals who you’ve entrusted with the responsibility of representing your organization. Generally, these members are faced with their annual “give or get”. In this situation, the board members are either asked to donate directly or get the required donation from their network of contacts. Now for the latter, it takes time for the board member to meet the target amount for donation. AI can be of immense help to board members in times of “give or get”; it can help by recommending people from their high-reached networks. Once the board member decides on the people he wishes to reach out to, AI assistants generate messages meant for each contact, put together to suit each one of them.
The involvement of AI in the nonprofit sector is bound to only get bigger. Be it communication, peer-to-peer fundraising, capital campaigns and other nonprofit fundraising activities, Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. It helps nonprofits achieve that balance between effective outreach and loyal supporters. It also helps with numbers, patterns and overall management. We’re looking at a limitless potential in the field of charitable giving and we hope that it only gets better.
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Last modified: October 6, 2019
