Several nonprofits are adopting artificial intelligence capabilities for a range of stewardship and fundraising objectives. Essentially, these tools help eliminate uncertainty from outreach and campaign list creation by making data-driven predictions for nonprofits. Hence, it’s useful in various settings, including consistent donor engagement initiatives, capital campaigns, and daily fundraising.
- By leveraging AI-powered tools for analytics, automation and resource management, nonprofits can do more with less.
- AI is also extremely useful in data analysis and predicting the future behaviour of existing donors.
Experts advice on how Nonprofits can leverage Artificial Intelligence
In this article, we will consider effective ways nonprofits can leverage artificial intelligence to improve their operations.
1. Data collection
Chris Paver, COO at Dataro, an AI-powered donor prediction platform stated the importance of AI in data analysis for predicting donor behaviour.
“AI technology can fill the gap between collecting data and putting it to work for your mission. Luckily, AI and machine learning technology have evolved to deliver everyday value for larger numbers of nonprofits. AI-style features that score prospects are cropping up everywhere, as are more comprehensive machine learning tools (like Dataro) that offer ground-up AI technology.”
He also stated that “an area where AI is extremely useful is in data analysis and predicting the future behaviour of your existing donors. In fundraising, Machine Learning can be used to analyze donor data and identify patterns that can help organizations better target potential donors.”
2. Prospect identification
BWF, a fundraising consulting firm highlighted the effective ways nonprofits can leverage artificial intelligence for prospect identification.
The organisation defined prospect identification as “the process of pinpointing potential donors who exhibit characteristics that indicate they can make a significant contribution to your cause.”
According to BWF, nonprofits can adopt this process to achieve three major things:
- Identify potential major donors
- Identify donors who are likely to upgrade or renew their giving
- Identify potential legacy or planned donors.
By and large, by using personalised messages to reach out to these individuals, you can begin to build long-lasting relationships.
3. Acquiring competitive intelligence
Christian Coulson, Content Marketer at GiveWP stated that “competitive intelligence is important because it allows you to compare your organisation to others in the field, see what’s working and what isn’t. You can then use that information to improve your own fundraising methods and avoid fundraising burnout. Sometimes gathering this information can be difficult and time-consuming, but AI tools can make it simple.”
With AI, you can analyse the websites of your competitors to discover four crucial things according to Christian:
- “Where they spend their money on ads and how much of it they budget for each channel.
- How many daily visitors they have on average and where they come from.
- Information about their email marketing campaign, including subject lines, send times, and open/click rates.
- How much engagement each of their posts on different platforms receive, including how many likes and comments.”
4. To Provide 24/7 Support
J.P. Pressy, a contributing writer at BizTech magazine emphasized the importance of adopting AI as a nonprofit to meet high demands.
“AI-powered chatbots, especially those using natural language processing, can be leveraged to provide 24/7 support to a nonprofit’s constituents, providing the services and information they need in a timely manner and allowing staff to spend more of their time on tasks that require a human touch.”
He also adds that “Chatbots enable nonprofits to operate outside of normal business hours and remain accessible to community members, donors and stakeholders. There’s no need to worry about a chatbot deterring people from engaging with an organisation, either: 64 percent of users say that chatbots’ 24-hour availability is their most enticing feature, and live chatting software has a 73 percent satisfaction rate among customers.”
5. Resource Management
The J.W Couch Foundation also reported the advantages that artificial intelligence holds for nonprofits in the area of resource management.
According to the report, “Many people don’t think of resource management when they think of AI, but it’s one of its most powerful applications in the nonprofit space. Organisations can forecast future needs based on past performance data, so they know exactly how many volunteers or donations they need at any given time to meet their goals. This helps them stay ahead of demand while ensuring that resources are not wasted due to oversupply or underutilisation. This will help bring nonprofit transparency to a new level and give supporters stronger assurances of how their donated money is being used.”
The report further emphasised the advantages of AI in maximising nonprofit efforts. “Nonprofits have always been financially constrained when trying to make a difference. Still, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence technology, it can be easier than ever for them to maximise their efforts in meaningful ways. By leveraging AI-powered tools for analytics and automation as well as resource management, nonprofits can do more with less—allowing them to optimise their operations and maximise their impact on communities worldwide!”
Conclusion
In summary, AI eliminates uncertainty from outreach and campaign processes by generating data-driven forecasts. Also, it serves as a useful tool for donor engagement, campaigns, and fundraising. Now more than ever, nonprofits must understand the importance of artificial intelligence to their organisations and seek effective ways to incorporate these tools into their operations.
If you enjoyed reading this article, please share your comments and suggestions with us at the bottom of this post.