In the current technological landscape, nonprofits should aim to embrace AI not only to stay competitive, but also to increase their influence and support their missions. AI can foremost reduce staff workload and streamline operations across different areas and leave space for employees to engage in more substantial initiatives. This can be especially important for small-sized and understaffed organisations, where employees handle everything from administration to strategic initiatives, often without dedicated person for each function or area of work. Let’s look into several areas where AI can support nonprofits and be combined with human expertise to achieve greater impact. In fundraising, it can enhance donor engagement and optimizes campaigns. For HR, AI can simplify recruitment and boost management of employees and volunteers. In administrative tasks, it can automate scheduling, handling of data and documents processing.

AI-powered fundraising

AI can be used to enhance fundraising efforts for nonprofits with tools and methods aimed at engaging with past and potential new donors in a more efficient manner. One of the main ways AI can help in fundraising is analysis of past donations data. By analysing previous data and identifying trends in past donations, AI can help in forecasting future giving patterns. This enables nonprofits to identify which donors are most likely to contribute again, how much they might donate and the best ways and times to get in touch with them. Such insights can enable organizations to tailor their fundraising strategies and focus their efforts on the most promising scenarios.

AI can also automate administrative tasks related to fundraising, like data entry, archives management or scheduling follow-up communication. Reducing the time and efforts spent on these tasks can create space for the nonprofits’ staff to focus on more strategic activities, such as maintaining relationships with big donors or developing new fundraising campaigns.

Another use of AI in fundraising is personalized donor engagement. AI-powered tools can classify donors based on various criteria such as their interests, donation history or level of engagement. This breakdown lets nonprofits create personalized communication strategies. For example, a donor who has regularly supported educational initiatives should receive targeted updates related to educational projects, whereas a donor with an interest in research results might get updates on new publications and reports. Personalization makes donors feel more connected to the cause and might increase their readiness to donate and foster long-term engagement.

Finally, AI tools can help nonprofits improve their fundraising campaigns by providing feedback and insights in real time. For instance, it can examine the performance of different campaign elements, such as email subjects, social media posts or direct mail and identify the most effective ones. This information allows nonprofits to make data-driven changes on the go and improve the overall success of their campaigns.

Automating administrative tasks

Automating administrative tasks with AI can boost productivity of nonprofit organizations and free up space and time for the staff to devote to more strategic activities and initiatives.

One of the uses of AI in administrative automation is in scheduling and calendar management. AI tools designed for scheduling can efficiently analyse availability and arrange meetings automatically and hence, minimize the back-and-forth often present in coordinating schedules.

Besides scheduling, AI can coordinate meetings and appointments. AI-based assistants can distribute invitations and keep track of the responses. Additionally, AI can send out reminders to participants about upcoming meetings, deadlines or important events.

Another area where AI can help nonprofits is data and documents management. Nonprofits often handle large quantity of data, including donor databases, volunteer records and program metrics. AI can optimize the sorting, filing and processing of these documents and make it easier to access and analyse the information. For instance, instead of manual filing and data entry, AI data management tools can automatically group and label documents and make them easily searchable. Not only does this automation speed up the processing of data and documents, but it also minimizes the space for errors.

Human resources enhanced with AI

Using AI for HR and recruitment tasks can transform how nonprofits attract, hire and retain talent.

AI can simplify many aspects of the recruitment process and make it more efficient. AI can rapidly generate job descriptions and related interview questions. AI tools can analyse successful job postings and current employee information to write job descriptions that are clear and optimized for search engines. Additionally, AI can generate interview questions fitted to assess specific competencies and qualifications. Narrowing down the initial pool of candidates is another area where AI can be very useful. AI-powered applicant tracking systems can quickly filter resumes and applications, identifying those that match the job criteria the most. Moreover, AI tools can comb various online platforms, including job boards, social media and professional networks in order to identify potential candidates who might not have applied directly.

AI can support organizations in onboarding and offboarding of employees. It can help in creating an engaging experience for employees and ensure all the necessary forms are completed, relevant policies shared and trainings scheduled. Similarly, AI can assist in offboarding by making sure all required paperwork is completed or providing exit surveys.

Using an AI-powered systems to monitor and analyse employee performance and needs data throughout time can provide a continuous and comprehensive view of each employee’s contributions and areas for improvement. Additionally, AI can program engaging surveys that ask for honest and anonymous feedback from employees.

AI can also play a crucial role in volunteer recruitment and management. It can boost volunteer recruitment by identifying potential candidates through various online platforms and analysing their profiles. By examining volunteer skills, interests and availability, AI can pair them with the most fitting activities and roles. Furthermore, AI can connect volunteers with mentors to provide guidance and support tailored to their needs and goals. This kind of a targeted approach not only improves volunteer retention, but also increases their contribution to the organizations’ missions.

Balancing AI and human expertise

Embracing AI does not presume replacing human work in the mentioned areas, on the contrary, it means combining it with employees’ efforts and boosting their productivity. Moreover, it is crucial to adopt AI responsibly – nonprofits should invest time in learning about AI technologies and their implications before implementing them. By integrating AI with employees’ work, nonprofits can leverage the best of both worlds – automate routine tasks and optimize processes, but also maintain the personal connections and values that support their missions.