I met with a new client recently who was overwhelmed. They had great ideas and tons of data, from engagement metrics to giving patterns to personalization strategies. But they felt their small team couldn’t do it all. They just kept lamenting, “I need a bigger staff!”
“Have you used AI yet?” I asked.
“Oh, I’m not a tech person,” they said. “I don’t have time to figure out my database, let alone some robot assistant.”
I tried to explain that using AI was like having extra staff members without the overhead, who could multiply the capacity of their existing talent. But the client was creeped out by the idea of replacing human insight with a computer. I wasn’t getting through.
I don’t think these reactions are unique. In fact, I was there myself not too long ago. I got over these hangups with the help of Rich Leimsider of the AI for Nonprofits Sprint who has taught me and thousands of other nonprofit professionals to navigate the AI landscape and harness its power.
If you’re finding yourself resisting the idea of bringing AI into your toolbox, you’ll want to read Rich’s perspective. Here’s a condensed version of my recent conversation with him.
Carolyn: “Artificial intelligence” sounds like science fiction—self-driving cars and chess-playing robots. What’s the value proposition for development professionals?
Rich: Technology that mimics human behavior has been around since the 1930s, but in the last two years our faster computers, new software, and scientific advances have yielded what's called "Generative AI." This innovation allows fundraising professionals to move beyond data retrieval and into personalized, creative donor engagement. Generative AI can create new content from scratch, like text, invitations, and images.
Can you give some examples?
Well, you can transform dense research reports into concise, donor-friendly materials. It can brainstorm email subject lines. It can reformat documents for different platforms. These tasks are incredibly time-intensive for us, but now they can be automated. These tools can free up time for fundraisers to focus on strategy and relationship-building.
I’ve created custom donor outreach emails with just a few prompts. I know someone who generated a draft webinar script in seconds. But people still seem intimidated. What’s the mental block?
There’s a lot of hype and conversation, and a lot of jargon that makes AI sound more complicated than it is. Many have the misconception that AI requires specialized knowledge or technical training. Or they associate it with large-scale projects like cancer drug discovery, predicting homelessness risk, or educational support bots. These do require experts, data scientists, and extensive testing. But we now have off-the-shelf tools, things you can get for free or pay 20 bucks a month that don't require any specialized training. The reality is that for most people willing to experiment with it over a few weeks or months, they'll find it's actually very accessible. It just requires embracing a learning mindset.
It is revolutionary technology, but maybe it’s better to think of it as something smaller.
Yes, incremental rather than exponential. In the same way that we have tools like Microsoft Word or Google Sheets or PowerPoint where people in a development shop could get started right away in a pretty low risk environment, using artificial intelligence makes life a little bit easier.
How about some more examples of AI supporting a development team?
I’ll give you three. One is repurposing or “syndication” — taking content and converting it to different formats. If you have a document with interesting research or information presented in one format, like a 40-page academic-sounding research report, you can plug it into ChatGPT and transform it. You can ask it to write a donor-focused two-pager, create newsletter content that stretches over six months, turn it into a series of ten tweets, or write the outline for a donor webinar. You're using your original information, so you don't need to worry about accuracy or bias. You can just turn it into any type of marketing and donor communications material very quickly.
Brilliant. What’s the second one?
A role-playing partner. Today's generative AI tools are really good at pretending to be a person. While they're not as good as the best human role-playing experts, with the paid version, you get an unlimited role-playing partner who's available at three in the morning and can practice with you ten times a week. A development associate can upload your organization's annual report and donor prospect bios, then practice conversations with ChatGPT playing the donor. You can request friendly back-and-forth, or ask for ten aggressively challenging questions about your programs. You can even use it to practice tough conversations with board development committees or executive directors.
This is getting creative—more than just analytical.
Exactly. My third example is even more so. These programs can synthesize, like a thoughtful colleague helping you tell a story that puts your best foot forward to a particular donor. If you upload information about your organization and information about the donor, foundation, or granting agency—like an RFP with grant guidelines—you can ask ChatGPT to map one against the other. It can identify the ten bullet points where your work really aligns with what they're looking for.
So where should people start?
Block out two hours every week to do your real work using AI tools. Open ChatGPT and tackle whatever is on your task list using AI. It might feel frustrating or inefficient at first, but your understanding of what's possible will be dramatically different after a few weeks. And so will the AI’s understanding of your organization. These tools are like a naive but extremely well-educated new hire. They have tremendous book knowledge about fundraising, but they're new to your organization and need context to be helpful.
Rich, thank you so much. I’ve taken your advice to heart and I feel like I’ve got a team of smart associates on the case whenever I need them. I hope other people dip their toes in too.
Good luck!
Not My First Rotary
My daughter had a huge school project looming, and I could see the stress was getting to her. I knew procrastination wasn’t going to help, and I was trying to give her a pep talk. “Don’t worry about the end product — just grab the bull by the ears and dive in." She burst out laughing, which at least lightened the mood!
There’s no way to know exactly what you’ll find valuable about AI. But whether you grab it by the ears, horns, or just click "submit," the important thing is to take that first step.
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