As nonprofits have adapted to the digital age, online fundraising has become heavily integrated into most organizations’ strategies. If your team is even somewhat tech-savvy, your nonprofit probably engages with many of its donors and brings in a significant portion of its revenue through virtual channels.

However, the future of nonprofit fundraising lies with artificial intelligence (AI). Although AI is becoming increasingly common in daily life, you may still be wondering about the best ways to incorporate AI tools into your nonprofit’s activities.

If this is where you are, you’ve come to the right place! In this guide, we’ll review four of the most popular use cases for AI in fundraising work, which include:

1. Prospect Research Data Modeling
2. Multi-Channel Marketing Content Creation
3. Fundraising Appeal Development
4. Donor Stewardship Planning and Execution

As DonorSearch’s guide to AI tools for nonprofits explains, there are two main AI formats that are useful for nonprofits: generative and predictive. Generative AI produces original content in various formats (text, images, video, etc.), while predictive AI uses machine learning to recognize patterns in data and make projections accordingly. The most effective AI fundraising strategies use both types of tools together—let’s dive into how to do just that!

1. Prospect Research Data Modeling

If your nonprofit has solicited major gifts or established a planned giving program, you’ve likely conducted prospect research. This process aims to identify potential donors with a financial capacity, philanthropic history, and affinity for your mission that would make them able and willing to make a significant contribution to your organization.

However, as you dive into prospecting, you may find yourself intimidated by a large volume of data on different prospects. How do you successfully sort through all of this information to determine which donors have the greatest potential to give to your organization?

This is where AI-powered predictive modeling tools come in. These solutions analyze prospects’ wealth and philanthropic information, rate each individual’s likelihood of engaging with your organization based on historical trends, and prioritize your prospect list based on these ratings. This way, you can begin your outreach with the potential major and planned donors you’re most likely to succeed with, saving you time and money with a more intelligent fundraising strategy.

There is also a nonprofit-specific generative AI functionality, prospect reporting, which can also be useful for gaining deeper insights into prospect research data. Tools with this capability organize and summarize key details about each prospect that you can reference as you develop their individualized outreach strategy.

2. Multi-Channel Marketing Content Creation

It’s no secret that multi-channel marketing expands your nonprofit’s reach by creating more touchpoints where audiences can learn about your mission and take action. However, it can be challenging to create the large volume of content needed for this strategy while maintaining a high standard of quality across your website, email marketing, text messaging, social media, and print communications.

Incorporating generative AI into your marketing strategy can streamline the creation and delivery of all of these messages. For instance, you could:

• Develop reusable templates for common types of marketing messages
• Outline, draft, and revise copy to improve its quality and tailor it to your target audience
• Produce professional-looking graphics and videos with less time, effort, and money required
• Brainstorm fresh content ideas to appeal to new audiences and re-capture fatigued donors’ interest
• Pre-schedule and automate social media posts, texts, and emails to ensure a regular communication cadence on those platforms
• Ensure your marketing materials are accessible by generating alternative text for images, closed captions for videos, and transcripts for audio content

As you create content with AI, be careful not to lose the personal touch that helps donors connect with your mission. Always review and edit your AI tools’ outputs to ensure they align with your nonprofit’s tone and brand. Additionally, configure the solutions to personalize supporter communications with their names and specific details about their history with your organization whenever possible.

3. Fundraising Appeal Development

In addition to creating content that generally spreads awareness about your nonprofit’s mission and engagement opportunities, AI solutions can also be instrumental in requesting donations from individual supporters. Your organization may use them to help craft fundraising appeals for various initiatives, such as:

• Major gift solicitations
• Annual fund contribution requests
• Year-end giving campaign asks
• Recurring donation program invites

To optimize the donation request process, you should integrate your generative AI fundraising tools with predictive solutions. Predictive modeling helps ensure you’re asking the right donors for the right contribution amounts at the right time to fund programs and projects that interest them. Then, you can use this information to fill in the gaps in your fundraising appeal created with the help of generative AI.

4. Donor Stewardship Planning and Execution

Your nonprofit’s AI fundraising work isn’t done once a supporter says “Yes!” to your donation request. Both generative and predictive AI are useful in the follow-up process as you express gratitude to your donors and continue cultivating their individual relationships with your organization.

Consider incorporating AI tools into the donor stewardship process in the following ways:

• Creating a stewardship matrix template. Double the Donation defines a stewardship matrix as “an outline of the method and cadence your nonprofit will use when reaching out to donors. [It] standardizes outreach by establishing a dedicated timeframe for engaging each donor.” Once you’ve narrowed down your top donor appreciation ideas, use AI to generate a matrix that you can reuse and revise for various campaigns.
• Deciding which appreciation method(s) to use for each donor. Leverage your predictive AI tools when filling in your stewardship matrix to determine when and how to thank each donor based on their preferences and giving level. For example, an active, social major donor may appreciate being recognized at a donor appreciation dinner, while one who would rather stay out of the spotlight might prefer a handwritten card and gift basket.
• Generating personalized thank-you messages. Applying your predictive modeling data, use generative AI to help create the text of your thank-you letters and emails. Remember to tailor the letters to each donor—personalize low-level donors’ messages with their names and giving amounts, and include even more individual details for mid-level and major donors.

The effective, tailored stewardship strategies that AI tools can help you develop will show your donors that your nonprofit values them as individuals. This can boost donor retention rates and eventually prompt them to upgrade their support.

The sooner your nonprofit gets on board with AI, the more prepared you’ll be for the future. Use the tips above to get started, and adapt your strategies based on your organization’s unique donor base and the responses you receive. Additionally, check that you’re using trusted AI tools to ensure accuracy, fairness, and data integrity as you work.