In a tough economy, nonprofits face the constant challenge of maximising their impact while minimising expenses.
It isn’t easy to juggle exceptional service with budget constraints, but fortunately, advances in technology can make things easier if you’re willing to adopt artificial intelligence tools and systems.
AI has already shown in the past few years, with the rapid evolution of GPT chatbots, that it’s capable of dramatically transforming workflows and automating dozens of responsibilities for working professionals across industries.
(Source: The Social Shepherd)
66% of nonprofits claim that a lack of familiarity with generative AI is their main barrier to adoption. In this guide, we’ll explore five ways you can confidently use AI as a nonprofit to streamline operations and attract funding.
1. Engage your donors
Since charity donations saw a drop in 2023 by as much as 30% in the US, now’s an important time to focus on engaging your donors.
AI can fit into your existing workflows around donor engagement by analysing donor data and using algorithms to segment them according to their giving history, preferences, and behaviours.
Think of it as a robot that scans your donor database, looking for patterns, trends, and any other data that you can use to inform your marketing strategies and ultimately increase the level of funding you can attract.
What’s more, with segmentation, you can break up your donor base into different categories. This allows you to automate and send hyper-personalised and relevant marketing campaigns through emails or SMS. This is one of the most effective ways to re-engage with past donors, appeal to prospective donors, and keep everyone informed on any news updates.
(Source: Statista)
These marketing messages can take the form of thank-you emails, donation receipts, and even targeted appeals that align with a donor’s past interests and contributions. Tailored interactions are much more persuasive than generic campaigns, and the data you collect with AI can help you increase your level of personalisation.
2. Streamline administrative tasks
Paperwork that piles up is a common problem for non-profits and can consume a significant portion of your resources.
One of the main ways AI can support us in our work is by handling tasks that require minimal effort, but a lot of time. With the right AI-powered tools, you can automate a lot of these tasks, and free up staff time to focus on more strategic activities in the process.
Specifically, you could be set to lower the average unit cost of manual tasks from $15-35 to under $1 by implementing AI in your business.
For example, AI can perform data entry tasks, manage schedules, and even carry out basic bookkeeping and accounting functions. You can even have AI chatbots on hand to respond to volunteer and donor enquiries.
Not only can you re-direct company resources to more productive activities, but you can also reduce the risk of human error, which can lead to setbacks.
3. Get creative with fundraisers
AI analytics give you access to a wealth of data you can tap into to arrive at more effective fundraising strategies.
You already have all the data on your books from past marketing campaigns, events, and social media efforts – yet it might be that you haven’t yet gotten around to interpreting this information in a useful way. AI can identify patterns in a matter of minutes and predict which strategies are most likely to yield the best results for your business moving forward.
Adopting a data-driven approach is an excellent way to assign your resources more efficiently and target the right audiences with the right messages. It can also support 80/20 analyses whereby you identify the 20% or so of donors that provide the most significant contributions, so you can factor that into your marketing.
4. Improve your payment processing
Payment processing can be a stumbling block for non-profits, especially if it’s not a priority in the beginning. Limited payment options might not hold you back at first, but over time, when you deal with donors from all walks of life, it’s important to offer as many options as possible to process payments.
To cater to different payment methods, you can use AI to securely extend personalised payment options to donors. For example, AI-driven payment platforms can help you detect potentially fraudulent transactions, protecting your business from false payments.
AI can also assist the payment processing experience by setting up recurring donations and suggesting donation amounts based on previous contributions from each donor.
5. Optimise your resource allocation
How you allocate your resources is as important as how much you have to allocate. If you think there’s room for more efficient deployment of resources, you can lean on AI tools to predict the success of different programmes and initiatives based on historical data and current trends.
You can use AI to prioritise the activities that lead to the highest impact, and manage your volunteers’ time to streamline operational efficieny.
Since 89% of nonprofits agree that AI will make them more efficient, yet only 28% have actively implemented the technology, you have a unique opportunity to lead from the front with a tech-forward approach to business.