Stop wasting time: AI tools every nonprofit needs

What if AI could help your nonprofit save time and amplify impact? Shannon Farley of Fast Forward shares five game-changing ways AI can streamline operations, enhance donor communications, and free up resources—all while keeping the human touch at the heart of fundraising.

As a nonprofit leader, it’s my ethical duty to leverage every donor dollar for maximum impact. Naturally, using artificial intelligence (AI) tools responsibly is a no-brainer. AI holds immense potential to get time back for nonprofits by streamlining operations, cutting costs, and freeing up valuable resources. We must make the most of our greatest asset: people.

Here are five ways Fast Forward uses AI tools to maximize efficiency and repurpose social sector talent for fundraising—a role that will always require the specialness of humans.

1. Intelligent data analysis

Nonprofits generate tons of data — program results, donor details, you name it. This data is usually scattered across emails, spreadsheets, and CRMs. AI-powered tools can sift through it all in a fraction of the time, revealing hidden patterns and trends that humans might miss. The result? Sharper decision-making and smarter resource allocation.

Additionally, when reporting on programs, AI can do the heavy lifting. It can aggregate feedback and generate recommendations from analyzing over a decade of survey responses.

Here’s where we need humans in the loop:

• Data curation and privacy must be handled with care. It’s imperative that the information fed into AI systems is secure, with sensitive details omitted.
• Surveys (crafted by humans, of course) play a crucial role in generating insights that drive meaningful decisions. This intersection of thoughtful human input and AI allows us to maximize impact while maintaining ethical standards.

2. Streamlined grant writing support

Grant writing is notoriously time-consuming. AI can draft sections, align language with donor interests, and ensure clarity and persuasiveness. Navigating different funder requirements can be tedious. Each portal requires unique formatting. AI can step in to reformat your responses effortlessly, turning hours of manual work into minutes.

Here’s where we need humans in the loop:

• While AI can handle tasks like testing language and personalizing donor communications, it’s humans who craft the strategy and connect the dots to ensure every piece aligns. People are crucial for deeper aspects of strategic thinking and nuanced messaging. And humor. I have yet to meet a funny AI.

3. Personalized donor communications

A big part of fundraising is staying in regular contact with donors. AI can enhance communication by tailoring thank-you notes and other messages based on a donor’s history. AI can also segment donors based on their unique interests, like past giving behaviors, allowing you to generate tailored impact reports highlighting the specific programs and outcomes they care about most.

Here’s where we need humans in the loop:

• White-glove communication is critical to cultivating a healthy donor base. As your donor list grows, your team should also grow because maintaining personal relationships is something only humans can do. While AI can assist by handling personalized templates, it's the human touch that makes those notes meaningful. It’s the personalized context — the little details about how someone’s tomatoes are growing or their recent vacation — that makes fundraising fun. AI can't replicate that kind of human interaction.

4. Prospecting

AI can take the grunt work out of prospecting by matching leads with the right opportunities. It handles the initial lead scoring and qualification by analyzing profiles and aligning them with the right products or services. Plus, AI can filter leads by industry, size, or engagement level, delivering a refined list for human review.

Here’s where we need humans in the loop:

• The human touch remains unrivaled. While AI handles the initial matches, humans excel at uncovering deeper insights that AI can miss. Our partnerships team, for example, goes beyond LinkedIn. We use social media, articles, and even Spotify playlists to understand the hidden interests of prospective funders. (Promise not to judge you for listening to Taylor Swift’s latest album 85,723 times.) AI sets the stage, but humans make the final, nuanced decisions.

5. Intelligent document management

AI can transform document management by automating sorting, tagging, and retrieval. This saves time and ensures important files are always accessible. With AI, you can search through document content, not just titles. For instance, you can upload a document to Gemini and ask it to extract and summarize specific sections. Here's where AI shines without human help: automated sorting and tagging for structured documents, quick keyword searches, duplicate detection, optical character recognition for scanned documents, and basic version control. That may sound technical, but really, it's just AI doing the heavy lifting so you can finally say goodbye to the endless game of “Where did I save that file?”

Here’s where we need humans in the loop:

• Let's keep humans out of this one. Organization isn’t always our strong suit. What works for one person is chaos for another. Let AI take over and bring order to the mess.
   

As social sector workers, our goal is to do good. As we implement AI tools, it's crucial to uphold core principles. Transparency is key. Be open with donors and stakeholders about how you’re using AI and explain the benefits it brings. Protecting data privacy is non-negotiable. You must ensure that AI tools comply with privacy regulations and are used ethically. Remember, AI is a tool, not a replacement for human judgment, so keep your staff involved to ensure accuracy, fairness, and ethical decision-making.

By thoughtfully and responsibly embracing AI, we can create a more efficient, impactful, and equitable future for our organizations.

This article was adapted from content that originally appeared in Forbes, with permission from the author.

The views and opinions of third party content providers are solely those of the author and not Fidelity Charitable. Fidelity Charitable does not guarantee the accuracy of the information provided by such third parties.