We live in a fast-paced, quickly innovating world. Both nonprofit organizations and for-profit businesses wish to future-proof their missions or have a crystal ball to predict the necessary tools. They seek ways to ensure that they can continue to adapt to meet the needs of their industry.
No matter the type of constituent, both for-profit and nonprofits look for ways to customize and streamline communication and create faster paths to goals.
For-profit organizations may seek a way to increase profits and keep shareholders happy. Nonprofits hope to ensure the continued success of fundraising campaigns, retain donors, attract new donors, gain volunteers, and improve communication with boards and committees.
Both seek ways to maximize staff time and resources and lessen the burden of repetitive tasks. Automation tools and artificial intelligence both have the potential to help staff and save time. They are a long-term investment to assist with fundraising and much more.
Providing your team with the right tools can increase job satisfaction and efficiency, leading to more excellent results.
Fundraising automation can be a sustainable solution to assist nonprofits. Automation tools, like PowerAutomate® or AutomateGenius, can help automatically send thank you letters and tax receipts, recognize donors at milestones, help with a welcome series for new donors, assist with recurring donations, and much more.
From first-time donors to major donors, automation can help grow and sustain relationships.
Automation tools can interact with your chosen fundraising software solution and create prompts each time a donor interacts with your organization. Fundraising automation can also help keep data clean inside your donor management software.
Artificial intelligence or AI, such as ChatGPT, can help write appeal letters or peer-to-peer communications without accessing confidential donor information. It is crucial to consider the safety and confidentiality of donor information as you delve into the world of AI, but when used correctly, these tools can be incredibly impactful.
Fundraising automation does not replace your fundraising team but can enhance the important work your team does.
It can free up time from repetitive tasks to have more meaningful connections with donor prospects. Use automation and AI tools today to help future-proof your nonprofit fundraising efforts well into the future.
What is Automation and AI?
Automation is the technology-enabled process of making systems or processes operate automatically, minimizing human intervention. It involves using various technologies to execute tasks that people traditionally perform. An example of automation is setting up an online system where a gift receipt is automatically generated and sent to a customer’s email immediately after an online purchase. This process reduces the need for manual input, speeds up the transaction process, and enhances donor satisfaction by ensuring prompt receipt of confirmation.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), on the other hand, involves creating computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. These tasks include understanding natural language, recognizing patterns in data, making decisions, and learning from experiences. AI systems, such as ChatGPT, go beyond automated tasks by understanding context, generating new content, and providing personalized responses. For instance, when using ChatGPT to write a draft for an email campaign, the AI analyzes the basic prompts provided, understands the intended message and audience, and generates a tailored draft that aligns with the campaign’s goals.
While safeguards must be developed around using AI with donor information, automation can help fundraising efforts in various ways. These tools can help engage donors in new ways and help advance your organization’s mission.
According to the AutomateGenius website, this fundraising automation tool can assist with:
- New Donor Welcome Series
- Daily Summaries and Reports
- Flexible Gift Acknowledgements
- Custom Report Distribution
- Keeping Your Database Clean
AutomateGenius can act like a database administrator’s assistant, working tirelessly to help with tasks such as:
- Identify and remove duplicate records
- Fill in missing fields, gift attributes, and constituent codes in existing donors’ records
- Tag members of giving societies
- Remove deceased records
- Update salutations based on new donor information
Each function can save time, delight donors, and raise more money for your important nonprofit mission. Imagine an automation that drafts an email communication each time an individual donor makes a gift or alerts the assigned gift officer when major gifts come in.
Tools like PowerAutomate® can help with low- and no-code options to assist fundraising. PowerAutomate® and Raiser’s Edge interact to help nonprofits automate tasks and more. To learn about the functionalities that exist, you can read more here.
Microsoft PowerAutomate® has tutorials for automating birthday notifications, gift notifications, and more. For organizations that need more assistance, you might consider hiring an automation consultant to help build customized automations for your fundraising efforts.
With automation tools, emails can be drafted and saved for major gift officers or other staff to review, personalize, and send out. There is no crystal ball to predict when future gifts will come in, but donors will be amazed by the speed at which a thank you reaches them.
Automation tools can set customized asks in direct mail appeals quickly and easily for every donor in the donor database. AskGenius is a powerful tool that helps you set personalized ask amounts for thousands of donors at a time – based on giving history, wealth research, and behavioral science.
This tool can help achieve fundraising goals and reduce the amount of time required for staff members.
Automation can help set your nonprofit apart from other organizations by personalizing more than salutations. Donations increase when nonprofits ask donors for the right amount at the right time.
Ways to use AI with fundraising efforts:
- Ask ChatGPT to write a communication double the donation and matching gifts that your fundraising team sends to donor prospects.
- Ask ChatGPT to suggest subject lines for email campaigns, potentially increasing the open rate
- Use an AI tool to rewrite gift acknowledgment letters.
- Use AI to draft a direct mail appeal and automation to set customized ask strings.
As technology advances, nonprofits must stay agile and adaptable to sustain their missions. Take time today to explore how automation and AI can assist nonprofits with donor relationships and fundraising.
From that initial gift to major gift fundraising, the opportunities are limitless with automation. If your team members can create a workflow, automation can be designed to assist in making it happen.
Learn more about fundraising automation and AI tools by watching What AI Means to Your Development Office, or sign up for a free consultation with AutomateGenius today.
While you can’t predict the future, your nonprofit can use technology to future-proof fundraising efforts and delight donors. Innovate and adapt to sustain fundraising efforts into tomorrow.
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