Three ways nonprofits can leverage Artificial Intelligence to grow their impact
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been all the buzz lately. On the one hand, there are those that see the incredible potential of this technology to improve the human condition and build a more sustainable world. On the other hand, there are those who are terrified about the risks that come with AI, including everything from deepfake scams to robot-led world domination!
While development into AI is still in the early stages, and there are certainly risks that come with the technology, it can be an incredible tool for organizations in all sectors, influencing everything from healthcare to finance, education, and even nonprofits.
Today, nonprofits are struggling, with charitable giving dropping in 2022 for only the fourth time in 40 years, and nonprofits experiencing a decline in volunteerism and staffing shortages. All these factors, in conjunction, have created a perfect storm in the charitable sector, creating a sense of urgency for nonprofits to innovate if they wish to survive and stay relevant in a highly competitive sector.
So, in this article, we explore three ways AI tools can be leveraged to help nonprofit organizations grow their impact and navigate this perfect storm. Specifically, we dive into:
Fundraising Optimization – AI can enhance fundraising strategies by analyzing donor data to predict patterns and trends. It can help identify potential donors and personalize outreach strategies to increase the chances of securing donations.
Impact Measurement – By analyzing large amounts of data from different sources, AI can measure the effectiveness of campaigns, assess public sentiment, and help nonprofits understand the impact of their work.
Enhancing Operational Efficiency – By automating administrative tasks like data entry, appointment scheduling, client support, and report generation, AI can help nonprofits save time and resources, allowing staff to focus more on strategic tasks.
1. Fundraising Optimization
The first key area where AI can make a significant impact is in fundraising. Nonprofit organizations rely heavily on donations to fund their activities and campaigns, and AI can assist in this process by utilizing data analysis and predictive modeling to target potential donors more efficiently.
By analyzing historical data on donations, AI can predict patterns and trends to identify the most likely donors. This approach helps nonprofit organizations streamline their fundraising campaigns and allocate resources more efficiently. Moreover, AI can optimize communication strategies with donors, by analyzing past interactions and engagement to customize messaging that resonates better with each individual or group.
One example of an AI-based platform that helps nonprofits raise funds is Fundraising KIT, a cloud-based software solution that has already helped nonprofits raise $2 Billion to-date. According to their website, “Fundraising KIT analyzes your historical data and is trained to pick trends that are likely to repeat in the future to solve problems that fundraisers face everyday for example, who is likely to donate, how much are they likely to give, and how much is our organization expected to bring in this year.” The impacts of Fundraising KIT are evident, with nonprofits who use the software increasing their total donation dollars raised by 4x, average gift size by 5x, and total number of donations by 8x.
Another way that nonprofits can leverage AI tools to bolster their fundraising efforts in by using content creation tools such as Jasper or Copy.ai to speed up the Grant Writing process. While grant writers should never rely solely on these tools to write funding proposals, they can act as a fantastic “co-pilot” in one’s writing endeavors. There are even AI platforms, such as Grantable, that are focused exclusively on grant writing. Through their platform, grant writers can upload existing grant proposals to train the AI tool, which will then use this information to draft answers to questions or prompts, helping grant writers speed up the writing process by 5x.
2. Impact Measurement
Measuring and validating their work is critical for nonprofits to demonstrate their impact to donors, volunteers, and the communities they serve. AI can significantly streamline and enhance this process.
AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data from various sources, like social media, surveys, and reports, to gauge public sentiment and measure the effectiveness of campaigns. Additionally, predictive analytics can help nonprofits forecast future trends and identify areas where their interventions could have the most significant impact.
One example can be found in ChatGPT-4, with it’s recently released Code Interpreter tool, which is a sandboxed Python environment in the GPT-4 chat tool where users can execute Python code to run various tasks, such as data analysis or visualization. For example, in theory a nonprofit could conduct a survey of individuals experiencing homelessness, collecting data on the factors that led to homelessness, and the barriers that are keeping individuals unhoused. ChatGPT’s Code Interpreter could then analyze the data collected and identify important trends.
In another example, a nonprofit providing employment training to vulnerable populations could conduct a pre-post survey with the clients taking part in the survey, having them complete an identical survey before and after the program. Code Interpreter could then be used to compare these data sets and identify improvements as a result of participation in the program.
In a world where monitoring and evaluation is becoming increasingly important, and where nonprofits are being asked to prove their impact to receive funds, tools like ChatGPT’s code interpreter can help cut down the time needed to analyze data from hours to minutes.
For more information, check out this article highlighting some of the different ways Code Interpreter can be used to analyze data.
3. Enhancing Operational Efficiency
Nonprofit organizations often operate on tight budgets, with a critical need to maximize the use of their resources. Furthermore, as mentioned above, nonprofits are also experiencing volunteering and staffing shortages, which hasve further exacerbated this challenge. One of the biggest promises of AI is its ability to automate administrative tasks, thus easing the pressure on organizational resources and freeing up staff to focus on more strategic activities.
AI tools can automate routine tasks like data entry, appointment scheduling, report generation, and client/donor support. For instance, nonprofits can use the ChatGPT Application Programming Interface (API) to create their own custom chat bots to handle donor inquiries, provide information on events, and even facilitate donations, thus providing 24/7 support while reducing the workload on human staff. While this may require an initial investment to get it up and running, and some level of programming knowledge, it can be a gamechanger for nonprofits in the long run, helping them save substantial time and resources by automating the first line of communication with clients and donors.
AI tools can also be used to automate other administrative tasks, such as generating marketing materials, managing team calendars, transcribing meeting notes, or even saving you time clearing the email inbox. Fireflies, for example is a tool that can be integrated with Zoom to automatically transcribe meetings and summarize meeting notes. Motion, on the other hand, uses artificial intelligence to optimize calendars and prioritize tasks.
Conclusion
The nonprofit sector is ripe for disruption. While nonprofits are often viewed as risk averse and slower to adopt new technological innovations, they should consider exploring how they can leverage AI tools to future proof their organization and adapt to an increasingly competitive and underfunded charitable sector.
AI offers an incredible array of opportunities for nonprofits to streamline their operations, optimize their fundraising efforts, and measure their impact. As we move into the future, it's evident that the intersection of AI and nonprofit work will only grow more prominent, providing a potent tool in the quest to solve some of society's most pressing issues. Embracing this technology will not replace the heart and soul of nonprofits - the passionate people dedicated to making a difference - but it can make their work more efficient, effective, and impactful.
Looking for support implementing AI tools at your nonprofit? We’re here to help! Through our affiliate organization, NextGen Nonprofit, we offer consulting services to help you leverage Web3 and AI tools to grow your impact!
Please note: we make use of affiliate marketing in this article to provide readers with referrals to high quality and relevant products and services.
Send a tip in ETH: cryptoaltruism.eth
Like what you’re reading? Consider contributing to Crypto Altruism so we can continue putting out great content that shines a light on the good being done in the crypto and blockchain community.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
