AI for fundraising increases productivity What is AI and why is it important for nonprofit fundraising? AI is short for Artificial Intelligence and is a form of computer science that simulates human intelligence. Machines are programmed to think, learn, and problem solve like humans. This can take a variety of forms such as machine learning, natural language processing, and robots. You might be thinking, that’s great and all but why does it matter to nonprofits? AI can level up a nonprofit’s fundraising program by taking on some of the tedious, time-consuming administrative tasks that bog down your day-to-day. But it doesn’t stop there. AI can also help analyze and predict donor behavior, generate content, and identify high-priority donors. Before we get into all of the benefits, let’s go over the different types of AI that show up in nonprofit fundraising tools, including: Machine Learning Machine learning is a type of AI that focuses on the creation of algorithms and models so computers can learn and make predictions based on data. Typically, predictive AI and reinforcement learning fall into this category. How it can help fundraisers: By analyzing and interpreting large quantities of data, AI can help you understand a donor’s propensity to give, how a donor wants to be communicated with, and whether or not a donor’s engagement is slipping. Generative AI Generative AI creates (or generates) content using existing data and information. You’ve probably heard of ChatGPT3 and GoogleBard, which utilize generative AI to create responses to prompts. Generative AI can include writing text and generating images. How it can help fundraisers: Generative AI can help reduce some of the legwork required for donor outreach and communications. By having AI craft emails and thank you notes to donors, you can reduce the amount of time it takes to create those communications. However, it’s always a good idea to double check the content before sending it to donors. Natural Language Processing Natural Language Processing (NLP) enables computers to understand, interpret, and generate language in a natural way. This includes speech to text transcription, sentiment analysis, and answering questions posed in natural language. How it can help fundraisers: NLP enables AI to respond and create content that sounds like a human. It also allows fundraisers to send voice messages for AI to transcribe and helps you understand the underlying sentiment of a conversation (such as positive, negative, neutral). ‍