If you’re not actively using artificial intelligence (AI) to save time and improve your fundraising results, you’re missing out and falling behind. And it’s happening faster than you imagine.
Your mission is important. So, if you’ve ever complained about not having enough time, staff, or resources, the answer to your woes is a few keystrokes away.
Women Leaders and Fundraisers: Don’t Fear Technology — Use It
Nonprofit leaders often lag behind those in the private sector due to constraints in time, money, and staffing. However, there are now tools at your disposal to help you become faster and more effective. AI is a great equalizer because it’s available to everyone and is no longer cost prohibitive.
Sadly, women leaders — especially older women (as someone who turned 50 this year, I can relate) — feel less comfortable experimenting with technology compared with their male counterparts.
Yet, our missions and organizations require immediate action. AI tools can significantly ease workloads, improve productivity, and prevent burnout. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by insufficient resources, help is closer than you think.
Ethical and Environmental AI Concerns
I acknowledge the ethical and environmental implications of AI usage and fully support initiatives toward more sustainable AI practices. That said, while waiting for systemic solutions and stronger environmental regulations, we must use available technologies (including AI) to further our work, or we risk falling behind.
TIPS: Always invest in paid AI services. Carefully manage permissions to ensure that your information is not used to train AI models without consent. And never input sensitive donor details into unsecured platforms.
3 Practical Ways to Learn New Technology
The market is flooded with new tools and services, which can be overwhelming. It’s hard to know what to try and how to sort through the technological and advertising noise.
Here are three simple ways to recruit people to help you:
- Recruit a super user to your board who can share tools and resources and encourage you to try them.
- Bring on a college intern to share tools and teach staff to use them.
- Encourage staff members to try one new service every quarter and bring stories (successes and failures) to regular or occasional technology meetings.
Boost Your Fundraising with AI-Driven Tools
Let’s look at how to use AI to boost your fundraising, save you time, and make you a more effective nonprofit leader overall.
These are my personal favorite time-saving tools:
- ChatGPT – great for brainstorming and polishing your writing.
- Calendly – to easily schedule meetings.
- Fathom – note taking in Zoom meetings – transcribes and summarizes meetings and outlines next steps and to-dos.
Other New Tools to Try
And a few more that are worth a look:
- Practivated – Practice asking for major gifts and get feedback in real time. Allow team members, including board members to practice and get feedback for the entire team!
- Superhuman – My team recently started using Superhuman (I’m committed to trying it starting next week) to streamline and help manage your inbox! I can’t wait.
7 Ways to Use AI in Your Work
Here’s how I use AI to help me in my everyday work:
- Writing
- Research
- Scheduling
- Data analysis
- Planning
- Note taking
- Idea generation
I suggest you try one new app, tool, or service per quarter. Encourage your staff to try new services and report back.
Final Thoughts
By embracing AI-driven tools, you can significantly amplify your effectiveness as a fundraiser and nonprofit leader, creating meaningful impacts while safeguarding your valuable time and resources.
Let me know how it goes. What are some of your favorite AI tools? Let us know in the comments.
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