Of the technologies that have emerged in recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has penetrated the nonprofit sector especially quickly. In one 2025 survey of nonprofit leaders, nearly half of respondents said their organizations had integrated AI into their operations less than three years after the public release of ChatGPT, and 77% expected to be leveraging these tools by 2030.
Throughout this period of early adoption, nonprofit users have generally determined that the most effective way to leverage their AI tools is to collaborate with them. While AI can boost efficiency and productivity in many areas, this technology is still evolving and being refined. Plus, there are some aspects of fundraising that still depend heavily on humans, especially building supporter relationships.
In this guide, we’ll discuss some best practices for making the most of AI at your nonprofit while still maintaining the human touch that’s critical to successful fundraising. Let’s get started!
Understand the Capabilities & Limitations of AI
AI essentially works by processing a large amount of data, analyzing the information it’s given according to an algorithm, and using the patterns and trends it recognizes to produce and output. This is true of both of the major types of AI tools:
- Generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT or DALL-E) creates text, images, audio, and other content elements based on its dataset and user prompting.
- Predictive AI (e.g., Google Cloud Smart Analytics or DonorSearch Ai) evaluates historical trends to make suggestions or projections about future events.
The best AI fundraising strategies involve generative and predictive solutions working together. For example, you might use a predictive modeling platform to identify the potential donors who would be most likely to support a specific campaign, then draft tailored fundraising appeals for them with the help of a generative AI tool.
However, understanding what your nonprofit’s AI solutions can’t help you do is just as important as knowing how you can use them. As DonorSearch’s guide to AI for nonprofits explains, “Nonprofit AI frees up your team’s time and energy to tackle more complex tasks that can’t be left to robots and algorithms [e.g., building personal relationships or strategically solving complex problems]. Plus, it’s important to maintain human oversight to ensure your organization makes the most of AI.”
Returning to the example above, your team knows potential campaign donors better than a machine ever could, because you remember your interactions with them and have empathized with them in ways that can’t be captured by data. So, you can use your predictive AI tools’ outputs as a foundation for cultivating personal relationships with your strongest candidates, and revise AI-generated appeals to ensure they resonate with their intended audience.
Leverage AI for Its Most Effective Purposes
As AI has spread across the nonprofit sector, the best fundraising use cases for these tools have become increasingly clear. Here are some of the top activities to consider leveraging AI for at your nonprofit:
- Screen your donors and research prospects to understand their giving capacity and affinity more deeply.
- Personalize donor communications and donation asks by consolidating data, segmenting supporters, and making customizable templates.
- Create content to promote your efforts across various platforms, such as email, social media, direct mail, and blog posts.
- Evaluate and optimize your fundraising campaigns with a deeper understanding of strengths to capitalize on and pain points to address.
- Offer website support through chatbots to ensure visitors can find what they’re looking for and take action for your cause anytime and anywhere.
- Automatically process donations, generate acknowledgments for tax purposes, and proactively catch potential fraudulent activity.
- Identify grant opportunities and write proposals so your nonprofit can secure funding for the programs and projects that need it most.
- Plan and manage fundraising events, since they tend to have many moving parts and require a large upfront investment of time and resources.
- Leverage automation in your workflows “to streamline your organization’s efforts and retain more time and resources for mission-focused tasks,” as 360MatchPro puts it.
If you aren’t sure how your nonprofit could benefit most from AI, assess your current fundraising processes to determine what activities are the most time- and resource-intensive and whether they could be made more efficient. Asking your employees about the challenges they encounter in their day-to-day work can also provide firsthand insight into where AI might be useful for your organization and promote the concept of collaboration from the start.
Commit to Use AI Responsibly
The best way to ensure human oversight and integrated workflows at your organization is to create an AI usage policy. But since less than a quarter of nonprofits who are exploring AI have a formal strategy, you may be wondering where to start with creating yours.
Fortunately, an independent group of mission-driven professionals known as the Fundraising.AI Collaborative have created a framework you can use for your policy. The tenets of this Responsible AI Framework include:
- Privacy and security in AI data processing and storage.
- Data ethics that ensure information is accurate and collected with consent.
- Inclusiveness to identify and address any inherent biases in AI outputs.
- Accountability, meaning all AI applications are based on verifiable results.
- Transparency and explainability with the community about your nonprofit’s AI use.
- Continuous learning about new developments in this ever-changing technology.
- Collaboration with other nonprofit professionals who also care about responsible AI.
- Legal compliance with all regulations that apply to your organization.
- Social impact that prioritizes beneficiaries’ and communities’ needs.
- Sustainability awareness and advocacy in relation to AI tools’ functionality.
This framework can help your nonprofit manage the real risks associated with improper AI use (data breaches, legal consequences, accidental discrimination, loss of donor trust, etc.) while maximizing its benefits in furthering your mission. Once you create your policy, incorporate it into training sessions on your new AI tools and require all team members to commit to leverage AI responsibly as they get started.
As AI shifts from being fundraising’s future to its present, make sure your organization is well aware of its capabilities and has a solid strategy for leveraging it advantageously for your mission. That way, your team can focus more on what they do best as humans: strategizing, building relationships, and infusing their passion for your mission into every area of your nonprofit’s work.
About the Author
Sarah Tedesco is the Chief Operating Officer and Part Owner of DonorSearch, a prospect research company that focuses on proven philanthropy. Sarah is responsible for managing the production and customer support department, which focuses on client contract fulfillment, retention, and satisfaction. She also collaborates with other team members in various areas like sales, marketing, and product development. Sarah holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and worked as a foundation prospect researcher before joining DonorSearch, providing her with industry experience that she applies to her responsibilities day-to-day.